| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] > | Off topic: Mis-translations and cross-cultural howlers Thread poster: Dan_Brennan
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| Happiness is... | Jan 31, 2003 |
Also in Germany I discovered a toilet paper brand called \"Happy End\"! Makes you wonder, doesn\'t it?
| | | | Robin Salmon (X) 
Australia
Local time: 23:37
German to English
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| All it takes is confidence... | Jan 31, 2003 |
Many years ago, I did student holiday work in a German factory. For the medical, I was asked if I wanted the doctor to speak English or German. I chose English and have always been glad I did: \"Inspirate hardly! Expirate hardly!\"
| | | | | disastrous movie translations | Jan 31, 2003 |
4-5 years ago I did the editing of dubbing translations of movies and converted them into subtitle format. Here are some disasters I can never forget.
Movie: Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, Uma Thurman
The cowgirls gather pejote cactus (which has narcotic effects) and feed the cactus meat to cranes who then prefer to fly high on the ground. The \"translator\" sees the explanation of pejote in the script and the latin name is given which is Lophophora williamsü. After doing som... See more 4-5 years ago I did the editing of dubbing translations of movies and converted them into subtitle format. Here are some disasters I can never forget.
Movie: Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, Uma Thurman
The cowgirls gather pejote cactus (which has narcotic effects) and feed the cactus meat to cranes who then prefer to fly high on the ground. The \"translator\" sees the explanation of pejote in the script and the latin name is given which is Lophophora williamsü. After doing some thinking he/she translates pejote as leopard and pejote as leopard meat!! Since the movie was being broadcast in the dubbed version and pejote appeared at at least 40 scenes in the movie we had to redo the dubbing.
Movie Hannibal
Somehow the \"translator\" decided to translate Hannibal the Cannibal as Hannibal the Vegetarian. ▲ Collapse
| | | | LJC (X)
France
Local time: 14:37
French to English
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When I first moved to France, I was riding my horse past a farm where the farmer was standing in the doorway. My mare was shying at his chickens wandering about on the road and I was having trouble getting her to go forward.
\"Oh, come on, don\'t be stupid\" I said to her.
The man went inside and I heard him say to his wife, \"I know what the English woman\'s horse is called: it\'s called Stupid!\"
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| 2 more examples | Feb 5, 2003 |
Years ago someone gave me this little item which apparently appeared in the Toronto Star:
\"An English-language driver\'s manual in Italy gives this advice on dealing with pedestrians: \'When a passenger on the hoof hove in sight, tootle the horn, trumpet him, melodiously at first. If she still obstacle you passage, tootle him with vigor and vim, expressing by words of mouth in warning.\'
\"And a tourist guide to the island of Capri offers this introduc... See more Years ago someone gave me this little item which apparently appeared in the Toronto Star:
\"An English-language driver\'s manual in Italy gives this advice on dealing with pedestrians: \'When a passenger on the hoof hove in sight, tootle the horn, trumpet him, melodiously at first. If she still obstacle you passage, tootle him with vigor and vim, expressing by words of mouth in warning.\'
\"And a tourist guide to the island of Capri offers this introduction: \'We hope this little book will be really insinuating, in the proper sense of the word. It weighs nothing and has no pretences, and we hope it will be kept in the handbag of elegant ladies and in the wallet of their husbands, on the desk of the important business man or in the cigarette case of the young snob.\'\"
I have no idea if these are genuine but I love the part about \"tootle him with vigor and vim!\"
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| | | | | Clean up that Crap! | Feb 8, 2003 |
Outside a Japanese cafe, I saw that their daily dessert special was \"Fruit Crap\" -- crepes!
If you need to wash some fruit crap off your dishes, I recommend you use the Czech dish soap called Colon.
| | | | Nicole Tata
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:37
English to German
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| Fancy a coffee? | Feb 8, 2003 |
And then there’s the German for weak or ersatz coffee: Muckefuck!
