| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Off topic: Atrocious translations! (G>E) Thread poster: Mary Worby
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MJ Barber 
Spain
Local time: 22:42
Spanish to English
+ ...
... but not necessarily one for all the family
Take a piece of poetry, a newpaper article, speech, whatever. Run it through babelfish (preferably into some language you have some knowledge of), and then back into the original. It\'s a type of Chinese whispers and the results are often splendid.
One I saw done was Princess Diana\'s famous \'Queen of Hearts\' interview with Martin Bashir. Anyway, at one stage, she said that she felt that \'the whole countr... See more ... but not necessarily one for all the family
Take a piece of poetry, a newpaper article, speech, whatever. Run it through babelfish (preferably into some language you have some knowledge of), and then back into the original. It\'s a type of Chinese whispers and the results are often splendid.
One I saw done was Princess Diana\'s famous \'Queen of Hearts\' interview with Martin Bashir. Anyway, at one stage, she said that she felt that \'the whole country was working together with her\'. This, translated into whichever language and back again into English, came out as \'I felt the whole country was on the job with me\'. Laugh? I nearly had an accident. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Castle in the sky... | Jun 26, 2003 |
Rossana Triaca wrote:
One is "Laputa" (which in spanish is equivalent to "Thewhore")...
Probably named after the castle in the Japanese animated film Castle in the Sky, which in turn borrowed its name from a floating castle in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
Swift fully realized the Spanish meaning of the name when he used it in his satirical work; unfortunately, Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese animator who borrowed the name for his film, didn't. And I'd suppose the same is true for the Japanese automakers who borrowed it for their car...
| | | | | Fifteen years later, things haven't improved | Jun 1, 2018 |
This is photo of part of the menu seen in a 4-star hotel in Barcelona. Does anyone fancy some coconut's grout crumple?
| | | | mariealpilles
France
Local time: 22:42
Member (2014)
English to French
+ ...
| atrocious translations | Jun 2, 2018 |
That happens because people are trying to cut costs and rather than entrusting the job to a professional, they ask a "bilingual" secretary to do so, or worse make use of machine translations which cost them Nothing. when i come across something like that I usually decide to write to the authority in charge, in a very diplomatic way, and sometimes I get a positive answer....
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 22:42
French to English
| My personal experience | Jun 2, 2018 |
I once offered to correct the mistakes (for free) in a restaurant we often went to. The waiter/owner actually told me he didn't want it to be perfect, in case people thought that he'd then be able to understand tricky questions.
Indeed, making out you speak English well can cause problems. Like once in a small town in Sweden, where the only eatery open on a Sunday was a burger joint. I asked the girl behind the counter if she spoke English (only to warn her that I was about to do s... See more I once offered to correct the mistakes (for free) in a restaurant we often went to. The waiter/owner actually told me he didn't want it to be perfect, in case people thought that he'd then be able to understand tricky questions.
Indeed, making out you speak English well can cause problems. Like once in a small town in Sweden, where the only eatery open on a Sunday was a burger joint. I asked the girl behind the counter if she spoke English (only to warn her that I was about to do so, since everyone I had encountered up to then spoke wonderful English). She said she did, so I asked whether they had any vegetarian food. That drew a complete blank! Of course she was expecting me to say "one cheeseburger and a large Coke" and her English obviously didn't go anywhere further than that. ▲ Collapse
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