What if your ad or branding messasge was in another language?

The Observation:  After going to France for a few weeks for a vacation and being thrown into a culture that speaks a different language I started thinking that a good test for any marketing or branding message (ad, commercial, etc.) would be to think if that message was shown in a country that does not speak your language would they still get the message?  Would they know what the focus of the message was, what you were trying to communicate about the focus, and what message you wanted to leave them with.