NationStates Jolt Archive

I was going through some old photos of when I went to Europe, and I came across a few photos of rather strange translations.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/913/014h.jpg (http://img441.imageshack.us/my.php?image=014h.jpg)


This was taken at a 24 hour cafe in Chios, while we were waiting for our ferry that ended up being 12 (!) hours late.

Alas, I didn't try the offspring. Although I do like onions.


And this:
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3696/080.jpg (http://img441.imageshack.us/my.php?image=080.jpg)

Was taken in Rome. I'm glad I have Genuine taste. I hope my people are Delicious.

So, NSG, what strange english translations have you come across in you travels to lands strange and foreign?

These don't seem to strange to me, except the offspring one.

These don't seem to strange to me, except the offspring one.
Are you big by kilogram?

Not to mention being able to order something with sunburn.

What's so strange about "American taste"? Various foods from foreign countries are marketed that way.

But I found a bakery in Greece once, which sold "Cream Pie". Teeheehee...

All your base are belong to us!

What's so strange about "American taste"? Various foods from foreign countries are marketed that way.

But I found a bakery in Greece once, which sold "Cream Pie". Teeheehee...

All your base are belong to us!

Do we taste good?

Do we taste good?

I damn well hope we do. We season liberally.

Surely there are some bratwursts or beers in the US which are said to come with a "distinct German flavor"?

Personally, I have never seen anything marketed as "genuine *insert nationality* flavor. We typically say "real *insert nationality*", or "genuine *insert nationality* style".

Personally, I have never seen anything marketed as "genuine *insert nationality* flavor. We typically say "real *insert nationality*", or "genuine *insert nationality* style".

I'm pretty sure I have seen that in the 'international' foods aisle.

Those are just very very bad translations, done literally from one language to the other. That's why they seem so odd.

Do I find weird English?

All. The. Fricken. Time.

Do I find weird English?

All. The. Fricken. Time.

Of course you do. You live in Nihon!:D

Wait until you go to Asia. Stuff there would make all those normal.

But this is Europe, man. Not Asianity, Europanity! It shouldn't be this bad, not in Europe. And especially not fried offspring bad.

This one I came across in Beijing iirc (not my photo, it's a popular tourist destination this, more for the sign than anything):
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/30/67872347_d27101d0b6.jpg
It's such a poetic order. Wouldn't life be that much better if all commands were so flowery?

As for others when I was in China - far too many to mention.

i love fried offspring with my babelfish. although you have to clean the earwax off the fish before you bake it.

Wait until you go to Asia. Stuff there would make all those normal.

Maybe.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/2630462583_49f5a19d29.jpg?v=0

From the chopsticks of the very, very distant shop they call "the local chinese restaurant"...

Welcome to Chinese Restaurant.
please try your Nice Chinese Food With Chopsticks
the traditional and typical of Chinese glorious history.
and cultural


Yes, that was copied from the chopsticks packaging verbatim.

But this is Europe, man. Not Asianity, Europanity! It shouldn't be this bad, not in Europe.

Why should europeans speak other european languages better?

I've found terrible attempts at Italian in Britain, like canned "raviolios" (should be "ravioli", or "raviolos" if you consider "raviolo" an english noun), or "maccaroni" instead of "maccheroni". "Bolonia" instead of "bologna" (ftw, just COPY it!), "tipico italiana" (masculine adj + feminine noun? what are they hinting?) etc.
Not to mention the French attempting to speak Italian. Wow. Or Slavs trying to use articles.

Maybe.

<pic snip>

That's got to be a front for the yakuza.

Maybe.

-Very Suspicious Market-
It does have an awful lot of motorcycles outside, and what is that red and white sign talking about?

It does have an awful lot of motorcycles outside, and what is that red and white sign talking about?
Cleansing enema for the very suspicious person.

Why should europeans speak other european languages better?

I've found terrible attempts at Italian in Britain, like canned "raviolios" (should be "ravioli", or "raviolos" if you consider "raviolo" an english noun), or "maccaroni" instead of "maccheroni". "Bolonia" instead of "bologna" (ftw, just COPY it!), "tipico italiana" (masculine adj + feminine noun? what are they hinting?) etc.
Not to mention the French attempting to speak Italian. Wow. Or Slavs trying to use articles.

Because most western European languages share some things in common with English. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean does not have those similarities.

Moreover, because I said so.

Why should europeans speak other european languages better?

I've found terrible attempts at Italian in Britain, like canned "raviolios" (should be "ravioli", or "raviolos" if you consider "raviolo" an english noun), or "maccaroni" instead of "maccheroni". "Bolonia" instead of "bologna" (ftw, just COPY it!), "tipico italiana" (masculine adj + feminine noun? what are they hinting?) etc.
Not to mention the French attempting to speak Italian. Wow. Or Slavs trying to use articles.

