| 주제 내 페이지: < [1 2 3 4 5] | Off topic: Mis-translations and cross-cultural howlers 스레드 게시자: Dan_Brennan
|
|---|
| You think that's bad? | Mar 14, 2005 |
danya wrote:
my students at the Uni screamed of laughter and refused to read aloud O'Henry's story. One of the characters was called Con O'Lantry.
The first language the girls studied was French, and they read the name as {Kong}. Afterwards they told me it means "male member" in French. It made my day 
But then I asked them, what they would think of King Kong then. It made theirs.
PS how do they say in the US, for example, "Dick Chaney" and not laugh?
| | | | NancyLynn
캐나다
Local time: 00:55
프랑스어에서 영어
+ ...
이 포럼의 조정자
Mishaps
From EE Times, October 8, 1996. In case you were wondering if you were the only ones having trouble coming up with a suitable product name, consider these ill-fated foreign products whose names didn't make it through the translation quite right (compiled by Charles Brymer of Interbrand Corporation):
Ass Glue Blood tonic from donkey parts; China
Colon Plus Liquid detergent; Spain
Fockink Liqueur; the Netherlands
Green Piles Lawn fertiliser; Japan <... See more Mishaps
From EE Times, October 8, 1996. In case you were wondering if you were the only ones having trouble coming up with a suitable product name, consider these ill-fated foreign products whose names didn't make it through the translation quite right (compiled by Charles Brymer of Interbrand Corporation):
Ass Glue Blood tonic from donkey parts; China
Colon Plus Liquid detergent; Spain
Fockink Liqueur; the Netherlands
Green Piles Lawn fertiliser; Japan
Homo Sausage Beef jerky; Japan
Hornyphon Video recorder; Austria
Krapp Toilet paper; Sweden
Last Climax Paper tissues; Japan
Mucos Soft drink; Japan
Pansy Men's underwear; China
Pipi Orangeade; Yugoslavia
Plopp Chocolate bar; Sweden
Polio Detergent; Czechoslovakia
Pshitt Soft drink; France
Shitto Hot spiced pepper sauce; Ghana
Skinababe Baby cleanser; Japan
Superglans Car wax; the Netherlands
Zit Lemon-lime soft drink; Greece
In many countries, Microsoft has kept the original name of the company, but in China they decided to translate it. Unfortunately, the translation was direct instead of figurative, and came out as "small and flaccid." Obviously, they decided to not go with that name. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Back from Buenos Aires | May 18, 2005 |
I just came back from Buenos Aires.
One restaurant offered "revolting eggs" (meaning "huevos revueltos/scrambled eggs").
There was a line of children's clothing called "Mr Cock" and a store selling guns and ammo called "My Friends".
| | | | JH Trads 
미국
Local time: 00:55
회원(2007)
영어에서 프랑스어
+ ...
among the wrong uses of French words in English, I find very funny the way elegant companies catering to the rich create a new class of services/costumers, the "concierge" category...with all due respect to this profession, a French ambitious nouveau riche could be appalled if told he achieved the "concierge" status
| | |
|
|
|
| aus Haftungsgründen | Mar 27, 2016 |
Just came across this one in a legal text:
"For adhesion reasons"
| | | |
This must be one of the longest living threads of this site.
An expensive car that used to be marketed in India had the brand name Laura. In Hindi, the "r" often gets pronounced as "d", making this name Lauda for many Hindi-speakers.
Lauda in Hindi means something like dick.
You can still see cars carrying this name on the Indian streets, although its production has now stopped and newer, and more sensibly named, models have taken its place.
| | | | | | SirReaL
독일
Local time: 06:55
영어에서 러시아어
+ ...
|
|
|
A_Lilie
독일
Local time: 06:55
일본어에서 독일어
+ ...
| My favorites | Jun 25, 2019 |
I know this thread is really old, but I just discovered it during my lunch break and honestly had a blast, so I want to add some of my favorites, too.
When I was in Tokyo, I saw a shop called "E hyphen world". Apparenty some real label, but still sounds like some mistranslation to me 
A kind of electrolyte water in Japan called Pocari Sweat, which is funny in and of itself, has a subbrand for animals called... See more I know this thread is really old, but I just discovered it during my lunch break and honestly had a blast, so I want to add some of my favorites, too.
When I was in Tokyo, I saw a shop called "E hyphen world". Apparenty some real label, but still sounds like some mistranslation to me
A kind of electrolyte water in Japan called Pocari Sweat, which is funny in and of itself, has a subbrand for animals called "Pet Sweat", sold in 500 ml bottles like any other drink.
And one common coffe creamer over there is called "Creap", which always made me think of Radiohead
Last one is a proof reading project I worked on a few weeks ago, in which the translator meant to write "Mitstreiter" (in that case allies), but wrote "Mistreiter" (manure riders). Definitely made work easier that day, reading "We need more manure riders!" a few times  ▲ Collapse
| | | | | 주제 내 페이지: < [1 2 3 4 5] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Mis-translations and cross-cultural howlers | Pastey | Your smart companion app
Pastey is an innovative desktop application that bridges the gap between human expertise and artificial intelligence. With intuitive keyboard shortcuts, Pastey transforms your source text into AI-powered draft translations.
Find out more » |
| | LinguaCore | AI Translation at Your Fingertips
The underlying LLM technology of LinguaCore offers AI translations of unprecedented quality. Quick and simple. Add a human linguistic review at the end for expert-level quality at a fraction of the cost and time.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
