| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9] > | Off topic: What is the funniest mistake you have come across when proofreading? Thread poster: Paul Dixon
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Juan Jacob 
Mexico
Local time: 00:14
French to Spanish
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Made in Turkey would be, in Brazilian Portuguese, Made in Peru.
Perfect!
| | | | | That's very interesting | Nov 28, 2008 |
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
turkey (the bird) = peru
Peru (the country) = Peru
I didn't know it.
| | | | Verse 5B (X)
Local time: 08:14
English to Serbian
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I found a translation into Serbian :
"Ravno iz konjskih usta"
referring to the idiom " Straight from the horse's mouth", which in fact means " first-hand"
but they translated it incorrectly, and it reads like it is literally a horse that had something fall out of his mouth or something originated literally in a horse's mouth ( the animal).
Another one : A genius girl was supposed to translate the word " kuče" into English, and it me... See more I found a translation into Serbian :
"Ravno iz konjskih usta"
referring to the idiom " Straight from the horse's mouth", which in fact means " first-hand"
but they translated it incorrectly, and it reads like it is literally a horse that had something fall out of his mouth or something originated literally in a horse's mouth ( the animal).
Another one : A genius girl was supposed to translate the word " kuče" into English, and it means a pup ( a baby dog). She translated it as a " puppet"
[Edited at 2008-12-04 14:19 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Andrea Riffo
Chile
Local time: 02:14
English to Spanish
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I saw this not 1 hour ago:
English:
"I'll bring out my 80's songbook. I'm thinking Wham!"
(Spanish) translation:
"Traeré mi cancionero de los 80. Dénles duro"
(The translator apparently has no clue that Wham! is the name of a hit 80's band, and took it to mean "hit them hard" or something along those lines. My guess is that it was an extremely young translator... honestly, how can anyone NOT remember "wake me up, before yo... See more I saw this not 1 hour ago:
English:
"I'll bring out my 80's songbook. I'm thinking Wham!"
(Spanish) translation:
"Traeré mi cancionero de los 80. Dénles duro"
(The translator apparently has no clue that Wham! is the name of a hit 80's band, and took it to mean "hit them hard" or something along those lines. My guess is that it was an extremely young translator... honestly, how can anyone NOT remember "wake me up, before you go-go", whether they are willing to admit it in public or not )
Andrea ▲ Collapse
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:14
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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| Horrible translation on a local product | Jan 24, 2009 |
The other day I ate my favorite chili flavored crisps ( chips).
It is originally a local product, and it seems like they are exporting it, as I found translations into several languages printed at the back of the chips bag.
The English translation was terrible. I can recall one part of it, it read something like :
" Do not contain additives. " referring to the chips itself. ( instead of does not contain additives).
What a major one !
<... See more The other day I ate my favorite chili flavored crisps ( chips).
It is originally a local product, and it seems like they are exporting it, as I found translations into several languages printed at the back of the chips bag.
The English translation was terrible. I can recall one part of it, it read something like :
" Do not contain additives. " referring to the chips itself. ( instead of does not contain additives).
What a major one !
Imagine a target English customer reading " do not contain additives". Hell, not sure what I contain, it must be inspected !
* laughs *
[Edited at 2009-01-24 10:38 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:14
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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| Not in this context | Jan 24, 2009 |
Mikhail Kropotov wrote:
Aren't chips plural?
I wish I had the bag here to retype their translation for you to see. It read approx. like this :
" Product tested. ... Do not contain additives. "
It was a string of sentences all in singular referring to " it" as a subject, that is " it " = the product, or the bag ( rather than chips in plural ). Btw, I have never seen this type of writing in plural , with a product description ?
Believe me, this was a major one. Very sad.
| | | | Ulrike G.
Local time: 08:14
Member (2006)
English to German
| Must have been a machine translation... | Mar 11, 2009 |
From a list of instructions of a computer program:
English: Enter the hour.
German 'translation': Geben Sie die Uhr. = Give me the watch.
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Jan Willem van Dormolen (X)
Netherlands
Local time: 08:14
English to Dutch
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| Maybe not the funniest, but still... | Mar 23, 2009 |
In a text about insulation that was translated from German into English, I found the term 'betrayed clamps'.
???
Ah, 'verzinkte Klammern'!
