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Off topic: What is the funniest mistake you have come across when proofreading? Thread poster: Paul Dixon
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Paul Dixon 
Brazil
Local time: 06:27
Portuguese to English
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My contribution:
(In a text about oil pumping systems)
One control panel capable of controlling and protecting the pimps below.
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David Russi
United States
Local time: 03:27
English to Spanish
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| I've seen many, but this one always comes to mind | Nov 20, 2008 |
Button on an otherwise very clean, well translated user interface
Cagar (missing an r in Cargar = Download)... turned into Spanish for Shit.
[Edited at 2008-11-20 15:00 GMT]
[Edited at 2008-11-20 15:00 GMT]
[Edited at 2008-11-20 15:01 GMT]
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TradRus
Spain
Local time: 11:27
Member (2007)
Spanish to Russian
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| My contribution | Nov 20, 2008 |
"the mother of the board of the computer"
(actually, "computer motherboard" as you may have guessed ) )
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Jan Willem van Dormolen (X)
Netherlands
Local time: 11:27
English to Dutch
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| Terms and conditions | Nov 20, 2008 |
'Na deze periode heeft de klant geen recht meer op prostitutie'
'After this period, the client has no right anymore to prostitution'
Apparently, the Dutch spellchecker of MS Word doesn't recognize the word 'restitutie' (refund), so it (significantly?) changes it into the slightly similar looking word 'prostitutie'.
That's why I never use the spellchecker. My eyes aren't infallible, but I trust them way more than MS.
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| a hot financial statement | Nov 20, 2008 |
the translator forgot a "s" : instead of "baisse" (for "decrease"), which gave "baise"...in French it means fu**.
I just can imagine the French investors' faces if they had read that in the Bank's annual accounts...:lol:
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texjax DDS PhD
Local time: 05:27
Member (2006)
English to Italian
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 02:27
English to German
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In memoriam | Logistics vs. gardening | Nov 20, 2008 |
A gem that a cherished, yet understandably frustrated colleague just sent me:
INTERPLANT FREIGHT
PFLANZEN SIE FRACHT DAZWISCHEN (plant some freight in between)
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Hynek Palatin
Czech Republic
Local time: 11:27
Member (2003)
English to Czech
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| Lightning staff | Nov 20, 2008 |
was translated as "lighting personnel". The translator did not have a clue about computer games.
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Andrea Riffo
Chile
Local time: 05:27
English to Spanish
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1) "lecho de locas (bed of madwomen)" where it should've said "lecho de rocas (bed of rocks)"
- locas = madwomen / rocas = rocks
And my personal favourite:
2) "Estamos satisfechos con las maracas (we are happy with the whores)" where it should've said "Estamos satisfechos con las marcas (we are happy with the brands)"
- maracas = slang for "whores" / marcas = brands
Andrea
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I had a translation about a flower show where they were calculating the man hours for setting up the arrangements.
The translator had translated the Dutch "manuren" (man hours) into manure - to which I added the comment "not at a sweet smelling flower show"!!!
Andrea
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Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 12:27
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| One of my typical blunders | Nov 20, 2008 |
When writing Finnish I often wright "keksi = cookie" instead of "keski = middle", so I get all kind of combination with cookie.
In Finnish it is especially easy to change meaning completely by changing a single letter.
[Bearbeitet am 2008-11-20 16:36 GMT]
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| No clues about languages! | Nov 20, 2008 |
Che ne dite di queste due? Giuro che sono vere!
grand father e' diventato grandioso padre
e
son of late Mario Bianchi figlio del ritardato Mario Bianchi
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| This may not be understood by non-francophones | Nov 20, 2008 |
One of the funniest that I can remember was in an environmental assessment report. The phrase to be translated was "field sampling", which basically means sampling on the terrain. The translation was "échantillonnage dans le champ", which is a very literal translation. If I backtranslated it into English, it would still be "sampling in the field", but the intended meaning of field is terrain and not field as in field of periwinkles (the meaning of field in Fre... See more One of the funniest that I can remember was in an environmental assessment report. The phrase to be translated was "field sampling", which basically means sampling on the terrain. The translation was "échantillonnage dans le champ", which is a very literal translation. If I backtranslated it into English, it would still be "sampling in the field", but the intended meaning of field is terrain and not field as in field of periwinkles (the meaning of field in French is not a terrain, but rather a field, like a field of periwinkles). There is an expression in Quebec, "être dans le champ", which basically means to be confused. So, most people in Quebec would have understood it as confused sampling. The translator was from Quebec alright - but still, it seems he was a bit, erm... confused...
For the record, the correct translation would have been "prélèvement d'échantillons sur le terrain".
[Edited at 2008-11-20 16:47 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Elías Sauza
Mexico
Local time: 03:27
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
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In a chidren's elementary school book:
"Cut the pie" was translated as "Cortar el pie" = Cut the foot
Luckily I caught this one. Otherwise, a table or a child could have ended without a foot...
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biankonera
Latvia
Local time: 12:27
Italian to Latvian
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| This comes to mind | Nov 20, 2008 |
"Indian summer" translated in Latvian with the meaning = "summer of indians". Was laughing all day I must admit
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