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Off topic: Mis-translations and cross-cultural howlers Penyiaran jaluran : Dan_Brennan
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FreePro Local time: 04:31 Bahasa Inggeris hingga Bahasa Jerman + ... "Italian" brand name for a toilet paper | Jan 20, 2004 |
Jack Doughty wrote:
When I was in Cologne in the RAF in 1959, there was a brand of German toilet paper named "BUM" on sale there. Some people who visited us for a holiday bought several rolls of it to give to their friends in England.
Jack, that was lovely! Many a time, I was considering to write a a collection of all the hilarious names product managers sometimes come up with. I used to do a lot of translations of brand names (or finding new ones) for English companies launching new products in other markets. My favourite one in Italy (I live in Florence meanwhile) is a name they have given to a toilet paper. It is called "Grand Finale". | | |
FreePro Local time: 04:31 Bahasa Inggeris hingga Bahasa Jerman + ... Movie translations | Jan 20, 2004 |
murat karahan wrote:
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.
I commiserate with you
About 15 years ago, there was a US documentary to be put on German TV I was to evaluate for a client... The subject matter: "Moonshine" (in the US this is the illegally produced alcohol, especially in the "Hillbilly" country "back yonder". I used to live in the 'Lone Star' State Texas for a few years and thus knew all about that little side business, ha-ha. Anyway, the original translator had obviously no idea what Moonshine was and confused it with Moonlighting (which in German is "Schwarzarbeit". Again, something illegal, but so far removed from the original!)
I had a real fun time reading the script, since it contained the equivalent of moonlighting every time the "moonshine" was mentioned. If this had been aired in the way it was, I seriously doubt any viewer would have understood the documentary at all. The reaction would have been "Ah, these Americans, strange people!" | | |
nyamuk Amerika Syarikat Local time: 20:31 Bahasa Indonesia hingga Bahasa Inggeris + ... poo poo platter | Feb 2, 2004 |
http://www.proz.com/glossary/612040
"What I'm translating is quite funny. It's a 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."
I hope someone bothered to inform this fellow that braille is read w... See more http://www.proz.com/glossary/612040
"What I'm translating is quite funny. It's a 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."
I hope someone bothered to inform this fellow that braille is read with the fingers and not the bum.
A delivery van in Singapore with the company name:
'Tak Sing Enterprise'
A no littering sign in Indonesia planted in a traffic island near independence square:
'Please don't throw away garbage here, put it correctly in this place.'
`correctly in this place' should have been 'in its proper place'
On a sign for a barber shop in Ubud, Bali:
'Thank you for your come'
In Indonesia the mini van drivers pull out all the stops decorating their carriages. On the road from Jakarta to Sukabumi there is one with a little piece sign and the word 'PISS' painted on front back and both sides windows. While I know that ID "i" = EN "ee" the fact that the lettering was bright yellow left doubts in my mind.
In Charlottesville Virginia (USA) a menu entry:
'Happy burning family'
Could they mean the poo-poo platter?
Did anyone mention the ever popular American Chevy Nova? Also a huge success in Mexico when marketed there. Locals understand 'No va' to mean 'doesn't go' oops!
When I was a child my grandfather used to pinch my nose and then showing me his thumb protruding from the index finger and middle finger would say "here it is!" My daughter tried it on her grandfather, who is an Indonesian. The pinch went okay but then when she gave him the universal (in Indonesia) sign for f*ck you and said "Here it is!" he was deeply impressed. I reassured him that there where no mistakes that weren't accidental mistakes.
The following happened in my family when I was a child but didn't get passed the moderator here last time I posted it:
When I was young we used to do a Trans Atlantic house swap. One day we got a call from the mother of the family staying in our house. She had heard the across the street neighbour call out to his daughter: "Young lady get in here right now! When I get done with you your fanny will be black and blue!"
My mother didn't help matters by reassuring the caller:"oh don't worry he's just like that."
[Edited at 2004-02-02 03:09] ▲ Collapse | | |
Irene Caporale (X) Local time: 04:31 Bahasa Sepanyol hingga Bahasa Itali + ... thanks for the laugh! | Feb 29, 2004 |
Rachel Vanarsdall wrote:
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!\"
Hahahahaha! That\'s quite true actually!
Amancio Iglesias wrote:
For example, pollo con pasas was called \"chicken with you happen\" in a restaurant near my town.
I saw something identical on a menu in Barcelona! I bet they used the same tool to translate it! | |
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izy Local time: 03:31 Bahasa Inggeris hingga Bahasa Jerman + ... not to forget.. | Feb 29, 2004 |
"Bimbo Bread
(bimbo = a woman of loose morals"
..the 'Moron' driving school (also seen in Spain)!