Asesinamos, respectivamente, nuestras adoradas lenguas. Qué mal!:(

Maybe.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/2630462583_49f5a19d29.jpg?v=0

Heeee!

Even better:

http://craphound.com/images/translateservererror.jpg

Why should europeans speak other european languages better?

I've found terrible attempts at Italian in Britain, like canned "raviolios" (should be "ravioli", or "raviolos" if you consider "raviolo" an english noun), or "maccaroni" instead of "maccheroni". "Bolonia" instead of "bologna" (ftw, just COPY it!), "tipico italiana" (masculine adj + feminine noun? what are they hinting?) etc.
Not to mention the French attempting to speak Italian. Wow. Or Slavs trying to use articles.

Being in similar language families should make it easier to learn.

Heeee!

Even better:

http://craphound.com/images/translateservererror.jpg

That's got to be mainland China.

Being in similar language families should make it easier to learn.

I beg to differ. Just because your language belongs to the same branch as say, English, doesn't mean learning another Germanic language is any easier.

I beg to differ. Just because your language belongs to the same branch as say, English, doesn't mean learning another Germanic language is any easier.

Easier then what ? learning Chinese ?

At least the Alphabet is phonetic.
Or Arabic written the completely opposite direction.

Use of Latin Characters also helps I would imagine.

Easier then what ? learning Chinese ?

At least the Alphabet is phonetic.
Or Arabic written the completely opposite direction.

Use of Latin Characters also helps I would imagine.

I learned Japanese without much hazard, using the syllabaries and learning basic writting skills in hiragana. But again, my deferring from you has to do with the simple fact that just because Spanish is my native tongue doesn't mean I will have an easy time learning any other Romance Language.

And this:
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3696/080.jpg (http://img441.imageshack.us/my.php?image=080.jpg)

Was taken in Rome. I'm glad I have Genuine taste. I hope my people are Delicious.That's because your American drinks taste different than their European version. They even differ within Europe (silly Spanish people with their more sweet Fanta).

That's because your American drinks taste different than their European version. They even differ within Europe (silly Spanish people with their more sweet Fanta).

Oy!, we like our Fanta sweeter than you guys.:mad:

Oy!, we like our Fanta sweeter than you guys.:mad:
Should've thought of that before walking 80 years in the water and mud here before going home.

Did that makes sense?

And secondly: Zoink, you're hawt in that picture.:hail:

I learned Japanese without much hazard, using the syllabaries and learning basic writting skills in hiragana. But again, my deferring from you has to do with the simple fact that just because Spanish is my native tongue doesn't mean I will have an easy time learning any other Romance Language.

so you wouldn't be able to understand Italian or Portuguese at all then ?

also this
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Language_Learning_Difficulty_for_English_Speakers


Though I think Japanese and Korean would be closer to a CAT II, Mandarin should be a CAT III plus.

This is from a remote control car manual, (although I "discovered" it and sourced it "second-hand" from somewhere else on the internet).

The translators seem to have tried very hard to produce a useful document; it not only attempts to explain the use of the car, but also gives advice on avoiding quilt damage (perhaps based on the premise that those who are not spending their time mending their quilts, will have all the more time to enjoy their remote controlled car).

Usage Manual
1) Is not suitable for the 3 years old and the following child

2) Before beginning uses must hard finish reading this manual

3) Suggestion is under the person's leading usage

Safe Rule
1) prohibition against 3 years old below of child usage;

2) play attention, you of finger, hair, clothes ...etc. don't touch and car wheel, in order to prevent quilt harm;

3) car while driving do not want to by hand grasp it

4) don't let the remote control close to any fire with car original;(such as electric stove, stove beside, or mightiness of sunlight bottom)

5) not want the place in danger to play;(such as street, steep slope...etc.)

6) don't let the wet water of car, and not want under the rainy day is open-air usage;

7) not want on the sand ground to play;

8) forbid the child to tear open the remote control with the car

9) if the car dash to piecesed, and should pass by the person check or profession personnel maintain the rear can continue to use

That's because your American drinks taste different than their European version. They even differ within Europe (silly Spanish people with their more sweet Fanta).

Does that mean they use high fructose Corn Syrup instead of Cane sugar?

Should've thought of that before walking 80 years in the water and mud here before going home.

Did that makes sense?

None.:confused:

And secondly: Zoink, you're hawt in that picture.:hail:

Gracias por el cumplido.


so you wouldn't be able to understand Italian or Portuguese at all then ?

