• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Lost In Translation / Engrish

Translation and the relation which are bad there it seems like the bundle of the city legend which is attached. As for the following link using the online translator, you describe someone's recent example foolishly in order to translate the travelling pamphlet. Obedience "the private record predicate no person of the reader who is done?" of model somewhere story which is the leaf of good urban legend was heard.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3186936.stm
 
A friend saw ' Do not lean out of the window while asleep' on a train in Thailand!
 
cosmicbaby said:
"Jam and Cheese"

mmmmmm Ham + Cheese + Jam! urrrrghhhhh /Homer
Hey, that might actually work in a breakfast sandwich sorta way!
 
There's a Chinese near where I work where they sell "Vegetarian Crispy Duck - Fried Marinated Flour."
 
When some Russians translated "out of sight, out of mind", it came back as someone locked away in a mental institution!
 
these are very, very funny.
However I find that there is nothing funnier than the great transatlantic mistranslation of the word "fag". I'm sure all of you Brits know this by now. Never, ever ask a Yank if he would "fancy a quick fag?"
If he says yes you will not get what you asked for.

---'goblin (not to be confused with "gobbling" which is yet another transatlantic mistranslation):D
 
There's a local chinese takeaway with some classic mispellings on the menu.

There's 'Thai Fry Rice Noodle' - makes me expect one giant noodle. :)

And some main course or other for which the descriptive text unrevealing reads: 'All in one big dish'.

Its worth noting that any dish 'can be enlarge or smalled' on request.

I love chinese food tho'...
:cool:
 
When I was working as an English teacher in Guatemala one of my kids wanted to write "I take a shirt" but missed out the 'r', perfectly good grammar but I just didn't have the courage to do anything other than scribble the 'r' in there...Of course, he could have known all along what it meant and just wanted to see what my reaction was...but I doubt it. Anyway, it gave me a good laugh.
 
When You Care Enough To Give the Very Best Shit?

Why do we say, "take a shit", when it is quite obviously giving one, and "give a shit" when it means we care?
 
Here are some more

http://www.rinkworks.com/said/language.shtml

My favorites from the foreign menus section:

  • "Children soup." -- From a menu in India.
  • "'Boys style' little chickens." -- From a menu in Barcelona.
  • "Rather burnt land slug." -- On a menu in Thailand.
  • "Sweat from the trolley." -- From a menu in Europe.
  • "Strawberry crap." -- From a menu in Japan.

The whole site is really funny. Home page is here.
 
For some reason, the editors at the Gainesville Sun (Gainesville FL) cannot figure out the difference between "defuse" and "diffuse". This leads to tension situations being spread around rather than resolved.
 
hedgewizard said:
For some reason, the editors at the Gainesville Sun (Gainesville FL) cannot figure out the difference between "defuse" and "diffuse". This leads to tension situations being spread around rather than resolved.

ever thought of sending them a dictionary/thesaurus then? :D
 
Thesaurus? A big lizard?

I pretty much figured that, this being a college town and all, that someone there already had one.
 
its proberly being used to keep a door open :D
 
Wow

Asonishingly warped; I love it. A Frenchman and his shovel, eh? And yet he coyly claims at the very end to be but a Part-Time Shovel Lover.

One wonders if Mr. Shovel knows who Mrs. Shovel is stepping out with?
 
There is a place near my home called

Dr. (inser name here) & Ass

meaning in french Associé


I dont know why Doctors and professionals dont think it could sound wierd to have their offices called something like
Dr. Rober & Ass
 
In Germany

there is a company called ASS and their logo is that word inside a heart-shape, so obviously they know and mean it that way.
 
I'm a bit slow. A Chinese round our way informed its customers by way of a hand-written poster in the window that "We close now for renolvation". I did wonder what that rinvolved... Also, on the Greek island of Thassos three years ago, I was offered a "Roast Local Kid on a spit". I declined politely, but the shifty-looking German fellow and his boyfriend both ordered it...
 
From the World Wide Words newsletter:
Book review: In Other Words
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This book was first published in North America and has now become
available from Oxford University Press in the UK. It presents some
intriguing examples of words from other languages for which English
has no good equivalents - the author, Christopher Moore, calls them
"untranslatables".

The author's intention is to say something about the culture of the
originating language group though the mental associations certain
words evoke for native speakers - associations that cause problems
for translators. For example, he argues that Spanish "duende" for a
quality of passion and inspiration, especially in the performing
arts, has no good English equivalent. In Arabic, it seems, "bukra"
literally means "tomorrow", but it really refers to an
indeterminate future in comparison to which Spanish "mañ;ana" is
urgent.