[Edited at 2004-02-29 19:24] | | |
Why shouldn't you walk on the grass in Rome? | Apr 13, 2004 |
Well, in Piazza Bologna, if you do, you'll be
"PERSECUTED ACCORDING TO THE LAW" | | |
Katherine Zei Kanada Local time: 22:31 Bahasa Itali hingga Bahasa Inggeris + ... Words fail me | May 3, 2004 |
Angela Arnone wrote:
"Life with Alessi design. Italian wind to colour japanese life"
Who knows, maybe Italian wind is a valuable commodity in Japan! Particularly the wind that is produced after an Italian has eaten multiple servings of cazzoeula!
That is hilarious; I can't believe a globally well known company like Alessi made such a huge international boo-boo. | | |
Maria Belarra Sepanyol Local time: 04:31 Bahasa Perancis hingga Bahasa Sepanyol + ... Not possible!! | May 9, 2004 |
Dan Brennan wrote:
Cafe Bonka - the Spanish coffee that does wonders for your libido...
(to bonk = to have sex)
particular when washing down a slice or two of, that other Spanish favorite:
Bimbo Bread
(bimbo = a woman of loose morals)
You just ruined my breakfast!!
[Edited at 2004-05-09 22:51] | |
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It doesn't always have to be the translations... | Jul 27, 2004 |
German toilet paper manufacturers are quite inventive when it comes to naming their "babies": Another brand of TP is called "Danke" ("Thank you") - ugh. ;D | | |
Nathalie Altman Kanada Local time: 22:31 Bahasa Inggeris hingga Bahasa Perancis More from Canada | Oct 26, 2004 |
Hello everyone,
I just read all the messages in this forum and thank you for your contributions! Thank God for humor.
Here are a couple of my favorites:
A butcher shop in Toronto's Chinatown is called "Happy Meat Market". I always wondered about the "happy meat" part...
And of course there are wonders like
Made in Turkey / Fabriqué en Dinde (which I actually saw)
and
Folding Baby Stroller / Poussette pour... See more Hello everyone,
I just read all the messages in this forum and thank you for your contributions! Thank God for humor.
Here are a couple of my favorites:
A butcher shop in Toronto's Chinatown is called "Happy Meat Market". I always wondered about the "happy meat" part...
And of course there are wonders like
Made in Turkey / Fabriqué en Dinde (which I actually saw)
and
Folding Baby Stroller / Poussette pour bébé pliant
Cheers!
Nathalie ▲ Collapse | | |
Gayle Wallimann Local time: 04:31 Ahli (2004) Bahasa Perancis hingga Bahasa Inggeris + ... |
awilliams United Kingdom Local time: 03:31 Bahasa Itali hingga Bahasa Inggeris + ...
Gayle - you've had me rolling on the floor. The entire site seems to be (I hope!) a machine translation.
My personal favourites from other restaurants on the site:
Tartare to the two salmons
Plate frozen in the agenaise
...not forgetting the name of one restaurant, Le BOUCHON du MARAIS, which loses something in translation: "The CORK of the Swamp".
Excellent. | |
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NancyLynn Kanada Local time: 22:31 Bahasa Perancis hingga Bahasa Inggeris + ... Penyelaras forum ini
I liked The Restoration is from 12:00 o'clock to 15:00 o'clock
And here I thought the Restoration took place in 1660
Too funny, Gayle, thanks!
Nancy | | |
Lingo Pros Amerika Syarikat Local time: 22:31 Bahasa Farsi hingga Bahasa Inggeris + ... Iranian BARF washing powder | Feb 24, 2005 |
PAS wrote:
I have the packaging from an Iranian laundry detergent that went by the catchy name of \"Barf\"...
It was imported to Poland in the late communist or perhaps early capitalist days, so probably that fine example of Persian marketing went unnoticed by most.
Pawel
'Barf' means 'Snow' in Persian. I remember the product. The company meant the foam created by using the washing powder was as gentle as snow flakes or something like that.
'Tide'came later. I guess "The periodic, rhythmic rise and fall of the sea surface that results from the gravity of the moon and sun acting on the rotating Earth" washed the 'Barf' out of the market.
[Edited at 2005-02-24 12:32] | | |
NancyLynn Kanada Local time: 22:31 Bahasa Perancis hingga Bahasa Inggeris + ... Penyelaras forum ini BARF - the detergent for mothers of newborns | Feb 24, 2005 |
what? I thought that was perfect
Nancy | | |
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