I understand both langauges, but that's not the common denominator. I have been studying Romance languages since I was a little girl, same with English.

also this
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Language_Learning_Difficulty_for_English_Speakers


Though I think Japanese and Korean would be closer to a CAT II, Mandarin should be a CAT III plus.

And those who speak these languages cannot understand each other unless they have basic knowledge of Korean, Chinese or Japanese.

Should've thought of that before walking 80 years in the water and mud here before going home.

Did that makes sense?

None whatsoever.

And those who speak these languages cannot understand each other unless they have basic knowledge of Korean, Chinese or Japanese.

Korean is 50% Chinese loan words. Korean also uses Chinese characters in many instances.
give the pronunciation was just different enough to make me pull out my hair when learning Chinese. I would say knowing Korean made it easier to learn Mandarin.

Korean is 50% Chinese loan words. Korean also uses Chinese characters in many instances.
give the pronunciation was just different enough to make me pull out my hair when learning Chinese. I would say knowing Korean made it easier to learn Mandarin.

You do know that Korean and Chinese (Mandarin for example) come from different linguistic families. And that Japan is an insular language, bearing no resemblance either structurally or phonetically to either Chinese or Korean?

Asesinamos, respectivamente, nuestras adoradas lenguas. Qué mal!:(

We assassinate, respectively, our adored languages???

We assassinate, respectively, our adored languages???

Así es.

I'm impressed, an Anglo-phone understanding Spanish. Oddity of oddities.:wink:


On a sidenote: I have 2 girls in front of me dressed as cops and wearing beauty queen crowns.

You do know that Korean and Chinese (Mandarin for example) come from different linguistic families. And that Japan is an insular language, bearing no resemblance either structurally or phonetically to either Chinese or Korean?

yes Korean and Chinese are from different families. The sentence and word structure are from the altaic family group. Also the new school of thought is to include the Japanese in the Altaic family.
However the Japanese and Koreans languages split from the other altaic practitioners well over 1,000 years ago.
Mostly because China grew between Mongolia and Korea.
This leads to a relationship between between the for mentioned languages and China. Even if languages are part of separate families proximity breeds relationships between them as words are exchanged.

None whatsoever.
None.:confused:
Eighty Year War, silly Spanish invading the Netherlands to convert us to Catholiscism. Big part of the Dutch tactic was to break a dyke and to flood the land behind it. After eighty years walking through the flooded lands, the Spanish just gave up all together.

Or so I was told.


Gracias por el cumplido.
Si, mi non hablo Espagnol.:)

yes Korean and Chinese are from different families. The sentence and word structure are from the altaic family group. Also the new school of thought is to include the Japanese in the Altaic family.
However the Japanese and Koreans languages split from the other altaic practitioners well over 1,000 years ago.
Mostly because China grew between Mongolia and Korea.
This leads to a relationship between between the for mentioned languages and China. Even if languages are part of separate families proximity breeds relationships between them as words are exchanged.

I think you're mistaking the adoption of kanji by the Japanese from the Chinese. If anything, Korean and Japanese do have a certain resemblance, enough that if I don't listen carefully, I mistake Japanese with Korean sometimes. But Chinese? Even in phonetics they have no resemblance.

I beg to differ. Just because your language belongs to the same branch as say, English, doesn't mean learning another Germanic language is any easier.

This is a french sentence with (I think) no spelling or grammar problems:

300,000,000 Americains detestent President George W. Bush.
I don't see languages with different alphabets capable of doing this sort of similarity....

This is a french sentence with (I think) no spelling or grammar problems:

I don't see languages with foreign alphabets capable of doing this sort of similarity....

The article is missing right before the subject, Americans. The sentence structure is wrong and the verb, detest, is on the wrong verb tense.

300,000,000 d'Americains detestaient President George W. Bush.

I think you're mistaking the adoption of kanji by the Japanese from the Chinese. If anything, Korean and Japanese do have a certain resemblance, enough that if I don't listen carefully, I mistake Japanese with Korean sometimes. But Chinese? Even in phonetics they have no resemblance.
I make the same mistake too sometimes though the clue is when i have no clue at all what they are talking about it must be Japanese.
that's because Chinese is tonal.
I dont know japanese words.
look at Train

Korean it is Gi Cha which is a Korean pronunciation of Chinese for steam car. (Chinese actually use fire car(Hou Che) for train which I find amusing.)
or Nong min means peasant in both Korean and Chinese.
Japanese I am not as familiar with. But like i said Korean gets about 50% of its vocabulary from Chinese words. Even one of the number systems Korean uses is based on the Chinese number system.

