Posts Tagged ‘politics’
Poll: Top Translation Blunders of 2010
Translation blunders made news throughout the year 2010. By translation blunders, we are not referring to urban legends like President John F. Kennedy's alleged slip-up saying "I am a jelly doughnut" - that never happened. Nor are we referring to Dave Barry's satirical claim, "The CEO of Toyota appears before a congressional committee and [...]
Israeli Journalists and a Dutch Diplomat
Machine translation is appropriate for some situations and very inappropriate for others, as explained in the article "Machine translation can bring blunders, successes in international business." In (one) instance, Israeli journalists nearly set off an international incident when they sent a list of machine-translated questions to a Dutch [...]
Elections Won and Lost in Translation
Would you vote for the current dragonfly? That was the question posed to Spanish-speaking voters in Worcester, Massachusetts, according to Telegram.com. The ballot for the upcoming election omitted a single letter in a Spanish translation and consequently listed one candidate’s occupation as “current dragonfly” (“aguacil actual”) instead [...]
United Nations Interpreter Bloopers
United Nations interpreters are among the best in the world. However, UN interpreters work under very stressful circumstances and do not have the luxury of an editor to review words before they are spoken. Under such circumstances, UN interpreters are bound to make an occasional mistake. According to the BBC, one mistake actually resulted in a [...]
Conference Interpreters Work in Pairs
Conference interpreters should work in pairs so that they can switch off every 30 minutes and avoid interpreter fatigue as mentioned below in the video "A Day in the Life of a Translator/Interpreter." Interpreter fatigue is a very real issue. Studies have confirmed a very real decline in quality after 30 minutes of interpreting. This reality [...]
Election Ballot Translation Errors
Would you vote for the current dragonfly? That is the question being posed to Spanish-speaking voters in Worcester, Massachusetts, according to Telegram.com. The ballot for the upcoming election omitted a single letter in a Spanish translation and consequently listed one candidate's current occupation as current dragonfly ("aguacil actual") [...]
Hillary Clinton’s Interpreter Creates Awkward Situation
One year ago today, an amateur interpreter created a very awkward moment for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her audience. A Congolese student, speaking through an interpreter, appeared to ask Secretary Clinton what "Mr. Clinton" thought about a Chinese trade deal with the Democratic People's Republic of the Congo. "You want me [...]
100-Year-Old Mistranslation of Town Name
The U.S. town of Sequim, Washington has long claimed that "in the native language of the S'Klallam tribe, 'S'Kwim' means quiet waters," as indicated on the town website. However, a linguist recently revealed that a correct translation would actually be "a place for going to shoot." Listen to the story on NPR.org or read the article by the [...]
Thick-Skinned Hippo
At least a decade ago on the TV program "60 Minutes," interviewer Mike Wallace asked former Russian president Boris Yeltsin if he was thin-skinned about the press (and public criticism). Unfortunately, the interpreter asked Yeltsin if he was a "thick-skinned hippopotamus." Yeltsin responded sharply, "An experienced journalist like yourself [...]
U.S. Presidential Candidate Mistranslations
Just as sitting presidents take a lot of heat for any missteps while in office, U.S. presidential candidates are often under a microscope for any blunders committed before, during, and after their campaigns. Barack Obama Arabic in Afghanistan? - As a candidate, Obama mentioned a need for Arabic linguists in Afghanistan, momentarily forgetting [...]