Check it in the Duden if you don’t believe me… ))
| | | | Maria Riegger (X)
Local time: 08:37
Spanish to English
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I always like to look at the translated menus whenever we go out to eat, and the last time I was in Budapest I was surprised at the English translation for their grilled chicken entrée:
\"suddenly slightly grilled over lice goals.\"
Thanks but no thanks!!
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Maria Riegger (X)
Local time: 08:37
Spanish to English
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I just noticed that I posted the same message twice because I didn\'t see the first one!!
| | | | Olivier Vasseur
France
Local time: 14:37
Member (2004)
English to French
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| the Godfather | Oct 11, 2003 |
in one of the Godfather films (I can't remember which), one of the characters, who has just killed his brother, says: "I killed my mother's son, I killed my father's". The french translator mistook the possessive for a plural ("I killed my fathers") and translated accordingly.
| | | | danya
Local time: 16:37
English to Russian
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| CONspiracy of Frenchmen | Oct 17, 2003 |
my students at the Uni screamed of laughter and refused to read aloud O'Henry's story. One of the characters was called Con O'Lantry.
The first language the girls studied was French, and they read the name as {Kong}. Afterwards they told me it means "male member" in French. It made my day
But then I asked them, what they would think of King Kong then. It made theirs.
PS how do they say in the US, for examp... See more my students at the Uni screamed of laughter and refused to read aloud O'Henry's story. One of the characters was called Con O'Lantry.
The first language the girls studied was French, and they read the name as {Kong}. Afterwards they told me it means "male member" in French. It made my day
But then I asked them, what they would think of King Kong then. It made theirs.
PS how do they say in the US, for example, "Dick Chaney" and not laugh? ▲ Collapse
| | | | sylver
Local time: 21:37
English to French
danya wrote:
my students at the Uni screamed of laughter and refused to read aloud O'Henry's story. One of the characters was called Con O'Lantry.
The first language the girls studied was French, and they read the name as {Kong}. Afterwards they told me it means "male member" in French. It made my day
But then I asked them, what they would think of King Kong then. It made theirs.
PS how do they say in the US, for example, "Dick Chaney" and not laugh?
I am afraid the "problem" is not founded. {Kong} does not refer to the "male member" in French. It's not even a word in French.
"con" mean "stupid", or "asshole", or although rarely used, refers to the *feminine* intimate anatomy.
You have been taken for a ride on that one.
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Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:37
Russian to English
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In memoriam | German toilet paper again | Jan 15, 2004 |
Re-opening this thread after nearly a year to report something else about German toilet paper, which already has three or four posts here. Maybe the subject is worth a topic of its own.
The following is from http://www.proz.com/glossary/612040
I need an all-encompassing term that includes restaurants, cafes, diners, etc. What I'm translating is quite funny. It's a small broc... See more Re-opening this thread after nearly a year to report something else about German toilet paper, which already has three or four posts here. Maybe the subject is worth a topic of its own.
The following is from http://www.proz.com/glossary/612040
I need an all-encompassing term that includes restaurants, cafes, diners, etc. What I'm translating is quite funny. It's a small brochure of an advertising company in Germany that offers ads in toilet papers! They claim that because of the high "contact numbers" (contact between human and paper), they can guarantee a high degree of exposure...or in their case, eye-to-skin contact. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Public transport | Jan 16, 2004 |
Few years ago I saw signs in trams and buses in Plzen, Czech republic,translated into English, right next to their original.
They read:
The passenger is in duty bound to mark his ticket by the getting in to the vehicle.
The passenger is in duty bound in ride to fast holding.
We all sure had a problem holding it!
| | | | | 2 Spanish bits | Jan 16, 2004 |
There was a drink, an alcohol free bitter drink that was called Bitter Sin, and so it was advertised all over.
Also, restaurants that use Babelfish to translate their menus get absolutely disaster translations.
For example, pollo con pasas was called "chicken with you happen" in a restaurant near my town. It is actually chicken with raisins, and it tastes really nice, by the way!
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