The article is missing right before the subject, Americans. The sentence structure is wrong and the verb, detest, is on the wrong verb tense.

300,000,000 d'Americains detestaient President George W. Bush.

:eek: apostraphes at the beginning of words and extra vowels! Utterly incomprehensible! :p

The article is missing right before the subject, Americans. The sentence structure is wrong and the verb, detest, is on the wrong verb tense.

300,000,000 d'Americains detestaient President George W. Bush.
I'm pretty sure that many of us still hate him, but I am willing to admit that my french is not 100%. Even with your fixes (including the one I oppose), however one does not need to know french to understand them. Similarly, Wikipedia's logo is similar for the three front page germanic languages, as it is for the four romance languages (to the others in their gorups):

English
The Free Encyclopedia
2 779 000+ articles
日本語
フリー百科事典
568 000+ 記事
Deutsch
Die freie Enzyklopädie
875 000+ Artikel
Español
La enciclopedia libre
451 000+ artículos
Français
L’encyclopédie libre
774 000+ articles
Polski
Wolna encyklopedia
585 000+ haseł
Italiano
L’enciclopedia libera
547 000+ voci
Português
A enciclopédia livre
463 000+ artigos
Русский
Свободная энциклопедия
366 000+ статей
Nederlands
De vrije encyclopedie
523 000+ artikelen

The word "article" is also similar for six of the seven languages too. Polish, is noticably different (but even then, translating "encyklopedia" hould be pretty easy), whereas russian and japanese (which don't use our alphabet) are completely different.

:eek: apostraphes at the beginning of words and extra vowels! Utterly incomprehensible! :p

Ton Françaois sucks beacoup.:tongue:

I think you're mistaking the adoption of kanji by the Japanese from the Chinese. If anything, Korean and Japanese do have a certain resemblance, enough that if I don't listen carefully, I mistake Japanese with Korean sometimes. But Chinese? Even in phonetics they have no resemblance.
Well... depends. There's a number of words that are of Chinese origians in Japanese. They are said with Japanese phonetics of course, but there are a number of them in the language (Not to mention Japanese kanji often times will have two different readings depending upon their Japanese or Chinese readings).

That said, the relationship is rather like English to the Romance languages. English is Germatic and except for being in the broad group of Indo-European languages has nothing to do with the Latin derived Romance languages except for the funny fact that English got taken over by the French way back in the day and the language at court for the longest time was French. This explains why a lot of English words are doubled up with those coming from the French being the higher quality ones (Meat vs beef for example) and why English speakers can reconize a lot of the Romance vocab (Usually if we see it written).

Here's my contribution to the thread.

http://www.engrish.com//wp-content/uploads/2009/03/prepare-to-get-assaulted.jpg

I think you're mistaking the adoption of kanji by the Japanese from the Chinese. If anything, Korean and Japanese do have a certain resemblance, enough that if I don't listen carefully, I mistake Japanese with Korean sometimes. But Chinese? Even in phonetics they have no resemblance.

I'm not sure about Korean TBH, but Japanese kanji characters have 2 readings in most cases - a Japanese reading, and what they call a Chinese reading (onyomi and kunyomi). This second reading is derived from the Chinese pronunciations for the character.

I'm not sure about Korean TBH, but Japanese kanji characters have 2 readings in most cases - a Japanese reading, and what they call a Chinese reading (onyomi and kunyomi). This second reading is derived from the Chinese pronunciations for the character.

Oh, I know that. After all the Japanese borrowed kanji from the Chinese monks that went there.

Oh, I know that. After all the Japanese borrowed kanji from the Chinese monks that went there.

quick question. Do the Japanese call America Beautiful country as well ?

quick question. Do the Japanese call America Beautiful country as well ?

Not to my knowledge. But that's something maybe NERV can answer way better than I can.

Not to my knowledge. But that's something maybe NERV can answer way better than I can.

Chinese it is mei gou
Korean it is Mi guk
both in Chinese characters come off to mean beautiful and country.

Chinese it is mei gou
Korean it is Mi guk
both in Chinese characters come off to mean beautiful and country.

I don't know much about the kanji, allow me a second. I do know that the romanji won't come up similar to the Korean and Chinese terms.

EDIT: Shan= beautiful
rando= land, in Japanese.

I don't know much about the kanji, allow me a second. I do know that the romanji won't come up similar to the Korean and Chinese terms.

EDIT: Shan= beautiful
rando= land, in Japanese.

Does the Chinese characters used for USA in japan look like this 美國 ??

Does the Chinese characters used for USA in japan look like this 美國 ??

As I told you, my knowledge of kanji is rudimentary at best, Greedy. Probably.

