At my son's 8th Grade graduation ceremony, there was a slideshow presentation. In the part where they extolled the class's prowess in various teams, the background music was (of course) "We Are the Champions", and at one point, the phrase was up on the screen translated into various languages.
What other interesting mistranslations have you come across.
And if you could be any kind of mushroom, which would you be?
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I was reading some missionary stories from France and came across a list of common translation errors that English-speaking missionaries make. Some are mistakes in pronunciation, such as rendering aliments (food) as allemands (Germans). Others are mistakes made by using false cognates - apparently, several missionaries have tried to translate to bless as blesser, rather than benir. Blesser is a French verb, but means "to wound or injure." Thus, some poor missionary intending to pray for a blessing on a meal instead asked God to please blessez ces allemands - "Please wound these Germans."
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I remember in French class once, a kid was trying to say "Pour le petit-dejeuner, je prend du pain," (for breakfast, I have some bread) but accidentally ended up with "je prend deux lapins" (I have two rabbits).
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posted
My favorite sign in Sri Lanka - Chainees Restaurant. Okay, not what you're talking about, but still.
What kind of food is Chainees, exactly? Steel chains? Iron chains? Chains of dandelions or marigolds?
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quote:Originally posted by Annie: Thus, some poor missionary intending to pray for a blessing on a meal instead asked God to please blessez ces allemands - "Please wound these Germans."
Annie- You must have been reading about one of my companions- she was new and we were at a dinner appointment with some members who happened to be German. She prayed to "blessez ces allemands"
I was horiffied but fortunately, they were used to missionary mistakes so they took it in stride. We laughed about it often.
The other mistake she made the same day.. after the meal she pats her stomach and says "Je suis plein!" (I'm pregnant).
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posted
What about the classic "Je suis un Berliner"?
In my french class in sixth grade we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, but a friend of mine mis-understood the question, and answered "my cousin". She thought it had been "who do you know who is thirty?"
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We were having breakfast in Mexico, and my friend Jeni, who spoke no Spanish at all, yelled down the table to me, asking how you say fried egg in Spanish. I was glad to answer her, but I had heard Friday, so I said "Viernes!"
She ordered a Viernes, to the confusion of the poor waitress. When we got our food, Jeni looked at her plate of scrambled eggs and beans and said "this isn't what I wanted!" It was, however, the dish they had had on special last Friday, and I was impressed.
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posted
This tread is fun ! I laugh about "Blesser les Allemands" ! But i don't remember some equal sentenses In my school period... sorry.
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