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Thread poster: Jan Willem van Dormolen
Off topic: Added in translation, or, lost in review

Jan Willem van Dormolen  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 18:05
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Aug 1, 2011

Last week, on holidays in England, I visited Anne Hathaway's Cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon. They had explanation cards available in several languages, so the guide gave my wife and me a Dutch version.
This was at the end of it:

Poor translator, did everything right, but this time the reviewer messed up...

Here's a translation of the footnote:
Note from the translator to the proofreader: The English text has "Museum Room", but on the signs in the house it says "Exhibition Room. Please remove this note after proofreading.

When I told the guide about this, he laughed out loud and told me they had been handing out this very text for many, many years, and noone up to then had ever said anything.
He was a good sport and let me keep the text (which visitors were supposed to hand back after visiting).


[Bijgewerkt op 2011-08-01 18:02 GMT]


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escarpment
Germany
:D Aug 1, 2011



great story...
You have to wrap these two around your text in order to get a link... btw.


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Marie-Claude Falardeau  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 18:05
Member (2005)
English to French
+ ...
Was it even proofread? Aug 1, 2011

I wonder if it wasn't just handed over to the client directly after translation? Since the client doesn't understand Dutch, he just printed the translation as is...

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Mary Stefan  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 12:05
Member (2006)
Romanian to English
+ ...
Funny Aug 1, 2011

The bonus and curse of being a translator, which nudged you into telling the guide.
Thanks for sharing!

Mary


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Jan Willem van Dormolen  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 18:05
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Occupational hazard Aug 1, 2011


Mary Stefan wrote:

The bonus and curse of being a translator, which nudged you into telling the guide.
Thanks for sharing!

Mary


Yes, in Dutch this is called 'professional deformation', you can't take things anymore at face value


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Jan Willem van Dormolen  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 18:05
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Very possible Aug 1, 2011


Marie-Claude Falardeau wrote:

I wonder if it wasn't just handed over to the client directly after translation? Since the client doesn't understand Dutch, he just printed the translation as is...


You might just be right there...


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Gerard de Noord  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 18:05
Member (2003)
German to Dutch
+ ...
In defense of the proofreader Aug 2, 2011

The proofreader did remove the note - as the strikthrough and revision mark from TrackChanges show - but the wrong settings were used for printing.

LOL,
Gerard


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José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 13:05
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
**it happens Aug 2, 2011

Seen scribbled on a sticker attached to a 16mm film can, where each film had its title:

UNIVERSAL FILM LEADER

The new film library clerk put it on the moviola and wrote down the very first thing she read there.

Seen online, live on a client's web page:

Wendy, pleeease remove all this crap here. I've tried maybe ten times, but all I managed to do was to add text, not delete it.
Doug

Fake names here, but 'Doug' was the CEO there, his picture and bio appearing on that very page.


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Added in translation, or, lost in review






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