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Off topic: Atrocious translations! (G>E)
Thread poster: Mary Worby
Sara Noss
Sara Noss  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2006)
French to English
+ ...
Do we ever, Heinrich! Mar 19, 2003

Here in the UK, one of our leading broadsheets is renowned for them. The Guardian, or Teh Gaurdian (as some like to call it)prints a daily Corrections & Clarifications column & has even gone as far as to compile a book of them.



We get it wrong all the time, & sometimes it sounds just right. Recently, a friend (though Lord knows why) told me that I had been \'gulliblized\' ). Well, it made me laugh, at any rate.


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Here in the UK, one of our leading broadsheets is renowned for them. The Guardian, or Teh Gaurdian (as some like to call it)prints a daily Corrections & Clarifications column & has even gone as far as to compile a book of them.



We get it wrong all the time, & sometimes it sounds just right. Recently, a friend (though Lord knows why) told me that I had been \'gulliblized\' ). Well, it made me laugh, at any rate.



I move that gulliblized & gulliblization become part of the english language.



Cheers

Sara.
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Libero_Lang_Lab
Libero_Lang_Lab  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Russian to English
+ ...
Grauniad Mar 19, 2003

As a prowd contributor to this fine nwespapper I can conferm that it is nown to inclde the ocasional errer.





 
Rachel Vanarsdall
Rachel Vanarsdall  Identity Verified
Local time: 04:22
Member (2004)
French to English
from the world of arts and crafts Mar 19, 2003

I was doing a craft project with some friends (yes, at my age) - we were painting glass candle holders, etc. using special glass paint. The black color was called \"black leading\" (as in leaded glass) and it had a French translation: \"noir dominant.\" Took me a minute to work out what that was supposed to mean!

 
sylver
sylver  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:22
English to French
Natives... Mar 20, 2003

Quote:


On 2003-03-19 02:26, hpesch wrote:

Well, tobacco is actually used as a spice too!

Well, most of those blunders are circulating already since the 1980\'s, when I got a compilation including the \"drop your trousers here...\"

I we ridicule people who communicate in foreign languages with tourists we are unjust. Are native English speakers immune against typos and other mistakes?

I am always deligh... See more
Quote:


On 2003-03-19 02:26, hpesch wrote:

Well, tobacco is actually used as a spice too!

Well, most of those blunders are circulating already since the 1980\'s, when I got a compilation including the \"drop your trousers here...\"

I we ridicule people who communicate in foreign languages with tourists we are unjust. Are native English speakers immune against typos and other mistakes?

I am always delighted, when I see typos in Finnish newspapers and advertisements. They assure me, that the \"natives\" make mistakes too.



Nobody said it\'s foreign people only and that they are the ridicule ones. But it just is difficult to share gems like those for language pairs that most people don\'t know on the forum.



I betcha there are some real funny ones between Thai and Vietnamese, but if posted, how many of us would be able to display the fonts, let alone understanding it? I, for one, wouldn\'t.



As for the \"drop your pants here\" one, I actually did see it in one of the laundries in Bkk, about 7-8 months ago, but it is certainly older. Actually, sometimes I believe (want to) that some of thoses bloopers are made on purpose.



Had the place not been expensive, I would have certainly dropped my pants there, to check it out.



Actually, on the other way around, I found out that I have been saying \"I love you\" to a great number of puzzled taxi drivers in my first few months in the country.



Doesn\'t matter. They know farangs(foreigners) are all crazy anyway Collapse


 
IanW (X)
IanW (X)
Local time: 09:22
German to English
+ ...
Occupational hazard Apr 17, 2003

To go back to Mary’s original posting, I think it’s an occupational hazard that we translators are over-sensitive to typos and bad translations. I’ve stopped going to restaurants with a certain colleague of mine because she insists on proof-reading the menu until the kitchen has closed and it’s too late to order.



As for myself, when I lived in Dublin, I used to get the urge to run through the streets with a big black marker, putting in the apostrophes that were missi
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To go back to Mary’s original posting, I think it’s an occupational hazard that we translators are over-sensitive to typos and bad translations. I’ve stopped going to restaurants with a certain colleague of mine because she insists on proof-reading the menu until the kitchen has closed and it’s too late to order.



As for myself, when I lived in Dublin, I used to get the urge to run through the streets with a big black marker, putting in the apostrophes that were missing from shop names such as Murphys and Keanes. Here in Cologne, I now find myself wanting to run untamed through the streets with a family-size bottle of Tipp-Ex, rubbing out all the apostrophes that shouldn’t be there in German!!!

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Lorenzo Lilli
Lorenzo Lilli  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:22
German to Italian
+ ...
just a funny typo Apr 17, 2003

Not an atrocious translation but only a hilarious typo in the menu of a restaurant in Italy. \"First courses\" was translated into German as \"Hautgerichte\", instead of \"Hauptgerichte\". But that means skin courses! Apart from this, I always check menus for mistranslations, although I know I shouldn\'t if I\'m not dining with my colleagues. )

 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 10:22
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
Can typos have a function? Apr 20, 2003

I have many times wondered, why restaurant owners don\'t ask their customers to read through a menu and correct the mistakes, before they are multiplied or printed. Every day dozens of German guests visit any restaurant in let\'s say Tenerife\'s Puerto Cruz. And after all the use of professional translators would not cost very much compared with all the expenses that go into marketing.