As I told you, my knowledge of kanji is rudimentary at best, Greedy. Probably.

Aww now you got my curiosity peaked.
How are you going to solve this problem???

Aww now you got my curiosity peaked.
How are you going to solve this problem???

美しい土地

There!

美 means beauty.

美 means beauty.

Remember that Kanji was adopted by the Japanese. It came to them from the Chinese monks that brought Buddhism to Japan.

Remember that Kanji was adopted by the Japanese. It came to them from the Chinese monks that brought Buddhism to Japan.

I am just happy yet another group of Asians are calling me beautiful when they write about me as an American.

I am just happy yet another group of Asians are calling me beautiful when they write about me as an American.

*scoffs*


:wink:

*scoffs*


:wink:

hey Spain's name means something like western sprout.
though that might just be phonetics.
Xi Ban Ya.
Though I like to think it is because looking at a map it looks like Spain is sprouting out of Europe.
Well knowing the Chinese it might have been both.

quick question. Do the Japanese call America Beautiful country as well ?
Depends, usually you'll see it as アメリカ (Amerika/America). The formal name is アメリカ合衆国 (Amerikagasshuukoku/United States of America). However, the kanji assigned is 米国 (Beikoku/Rice Country) due to the notion that America, when it opened Japan back up to the West, was a very rich country with lots of rice.

hey Spain's name means something like western sprout.

And we truly like sprouts.

though that might just be phonetics.
Xi Ban Ya.
Though I like to think it is because looking at a map it looks like Spain is sprouting out of Europe.
Well knowing the Chinese it might have been both.

Well, in that aspect you would have to say the same thing about Portugal and France, who're right with us on the sprout *cough* capullo <_< *cough* and, for that matter, Italy would be the dill pickle of the EU.

Depends, usually you'll see it as アメリカ (Amerika/America). The formal name is アメリカ合衆国 (Amerikagasshuukoku/United States of America). However, the kanji assigned is 米国 (Beikoku/Rice Country) due to the notion that America, when it opened Japan back up to the West, was a very rich country with lots of rice.

Korea almost adopted Rice country post WWII. I think because we were sending lots of Aid that way. Then they realized the Japanese called us that and decided to be different.

Depends, usually you'll see it as アメリカ (Amerika/America). The formal name is アメリカ合衆国 (Amerikagasshuukoku/United States of America). However, the kanji assigned is 米国 (Beikoku/Rice Country) due to the notion that America, when it opened Japan back up to the West, was a very rich country with lots of rice.

I wonder if at any point of me studying Japanese will I get used to the mix usage of Kanji, Kata and Hiragana on a sentence. :p

Ah, yes, on Scrubs, season who knows which, Carla the nurse says the follwing in response to Dr. Kelso remark: No problem-o, chief-o.

That, my friends, is a horrible attempt at Spanglish. And I hate Spanglish. *nod*

Moreover, because I said so.

This is a sensible answer.

Being in similar language families should make it easier to learn.

Logics hints that. Experience says the contrary.

Actually, you're more likely to make blunders in a language very similar to your own, because you'll try to use words and syntaxis similar to your own mother language - which are likely to be erroneous in the other language.

Easy example: "burro" means donkey in Spanish and butter in Italian. Many Italians in Spain ask for "burro" on their bread. Which is quite hilarious.

Logics hint that. Experience says the contrary.

Actually, you're more likely to make blunders in a language very similar to your own, because you'll try to use words and syntaxis similar to your own mother language - which are likely to be erroneous in the other language.

Easy example: "burro" means donkey in Spanish and butter in Italian. Many Italians in Spain ask for "burro" on their bread. Which is quite hilarious.

be fun if you had some donkey meat on hand.

The word "article" is also similar for six of the seven languages too. Polish, is noticably different (but even then, translating "encyklopedia" hould be pretty easy), whereas russian and japanese (which don't use our alphabet) are completely different.

Actually it could be "articoli" in Italian, but we prefer "voci" in lists (like encyclopedies).

The similarity between the romance words for "articles" and the germanic words for it stems directly from Latin (that is: "article" and "Artikel" aren't germanic at all!). Slavs use a slavic root for that.

be fun if you had some donkey meat on hand.

I eat donkey, but I don't know if the Spanish eat it. Meh...

Logics hints that. Experience says the contrary.

Actually, you're more likely to make blunders in a language very similar to your own, because you'll try to use words and syntaxis similar to your own mother language - which are likely to be erroneous in the other language.

Easy example: "burro" means donkey in Spanish and butter in Italian. Many Italians in Spain ask for "burro" on their bread. Which is quite hilarious.

^Questo, e mille volte questo. Grazie, Ris.