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Another World Cup translation blunder | Lost in translation

George Hopkins — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:09:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: George Hopkins
Post title: Lost in translation

People who think thay know english good, or any other foreign language for that matter, are often a pain.

Apropos Germany, one of my off-subject favorites:
According to Mark Twain, 'Wagner's musik is better than it sounds'.

Another World Cup translation blunder | I must admit...

philgoddard — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:04:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: philgoddard
Post title: I must admit...

I might well have made the same mistake with "dummerwise", and I've been translating German for over 20 years.

Another World Cup translation blunder | Several more World Cup Translation Blunders

TandIBusiness — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:36:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: TandIBusiness
Post title: Several more World Cup Translation Blunders

You can check out several more World Cup Translation blunders at The International Business Edge!, including the insult to Slovenia and Maradona's allegedly misinterpreted question from the press.

That post also links back to this thread to give credit to Thomas Pfann for the blunder he identified above.

Another World Cup translation blunder | Unlikely I know but what if...

Gianluigi Desogus, PhD — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 13:04:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: Gianluigi Desogus, PhD
Post title: Unlikely I know but what if...

it were an intentional mistranslation... just to stir up things a little bit.
After all (some) English fans taunt the Germans chanting "2 World Wars and 1 World Cup"... and the tabloids wouldn't pass up such an opportunity to twist Franz's words and pander to such feelings...

Another World Cup translation blunder | Radio

Rachel Fell — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 11:21:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: Rachel Fell
Post title: Radio

The allegation that it was "mind games" by Beckenbauer were all over the radio news and discussions (in the UK), too.

Another World Cup translation blunder | by the way...

Vincenzo Di Maso — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 09:15:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: Vincenzo Di Maso
Post title: by the way...

come on England!!!
Rooney Rooney Rooney!!!

Another World Cup translation blunder | Who is translating?

Thomas Pfann — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:56:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: Thomas Pfann
Post title: Who is translating?

[quote]Bilbo Baggins wrote:
So WHO is translating this stuff?????? [/quote]

Nobody. And that is the problem.

:roll:

Another World Cup translation blunder | The paper's own sports section repeats the error

Jack Doughty — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 02:41:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: Jack Doughty
Post title: The paper's own sports section repeats the error

I noticed later that in the sports section of the same edition of the Daily Telegraph, Beckenbauer is quoted as saying that the English "foolishly" didn't come top of their group.

Another World Cup translation blunder | journalists with 2 languages of translatoras'

Bilbo Baggins — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 01:02:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: Bilbo Baggins
Post title: journalists with 2 languages of translatoras'

[quote]Jack Doughty wrote:

"Stupidly, the English have slipped up a little."

[/quote]

This sort of sentence would be red alert for me, precisely becuase it sounds so insulting. And Ithink most translators would modulate or at least consider and reconsider and reconsider again the implications of their rendering.

So WHO is translating this stuff??????

Another World Cup translation blunder | World Cup rhetoric

Thomas Pfann — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 17:24:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: Thomas Pfann
Post title: World Cup rhetoric

Jan Willem probably hit the nail right on the head.

By the way: A very similar mistranslation/misquotation was going through the English media (and not just the tabloids) just the other week: Germany coach Joachim Löw was quoted as wanting his team to "embarrass" and even "humiliate" their opponents.

What he actually said, though, sounded a lot less intimidating: "Wir wollen die Gegner spielerisch in Verlegenheit bringen und nicht nur durch Rennen und Kämpfen", ie. he wanted his team to be able to outplay their opponents, to make their opponents' life difficult by showing playing skill rather than by merely running and fighting 'til the end. He was talking about playing well and winning with style, not about humiliation and embarrassment.

[Edited at 2010-06-26 20:00 GMT]

Another World Cup translation blunder | Too bad

Kim Metzger — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:17:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: Kim Metzger
Post title: Too bad

As an English teacher in Germany while marking a student's paper that had an unusually high number of errors, I wrote as a final comment: too bad! The student was very upset, not understanding that the comment didn't mean "unacceptable" but "what a pity."

Another World Cup translation blunder | As the man said...

Jan Willem van Dormolen (X) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:14:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: Jan Willem van Dormolen (X)
Post title: As the man said...

...never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Another World Cup translation blunder

Jack Doughty — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:00:00 +0000

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Topic: Another World Cup translation blunder
Poster: Jack Doughty

(Part of an article in the Daily Telegraph today on the forthcoming England-Germany game in the World Cup)

The jokes may be becoming a bit contrived and shopworn. And yet I can't help enjoying them hugely.
It's in the language, actually. There can hardly be another language that lends itself to punning quite so well as the English idiom. When deployed to capture the English-German rivalry, the puns are always good enough for a smile or even a belly laugh.
"Germans Wurst at Penalties," proclaimed one tabloid on its front page on Friday. Inside, the paper went one better. "Das boot is on the other foot," it declaimed, lacing their offering with photographs of English footballers' lovelies on the opposite page under the heading " ... AND DAS BOOTIES".
But my enjoyment was marred when I turned to the back page: "Kaiser Chief is so stupid – Defoe blasts Franz insult," it said, referring to Franz Beckenbauer's comments earlier this week in the German newspaper Bild.
Another newspaper topped this from its Mount Olymps of indignation. "HERR DRYER! – German legend Beckenbauer in new rant against 'stupid' England".
Stupid? Germany's footballing legend said nothing of the sort. What a shame the teaching of foreign languages is in such sorry decline in this blessed plot. One look at what Beckenbauer actually wrote would have killed the allegation of a "rant" straight away.
The problem arose from the Kaiser's use of "dummerweise", meaning "it's a pity". "Dummerweise" may sound like it means dumb or stupid, but it doesn't. What the Kaiser actually wrote – "It's a pity the English flunked a bit by coming up second in their group" – was lost in translation, served up to Brits as: "Stupidly, the English have slipped up a little."
No matter that the Kaiser even drove home his point, adding: "sadly this clash comes much too soon in the tournament" – a sentiment most of us share on either side of the divide.
Nobody checked the original wording of Beckenbauer's column and so the non-existent "insult" was allowed to spread like a bushfire. There lies the rub.