You are going to
- discuss gaffes, advertising and translating
- listen to a radio interview and do a true / false quiz
- practise the passive
- give advice about how to avoid making gaffes when speaking another language or visiting another country
- What's a gaffe?
gaffe /gaf/ Noun: An accidental act or remark causing embarrassment to its maker; a blunder: "an unforgivable social gaffe".
Synonyms: faux pas - blunder - mistake
- Have you ever made any gaffes? Describe one
- Do you ever make any gaffes when you are speaking in a foreign laguage?
- Do you know of any translations from your language into English which may cause a gaffe?
- Do you know of any translations from English into your language which may cause a gaffe?
- Why should we be very careful when we translate into another language?
- What are "false friends"
- What's an advertising or branding gaffe?
- Can you give any examples of advertising or branding gaffes?
The carmaker BMW launched a Mini Cooper marketing campaign in Germany to try to take advantage of the cold weather. Unfortunately the Mini Cooper's name was attached to a cold weather front which killed many across Europe. BMW is embarrassed and a spokesman said that "it took on catastrophic proportions and left so many victims... we do regret it very much."
In this interview Allyson Stewart-Allen, a marketing expert who runs International Marketing Partners, explains how to avoid a branding mistake.
Listen to the interview
What other examples of branding gaffes do they give?
Listen again and do the exercise below
Grammar - PassiveWhat's the difference between these sentences?
- They translated the text into Chinese
- The text was translated into Chinese
When do we use the passive?
Not sure how to use the passive? Look here http://efllecturer.blogspot.com/2011/04/passive-present-simple.html
or here http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/passive.htm
Try this exercise to practise the passive using phrases from the interview.
Printable version here
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Writing / DiscussionWhat advice would you give to an English speaking person who was learning your language or coming to visit your country?
How could he / she avoid making any gaffes?