In some cases, English has got around the difficulties by taking
over the word and its associations as a job lot. For example, the
Irish "craic" literally means "chat", but that doesn't begin to
describe the mixture of fun, laughter, music, storytelling and good
company that's really understood and which has resulted in the word
becoming widely known in Britain and beyond. Though Chinese "feng
shui" would need a long paraphrase to render it in English, we've
got around the problem by taking over the original.

Many of the examples are wryly humorous, such as "Drachenfutter",
"dragon fodder", the peace offering German husbands make to their
wives when they have engaged in some inappropriate behaviour. The
Italian "attaccabottone", for a boring person from whom it is
impossible to escape, lacks a good English equivalent. In Tierra
del Fuego, a "mamihlapinatapei" is a shared private and unspoken
moment "when each knows the other understands and is in agreement
with what is being expressed".

It's a slim volume, with some small things to think about, but with
the cultural background for each word severely constrained by the
brief entry given to each. It's worth considering for browsing, but
for a more meaty look at untranslatable words, Howard Rheingold's
They Have a Word For It (see http://quinion.com?THAW) is worth a
considering.

[C J Moore, In Other Words: A Language Lover's Guide to the Most
Intriguing Words Around the World, Oxford University Press; 31
March 2005; hardback, pp127; ISBN 0192806246; publisher's UK price
£9.99; available in the USA from Walker & Company, ISBN 0802714447
and in Canada from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, ISBN 1550418645]

ONLINE BOOKSTORE PRICES FOR THIS BOOK
Amazon USA: US$10.50 (http://quinion.com?M94G)
Amazon Canada: CDN$15.16 (http://quinion.com?M39A)
Amazon UK: GBP6.99 (http://quinion.com?M24K)
Amazon Germany: EUR16,50 (http://quinion.com?M66J)
Barnes & Noble: US$11.20 (http://quinion.com?M71X)
 
rynner said:
Many of the examples are wryly humorous, such as "Drachenfutter", "dragon fodder", the peace offering German husbands make to their wives when they have engaged in some inappropriate behaviour.
dragon food n. Chocolates bought for her indoors when one is in the c*nt book. 'Sh*t, I've been out on the p*ss for three days. I'd better stop by the garage and pick up some dragon food before I get home.'

- 'Roger's Profanisaurus', p. 62
 
I know there's something slightly Burke-and-Hareish about resurrecting a thread that's lain undisturbed for a year, but one of the comments on the "Tattoo UL" thread reminded me of this.

The following picture is of the back window of my car. Someone in Japan has obviously thought that the car wasn't sporty enough or something, and that what it really needed was a sort of "mission statement" for following drivers to see and admire.
blokenengrish.jpg

What's going on here? Is it a haiku-like form of verse? Where or what is Dandism? Sounds like a euphemism for "gaiety" or some such. In a way, it's probably like the tattoos on the thread I mentioned - to young Japanese motorists, the above probably seems exotic rather than daft.

Anyone have any other examples of this sort of stuff on things they own?
 
Isn't dandism the same as foppery? Do you wear a ruff?
 
gncxx said:
Isn't dandism the same as foppery? Do you wear a ruff?
I think that should be dandyism, then, but even so, I'm not sure if Toyota think I should be driving around dressed as Adam Ant, or something - "I am the dandy highwayman..." etc! And anyhow, ruffs are so last year, luvvie! Never mind that, though - what the flip does "mature sporty personal" mean?
 
It's not just the mangled, almost random words; it's the fact that they stuck it in the rear windscreen that gets me.

Although I suppose it's as normal as putting it on your bicep.
 
Maybe there's a knowing element to it, like the manufacturer figured it would sell better with some strategically placed Engrish on the rear window?
 
I collect interesting versions of English. From a box of Banghui Brand bandages I purchased is the following set of instructions (all spelling, capitalization, punctuation is exactly as on the package):

Suitable Range:
- The production is mainly used for sticking the nonsignificant cut and protecting the Transfusion's Needle and concerned Hole Attention Details:
- The production is sealed asepsis goods, if there are any broken packing, or the Asepsis Function Duration is out of date, don't use it anyway.
- After removing the packing, Touch the Middle Layer with hand is forbidden!
- The production is sticky permanently & strongly ,please replace it everyday for keeping the cut's sanitation.
- If you are sensitive to the use, stop it at once.
- Refers to Shelf Life, Making Date, and Bath No., please read the Insert Mouth.
 
Just read this section and laughed until my eyes bled about the 'sponsored wank'.
'Tis rather amusing when it all goes wrong for the writers of such newspaper entries. :twisted:
 
Back
Top