Did this translator ever hear about a little thing called 'context'? (And no, this is not a machine translation)
(For those who do not speak German, 'verzinken' means both 'galvanizing' and 'betraying'.)
| | | | Anna Katikhina
United States
Local time: 23:14
English to Russian
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In a text about a children's party: "chocolate bras" instead of "chocolate bars". When correcting the misprint added a note "No wonder the parents enjoyed that party so much"
Oh and one more... not about translation, but still. This happened when I worked as a language tutor. It was one of my first lessons, I was explaining something to one of my students (a rather important manager at a large company) in English, a... See more In a text about a children's party: "chocolate bras" instead of "chocolate bars". When correcting the misprint added a note "No wonder the parents enjoyed that party so much"
Oh and one more... not about translation, but still. This happened when I worked as a language tutor. It was one of my first lessons, I was explaining something to one of my students (a rather important manager at a large company) in English, and I had to name a sum of money (5 pounds 50p). For some reason at that very moment I called it neither "fifty [pi:]", nor "fifty pence", but "fifty pennies"... Well just imagine my expression after the man asked "fifty- what?". ▲ Collapse
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Spanish movie with Czech subtitles.
When mom after returning home from work told her daughter, who looked really terrible goes something like:
"Te ves muy mal. Estas hecha una sopa.", the Czech subtitles read "You look very bad. Have you eaten soup?"
[Edited at 2009-04-14 20:46 GMT]
| | | | Ellis Jongsma
Netherlands
Local time: 08:14
Member (2006)
English to Dutch
| In a text about healthy capsules with Omega-3... | May 1, 2009 |
...the "capsules" were translated into Dutch with "kapsels" (means hairdo's).
Also, the fish that produce omega-3 live in "schollen" (plaices, a kind of fish) instead of "scholen" (schools).
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| On the label of a shirt | May 1, 2009 |
I wasn't even proofreading, just doing my laundry! Many items of clothing sold in North America have washing instructions in English, French, and Spanish. The label in one of my shirts said "Machine wash cold. Tumble dry low." (perfect English) The French instructions, however, read, ".....la degringolade seche......" Even with the English right there, it took me a moment to realize what the French instructions meant. (And I was so surprised, I don't remember what the Spanish instructions sa... See more I wasn't even proofreading, just doing my laundry! Many items of clothing sold in North America have washing instructions in English, French, and Spanish. The label in one of my shirts said "Machine wash cold. Tumble dry low." (perfect English) The French instructions, however, read, ".....la degringolade seche......" Even with the English right there, it took me a moment to realize what the French instructions meant. (And I was so surprised, I don't remember what the Spanish instructions said.)
"La degringolade" means a tumble, as in taking a tumble, or falling. "Tumble dry" is to dry something in an automatic dryer. Usually the labels say "secher a culbutage" (dry by tumbling.)
I've just spent the last few minutes trying to write about the various uses of "tumble" and "culbutage" and "culbuter" in English and French, intending to point out that the words also have a similar sexual connotation. (Give someone a tumble/culbuter quelqu'un). The English is somewhat old-fashioned, and I think the French is, too.) If I'm wrong about the French, please do correct me.
Kathryn ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Them meddling porpoises! | May 4, 2009 |
Recently I was proofreading a website that said: "for demonstration porpoises only!" and a bit further on "there is no low that banes smoking"
The first one was easy to decipher, but the second one took me a few minutes to figure out
The trouble is, all those words are perfectly legit, so a spell checker won't underline them! My poor (not-a-translator) colleague didn't stand a chance against those loud prote... See more Recently I was proofreading a website that said: "for demonstration porpoises only!" and a bit further on "there is no low that banes smoking"
The first one was easy to decipher, but the second one took me a few minutes to figure out
The trouble is, all those words are perfectly legit, so a spell checker won't underline them! My poor (not-a-translator) colleague didn't stand a chance against those loud protesting porpoises! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Shows and showers | May 5, 2009 |
Found a few months ago while proofreading the biography of a famous singer-songwriter:
The original said: "When touring today, he still undertakes 10 shows a month", the Spanish translation read: "Hoy día, cuando está de gira, todavía toma 10 duchas al mes" (i.e.: "he still takes 10 showers a month")
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