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Post your own insights to the horrible world of translations!
The Hungarians call the city of Venice "Valencia". That means if you're catching a train from Budapest to the while city (I think that's what they called it 1,000 years ago) and see El Cid Campeador's last battles, you'll actually going to see Antonio's hometown.
Practically every other person in the world calls the capital of Austria by some variation of Wien. Vienna in English, Veena in Hebrew, Vienna in Italian. But the hungarians have to call it "Bécs" ("Betch", with a long "e" sound). Is that because they hated the Habsburgs and wanted some euphemistic variation on "biatch"?
I have not come across a single person on this Earth who didn't call that Australian marsupial by a name resembling "kangaroo". Kengooroo, kanguru, whatever; but why do the Czechs have to differentiate by calling it a "klokan"?! Does it TICK?!
The name of the French national anthem comes from a city in France spelled "Marseille". Why did English have to add an "s" to the city's name? The same with "Lyon(s)"!
The city in Missouri known as "Saint Louis" needs not have its "s" pronounced on the end, as the name of the saint is pronounced "looee"; why, then, does one pronounce the "s"? If you say that the name is Anglofied, why not pronounce the city "Mois" in a manner that would rhyme with "toys"?
Have you any more of the sort?
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The capital of Portugal is Lisboa (pronounced "Leezh-boa"). Even allowing for English pronunciation, is Liz-boa that much harder to say than Lisbon? Same for the river it's built on--the Rio Tejo is called the Tagus in English.
I think it's kinda fun to compare the sounds animals make in different languages. I can't think of any other than English at the moment, but "cock-a-doodle-do" is a little far-fetched for a rooster!
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There's a Versailles, Missouri (pronounced ver-SAILS), and a Cairo, Illinois, pronounced (KAY-ro). And let's not forget the ridiculous Nablus, for the city of Shechem. The Romans called it Neapolis, and Nablus is how the Arabs pronounced that. And there's Istanbul and Iskander.
But Jonathan, you live in a country that used to have signs that referred, in English letters, to Natbag, so glass houses and all.
For those who don't know, Ben Gurion Airport, in Hebrew, is Namel Teufa Ben Gurion. It's abbreviated in Hebrew as Ntb'g, and vocalized as Natbag. Some sign maker in Israel must not have understood what he was being told to do, and made a sign that actually says Natbag, in English.
And there's Avraham Lincoln street, in Jerusalem.
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There's a sign in Eilat that says in Hebrew "sailing allowed, surfing forbidden" and in English "surfing allowed, sailing forbidden", or vice versa.
Natbag is a true disgrace, thanks for participating.
The name of the Street is Avraham Lincolen; puhlease! The offence must be complete with the pronounced "le"!
Every bus-stop sign on that street in Jerusalem says "King Gorge", after the Fifth Valley of England; and there's a sign in the mall with "Jerusalem Canion" (Kanyon in Hebrew is a mall), and even "Jerusalem Moll". There's also "Loyd George", and "Windam Dids".
But that's another issue altogether, no? Fawlty Sines in Jerusalem. Posts: 2978 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Jonathan Howard: But that's another issue altogether, no? Fawlty Sines in Jerusalem.
A friend of mine told me you can eat for free for a year by offering to correct the English on the menus in Israel. Chiken with whit rice and mashrooms is one of my favorites.
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quote:Originally posted by Noemon: No thread like this is complete without a link to Engrish.com
So true!
I had to stop going to that website while I was at work, I kept disturbing everyone with my laughing.
Would you have watched "The Three Amigos." If they had actually translated it the way it ought to be as, "The Three Friends?"
In China when they name their dogs they give them names like "Xiao Hei" or "Xiao Huang" "Xiao Bai" and you think "aww that sounds kinda cool!" Then you find out the names mean "Little Black" "Little Yellow" and "Little White." Depending on fur color of course and suddenly it becomes so boring! Incidentally in Taiwan they often name their dogs "Carter" because of Jimmy Carter recognizing the PROC over the ROC.
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I object to St. Louis. We Americanized it to St. Lewis because our tourism board didn't think any would want to visit St. Loo.
Yep, puts a whole new meaning to going to the Loo.
And don't get me started on Illinois as "Ill in oy's" vs "Ill in oy"
However close to Versailles (pronounced as mentioned earlier--Ver Sail es) is the small town of Rolla--pronounced Rah La. How did it get its name and spelling? They had a town meeting to discuss its new name (I forget why its earlier name was bad) around 1800 or so. One of the founders stepped up and said, "I was born in North Carolina. I loved the city there. Lets use its name." So 200 years ago a bunch of Missouri settlers translated American Engligh Raleigh to American English Rolla.
Now, back in St. Louis, there is a street named Fee Fee. You wouldn't believe the stories of how it got its name.
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quote:And don't get me started on Illinois as "Ill in oy's" vs "Ill in oy"
You can get your beak bent in Nevada by saying Na-vah-da. And, don't give me that "but, its Spanish" stuff eather. Unless you are willing to pronounce it as Neh-vah-tha with a tap of the tongue on the teeth for the d. Most folks who live here speak some Spanish.
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I'm sort of surprised that no one has mentioned Notre Dame the university vs Notre Dame the French Cathedral.
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There actually are a lot churches and cathedrals called Notre-Dame - it means our lady and refers to the Virgin Mary.
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quote:Yep, puts a whole new meaning to going to the Loo.
I lived in Waterloo for years, and that's what we called it. "Going to the 'Loo" and "in the 'Loo" are pretty common expressions among my group of friends, actually, and without any kind of negative connotation. Which seems funny, when I think about it.
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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There are even some idiosyncrasies in translating from British english to American english, as I discovered when I recently visited the north of England.
We visited the English equivalent of a county fair in Lincolnshire a couple weeks ago. It was huge, and there were thousands of tents and booths set up by all kinds of organizations. One of these was hosted by an organization calling themselves Lincolnshire Pride. Upon closer inspection, it turns out this is a magazine dealing with high society in the county. But when I first saw the banner from afar, based upon how the word is always used in America in this context, I just assumed (without giving any thought to contrary hypotheses) that Lincolnshire Pride was the local gay advocacy organization.
I ran into a similar language problem when I was visiting the town of York. I saw something interesting on a menu outside a local eatery in the city. Have a look at the second item on the menu.
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quote:And don't get me started on Illinois as "Ill in oy's" vs "Ill in oy"
You can get your beak bent in Nevada by saying Na-vah-da. And, don't give me that "but, its Spanish" stuff eather. Unless you are willing to pronounce it as Neh-vah-tha with a tap of the tongue on the teeth for the d. Most folks who live here speak some Spanish.
Are most of them Castilian? Because most Spanish-speakers do not pronounce the "d" that way.
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