Euro hits 4-year low on mistranslated French comment
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| | Andre Dumoulin 
Panama
Local time: 11:29
 Member (2010)
English to Spanish
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| Don't shoot on the translator | Jun 8, 2010 |
Since the Ems Dispatch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ems_Dispatch) translators should know that ambiguities are usually interpreted by journalists in the sense of making things worse rather than attenuating tensions. Nothing new under the sun
| | | | | Were translators involve? | Jun 8, 2010 |
translators should know that ambiguities are usually interpreted by journalists in the sense of making things worse rather than attenuating tensions. Nothing new under the sun
Interesting.... I am wondering what actually happened.
Apparently, the statement was made in French during a press conference but who did the translation? Was it translated by the journalists themselves on the fly into English? Was it an error of the interpreters? Was the translation done by a professional translator?
Daniel
| | | | Krzysztof Kajetanowicz
Poland
Local time: 18:29
English to Polish
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I don't think we should be flattering ourselves. Currencies don't hit 4-year lows "on mistranslations". They do, at times, on bankrupting countries.
| | | | LegalTransform
United States
Local time: 12:29
 Member (2002)
Spanish to English
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| Viktoria where are you? | Jun 8, 2010 |
Personally, I would love to hear ViktoriaG's expert opinion about the translation of this word in this situation and in general!
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Laurent KRAULAND
France
Local time: 18:29
French to German
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| | A translator?? | Jun 9, 2010 |
This was clearly not the fault of a translator, but of a journalist who speaks some French.
| | | | | Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member for the following reason: Empty post. | Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:29
French to English
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| Accident waiting to happen... | Jun 9, 2010 |
Laurent KRAULAND wrote:
"Parité" = general exchange rate
"Parity" = one-to-one exchange rate
Although in fairness, "parité" does also man "parity" (just not on this occasion -- why the "translators" thought that parity is something M Fillon would rejoice in only they can explain...).
I think there's a lesson for news agencies here (which isn't really to do with language ability, but more along the lines of "use your loaf").
But just possibly there's a lesson for the French Prime Minister about designing a speech for an international audience...
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Laurent KRAULAND
France
Local time: 18:29
French to German
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Neil Coffey wrote: Laurent KRAULAND wrote:
"Parité" = general exchange rate
"Parity" = one-to-one exchange rate
Although in fairness, "parité" does also man "parity" (just not on this occasion -- why the "translators" thought that parity is something M Fillon would rejoice in only they can explain...). I think there's a lesson for news agencies here (which isn't really to do with language ability, but more along the lines of "use your loaf"). But just possibly there's a lesson for the French Prime Minister about designing a speech for an international audience...
Yes, that's right.
There would have been no problem for Mr. Fillon saying "Je ne vois que de bonnes nouvelles dans le taux de change actuel entre l'euro et le dollar américain", which would have been unambiguous.
The sentence, in itself, seems as awkward as it can seem spontaneous. I think some training in answering questions from the press could not do any harm.
| | | | LegalTransform
United States
Local time: 12:29
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
It looks like the translator 1) fell in the trap of a false friend and 2) did not have enough time to review and think about the translation and realize that it did not make sense.
As an aside, I put the sentence into Google translate and Google fell into the same trap.
A related French article:
http://www.tradonline.fr/blog/2010/06/quand-une-erreur-de-traduction-a-des-consequences-facheuses/
"Une simple erreur de traduction a précipité ce vendredi l’euro sous la barre de 1,20 dollar, pour la première fois depuis mars 2006. Il est près de 14h30 quand François Fillon, en déplacement au Canada, répond dans une conférence de presse à une question sur la dégringolade de la devise européenne. Il indique qu’il ne voit “que des bonnes nouvelles dans la parité entre l’euro et le dollar”.
Les agences de presse anglophones reprennent immédiatement ses déclarations. Trop rapidement peut-être : dans la précipitation elles traduisent “parité” par “parity”, un faux-ami. En français, le terme “parité” signifie en effet “taux de change d’une monnaie par rapport à une autre” alors que “parity” s’entend dans le sens étroit d’une égalité parfaite entre les devises
Et voila donc, le gouvernement français qui milite pour qu’un euro s’échange contre un dollar. Un quiproquo qui a obligé Matignon à préciser les propos de François Fillon. Mais le mal était fait : en quelques minutes, les cambistes, déjà inquiets de la situation financière de la Hongrie, vendent de l’euro, qui chute à son plus bas niveau depuis quatre ans.
Les traducteurs professionnels ont encore des beaux jours devant eux!"
| | | | | Agreed completely with Jeff... Bravo.. | Oct 19, 2011 |
Jeff Whittaker wrote: It looks like the translator 1) fell in the trap of a false friend and 2) did not have enough time to review and think about the translation and realize that it did not make sense. As an aside, I put the sentence into Google translate and Google fell into the same trap. A related French article: http://www.tradonline.fr/blog/2010/06/quand-une-erreur-de-traduction-a-des-consequences-facheuses/"Une simple erreur de traduction a précipité ce vendredi l’euro sous la barre de 1,20 dollar, pour la première fois depuis mars 2006. Il est près de 14h30 quand François Fillon, en déplacement au Canada, répond dans une conférence de presse à une question sur la dégringolade de la devise européenne. Il indique qu’il ne voit “que des bonnes nouvelles dans la parité entre l’euro et le dollar”. Les agences de presse anglophones reprennent immédiatement ses déclarations. Trop rapidement peut-être : dans la précipitation elles traduisent “parité” par “parity”, un faux-ami. En français, le terme “parité” signifie en effet “taux de change d’une monnaie par rapport à une autre” alors que “parity” s’entend dans le sens étroit d’une égalité parfaite entre les devises Et voila donc, le gouvernement français qui milite pour qu’un euro s’échange contre un dollar. Un quiproquo qui a obligé Matignon à préciser les propos de François Fillon. Mais le mal était fait : en quelques minutes, les cambistes, déjà inquiets de la situation financière de la Hongrie, vendent de l’euro, qui chute à son plus bas niveau depuis quatre ans. Les traducteurs professionnels ont encore des beaux jours devant eux!"
[Edited at 2011-10-19 22:50 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-10-19 22:51 GMT]
[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2011-10-20 16:52 GMT]
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