But perhaps there is a purpose? A menu with funny mistakes and typos signals: this is a cheap place!
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I have many times wondered, why restaurant owners don\'t ask their customers to read through a menu and correct the mistakes, before they are multiplied or printed. Every day dozens of German guests visit any restaurant in let\'s say Tenerife\'s Puerto Cruz. And after all the use of professional translators would not cost very much compared with all the expenses that go into marketing.

But perhaps there is a purpose? A menu with funny mistakes and typos signals: this is a cheap place! No tie needed!

In Puerto in the same building two adjacent restaurants had almost identically menus. The one was nicely printed and all language versions made buy professionals, no typos. The other one was hand-written and xeroxed, evidently written by locals. The prices in the first place almost twice as high.

Guess, which place was full of customers and which was almost empty? Guess which restaurant we choose? Not the one which hat used professional translators!



Yes, I believe, typos have a function. When you see that those foreigners struggle with your language and get it almost right, you feel superior and are pleased and amused. At the same time you let easier go of your euros. It\'s part of marketing.
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Lorenzo Lilli
Lorenzo Lilli  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:22
German to Italian
+ ...
right Apr 20, 2003

Your theory is not wrong IMO. But sometimes even expensive restaurants have horrible menus! If you understand Italian, have a look at this to roll on floor laughing. http://www.corriere.it/solferino/severgnini/03-04-19/02.spm. Happy Easter!

 
DGK T-I
DGK T-I  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Georgian to English
+ ...
-another sort of usefulness Apr 21, 2003

-and yet typos and translation bloopers can become useful in their own right. The King James translation of the bible from the 1600\'s is said to be one of the great formative influences on the English language, yet some of the phrases in it that have proverbially entered the language, are now said by scholars to be complete mistranslations - but have a beauty or wisdom of their own, eg: \"iron entered into his soul\".



Now I think of it I rather like \"Noir dominant\" as a n
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-and yet typos and translation bloopers can become useful in their own right. The King James translation of the bible from the 1600\'s is said to be one of the great formative influences on the English language, yet some of the phrases in it that have proverbially entered the language, are now said by scholars to be complete mistranslations - but have a beauty or wisdom of their own, eg: \"iron entered into his soul\".



Now I think of it I rather like \"Noir dominant\" as a name......
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DGK T-I
DGK T-I  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Georgian to English
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-another sort of usefulness Apr 21, 2003

I looked it up on the internet in response to Lorenzo\'s enquiry (below! -with the help of time travel) and it originally occurred in:

Psalm 105:1-22 (about Joseph son of Jacob)

http://www.oremus.org/bible/browser.cgi?passage=Psalm%20105:1-22&vnum=yes&version=bcp

(King James translation 1611 and versions following it).


<
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I looked it up on the internet in response to Lorenzo\'s enquiry (below! -with the help of time travel) and it originally occurred in:

Psalm 105:1-22 (about Joseph son of Jacob)

http://www.oremus.org/bible/browser.cgi?passage=Psalm%20105:1-22&vnum=yes&version=bcp

(King James translation 1611 and versions following it).



Explaination follows Lorenzo\'s posting....

[ This Message was edited by: giulik on 2003-04-21 21:28]
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Lorenzo Lilli
Lorenzo Lilli  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:22
German to Italian
+ ...
iron? Apr 21, 2003

what do you mean by \"iron entered into his soul\"? What did the original text actually mean?

 
DGK T-I
DGK T-I  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Georgian to English
+ ...
what was "the iron entered into his soul" meant to be translated as.... Apr 21, 2003

Quote:


On 2003-04-21 15:03, Lorenz wrote:

what do you mean by \"iron entered into his soul\"? What did the original text actually mean?





I have always taken it as describing a certain sort of lasting change in state of mind, mood or attitude, easier to recognize than to describe in words, but which might sometimes arise from enduring adverse circumstances, possibly strengthening, but not neces... See more
Quote:


On 2003-04-21 15:03, Lorenz wrote:

what do you mean by \"iron entered into his soul\"? What did the original text actually mean?





I have always taken it as describing a certain sort of lasting change in state of mind, mood or attitude, easier to recognize than to describe in words, but which might sometimes arise from enduring adverse circumstances, possibly strengthening, but not necessarily entirely positive for, the \"inner person\" \' (not exactly \"the lighter side of trans-interp\", I fear).



- The proverb came about by accident on the basis that it must mean something, and it fitted a state of mind that people recognized and seemed to suit the context.

In our time the proverb is (or was until recently?!) more widely known than where it exactly came from.



Apparently it is now thought to have been meant to mean just, \"his neck was chained\", or \"his neck was chained with an iron collar\", or \"he was placed in irons\"[chains].



(In answer to your question) I found an internet page listing 10 versions of the line from the medieval Latin \"Vulgate\" to the present day, and although the King James translation of 1611 isn\'t mentioned, the two versions that use the same as it, are based on it (including the 1662 Coverdale)

http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/versions/1050950056-2008.html#18



(The history of translation of the bible into English at different times is quite complicated involving as it does all kinds of original Aramaic, Hebrew, Alexandrian Greek, early AD Greek and later Latin versions, of different sorts and times, with more modern comparisons with Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Gothic and Ethiopian versions....)



Best wishes

Giuli



[ This Message was edited by: giulik on 2003-04-21 23:53]

[ This Message was edited by: giulik on 2003-04-23 22:00] ▲ Collapse


 
DGK T-I
DGK T-I  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Georgian to English
+ ...
what was Apr 21, 2003



[ This Message was edited by: giulik on 2003-04-21 22:20]


 
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Atrocious translations! (G>E)






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