NationStates Jolt Archive

I found this article making fun of some mistranslations from around the world. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2071300.html?menu=

I find this stuff kind of funny. Anyone else got links to similar stuff?

While a Thai hotel told guests "do not bring solicitors into your room".
Sound advice.

an irish drink called "irish mist", didnt go down to well in germany. i think it ment in german, "irish piss".

This is one of the better sites:
http://www.engrish.com/

I have a game I bought in China called a "Mind Dyramid Build up" (meant to be a 'P' obviously)
On the box front, it loudly proclaims "High Good" and "Funny Game!"
On the back, it says:
Mind-Pyramid's Strong suit:
1. Boost turn on wisdom door for infant
2. Boost up intellect of math, head's agility and reaction vs things for student.
3. Play heat down for office worker if starklive will getting lifelikeness and divertingness.
4. Dresm up pleasure sanity body and mind in live for old folks.
(oddly enough Pyramid is spelt right on the back)

mmm....gotta get me some of that. I need to dresm up my pleasure sanity.

edit: decided to post a pic for your edification and enlightenment:
http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/4959/minddyramidcb3.th.jpg (http://img474.imageshack.us/my.php?image=minddyramidcb3.jpg)
(the t-rex is a pen btw)

This is one of the better sites:
http://www.engrish.com/

Nice. Any more like this out there?

Seen often in Italy (an attempt to look more "international", maybe):

"speak" instead of "speck" (sort of bacon from Tirol, and you'd guess that an italian should know how to spell it)

"brie" (french cheese) rendered in speech as "bree-èh" (with a pronounced final è... of course, in french the last vowel carries the accent!) instead of "bree"

"wustel", "viustel", "wuster", "wurter", even a "wooster" instead of "Würstel" (german for sausage)

"sciampagn" (phonetical rendition of "Champagne" in italian...)

Here's a few:
http://itpro.no/art/8988.html
Includes my favourite (which is why I posted the site)
Help saving apparata in emergings behold many whistles! Associate the stringing apparata about the bosoms and meet behind. Flee then to the indifferent lifesavering shippen obediencing the instructs of the vessel chef.
Which are the instructions on a lifejacket on a Russian ship in the Black Sea.

http://itpro.no/images/shots/brokenenglish0.jpg

Nice. Any more like this out there?
Here ya go:

http://www.learnenglish.de/Level1/Extras/MoreMistakes.htm

When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor.

"WARNING KEEP OUT OF CHILDREN."

Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension.

Seen often in Italy (an attempt to look more "international", maybe):

"speak" instead of "speck" (sort of bacon from Tirol, and you'd guess that an italian should know how to spell it)

"brie" (french cheese) rendered in speech as "bree-èh" (with a pronounced final è... of course, in french the last vowel carries the accent!) instead of "bree"

"wustel", "viustel", "wuster", "wurter", even a "wooster" instead of "Würstel" (german for sausage)

"sciampagn" (phonetical rendition of "Champagne" in italian...)

Yes, well, Italians have always had trouble with those gutteral "languages" spoken north of the Alps. :D Goes back to (and beyond, I'm sure) the Guelf (Welf in German) and the Ghibelline (Weiblingen) factions in the Papcy / Holy Roman Empire struggle in the 12th & 13th centuries.

My favorite mistranslation (of sorts) incident is the Chevy Nova fiasco in Latin America. Seems no one in the Chevrolet Marketing Department realized that "no va" means "doesn't go" in Spanish. Changed the name to the Carib and it sold like hotcakes. I've also heard this one called an urban legend, but it's amusing anyway.

My favorite mistranslation (of sorts) incident is the Chevy Nova fiasco in Latin America. Seems no one in the Chevrolet Marketing Department realized that "no va" means "doesn't go" in Spanish. Changed the name to the Carib and it sold like hotcakes. I've also heard this one called an urban legend, but it's amusing anyway.
snopes is your friend:
http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp

"All your base is belong to us."

"All your base is belong to us."

Are (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us) belong to us.

Are (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us) belong to us.

Yes, I knew that. ;)

"All your base is belong to us."

No they don't! *points at her closet where she has bases stashed* See?!

an irish drink called "irish mist", didnt go down to well in germany. i think it ment in german, "irish piss".

Maybe "Irish manure" although i'm basing that on pretty bad german knowledge from school

Wasnt there a car sold in spain that translated as "tiny penis"? or maybe thats just a myth

Yes, well, Italians have always had trouble with those gutteral "languages" spoken north of the Alps. :D Goes back to (and beyond, I'm sure) the Guelf (Welf in German) and the Ghibelline (Weiblingen) factions in the Papcy / Holy Roman Empire struggle in the 12th & 13th centuries.

My favorite mistranslation (of sorts) incident is the Chevy Nova fiasco in Latin America. Seems no one in the Chevrolet Marketing Department realized that "no va" means "doesn't go" in Spanish. Changed the name to the Carib and it sold like hotcakes. I've also heard this one called an urban legend, but it's amusing anyway.

About italians and german: ok, but Südtirol is part of ITALY since WW1! You'd guess every italian should know how to spell some of the finer foods the northernmost province has to offer... gosh.:rolleyes:

Guelfi and Ghibellini as we spell them here... anyway naaah, goes back to the time when Gaius Iulius Caesar crossed the Rhine - barbarian's language and that sort of stereotypes...

I heard that a jugoslav automobile factory tried to sell a car named "Yugo" (from Jugoslavia) in the US back in the '70s (I think). The problem was that the US customers couldn't explain why its name was "You-Go" and it "Wouldn't-Go".

added:
Some car-makers think that giving their models an "italian" name makes them look cooler... not in Italy anyway. Looks like an ignorant choosed their names.
the "Picanto" looks like a misspelling of "Piccante" (spicy)
and there's the Nissan "Terrano" SUV: in northern Italy is rendered by some as "Terrona" (a nasty insult meaning "vulgar woman from southern Italy" - the Southerners are often target of racism in nothern Italy).

About italians and german: ok, but Südtirol is part of ITALY since WW1! You'd guess every italian should know how to spell some of the finer foods the northernmost province has to offer... gosh.:rolleyes:

Guelfi and Ghibellini as we spell them here... anyway naaah, goes back to the time when Gaius Iulius Caesar crossed the Rhine - barbarian's language and that sort of stereotypes...

I heard that a jugoslav automobile factory tried to sell a car named "Yugo" (from Jugoslavia) in the US back in the '70s (I think). The problem was that the US customers couldn't explain why its name was "You-Go" and it "Wouldn't-Go".

I think the Yugo was in the early eighties. It truly was a piece of shit, but you could pick one up new for just a couple of thousand dollars.

Wasnt there a car sold in spain that translated as "tiny penis"? or maybe thats just a myth

That was the Ford Pinto, and I think it happened in Brazil.

EDIT: I checked it, and apparently it's a myth. Pinto does mean (small) male genitals in Brazil, but the car was never sold there.

an irish drink called "irish mist", didnt go down to well in germany. i think it ment in german, "irish piss".Irish dung, actually.

see here (http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/210/daniauo4.jpg) (pic to wide to insert to post, unless you happens to have widescreean monitor)

I have a game I bought in China called a "Mind Dyramid Build up" (meant to be a 'P' obviously)
On the box front, it loudly proclaims "High Good" and "Funny Game!"
On the back, it says:
Mind-Pyramid's Strong suit:
1. Boost turn on wisdom door for infant
2. Boost up intellect of math, head's agility and reaction vs things for student.
3. Play heat down for office worker if starklive will getting lifelikeness and divertingness.
4. Dresm up pleasure sanity body and mind in live for old folks.
(oddly enough Pyramid is spelt right on the back)

mmm....gotta get me some of that. I need to dresm up my pleasure sanity.

edit: decided to post a pic for your edification and enlightenment:
http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/4959/minddyramidcb3.th.jpg (http://img474.imageshack.us/my.php?image=minddyramidcb3.jpg)
(the t-rex is a pen btw)
That really did make me laugh.

In China or Hong Kong some Hospital has '**** Examination'*Arrow points*
And China also has a Minge Shampoo.:p

an irish drink called "irish mist", didnt go down to well in germany. i think it ment in german, "irish piss".

Irish dung would be the correct translation :D

I found this article making fun of some mistranslations from around the world. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2071300.html?menu=

I find this stuff kind of funny. Anyone else got links to similar stuff?

Engrish (http://www.engrish.com/) is alwasy fun :D

I love engrish, I could spend hours on that website.

This is a good one. (http://www.engrish.com/detail.php?imagename=fuck-like-a-beast.jpg&category=Adult%20Engrish&date=2005-09-23)

Sadly, I have become immune to Engrish, namely because I am confronted by it every single day and have just given up trying to understand it.

I think my fav though was a hotel in Nagoya (who had provided pictures and a badly translated script on how to use the toilet (Boys stand, girls sit); along with the flying shower cap and the overly enthusiastic condom (oh, and HARD sponge). Hotels provide the best mangling.

What a nice place (http://www.engrish.com/detail.php?imagename=to-bang-sue.jpg&category=Engrish%20from%20Other%20Countries&date=2005-10-05) Bangkok is... :p

Yes, well, Italians have always had trouble with those gutteral "languages" spoken north of the Alps. :D Goes back to (and beyond, I'm sure) the Guelf (Welf in German) and the Ghibelline (Weiblingen) factions in the Papcy / Holy Roman Empire struggle in the 12th & 13th centuries.

My favorite mistranslation (of sorts) incident is the Chevy Nova fiasco in Latin America. Seems no one in the Chevrolet Marketing Department realized that "no va" means "doesn't go" in Spanish. Changed the name to the Carib and it sold like hotcakes. I've also heard this one called an urban legend, but it's amusing anyway.

bit like why the lancia dedra never sold well in the uk. bit too ominous sounding. i personally like the mitsubishi starion. story goes that it was supposed to be called the mitsubishi stallion in europe but the confusion came from a telephone conversation between japan and europe. guess this was before email.

bit like why the lancia dedra never sold well in the uk. bit too ominous sounding. i personally like the mitsubishi starion. story goes that it was supposed to be called the mitsubishi stallion in europe but the confusion came from a telephone conversation between japan and europe. guess this was before email.

It's probably because there's no distinction between the R & L sounds in Japanese, it's somewhat in between. In Japan, English words are often mis-written, with the L & R being substituted for eachother, because they simply don't recognise there's a difference between the two. Hence the website engrish.com

yes i know. far eastern people often have a great deal of trouble pronouncing my namel. as do french people strangley. not in the same way though.