Posts Tagged ‘translation’
Wear Your Clothes
Some mistranslations include correct spelling and grammar, but convey subtle implications only native speakers will notice. Instructions on a Korean flight read, “Upon arrival at Kimpo and Kimahie Airport, please wear your clothes,” perhaps to warn former Braniff passengers who had been told otherwise – “fly naked” – via a rather [...]
Wide Boiled Aircraft
A Russian airline once advertised “wide boiled aircraft for your comfort.” Read more airline-related translation bloopers in the article "'Airline pulp' and bad translations that can crash a plane," by Globalization Group vice president Adam Wooten.
Typing in Another Language
Using your QWERTY English keyboard, would you like to type Spanish characters, Japanese characters, or another language? No, this does not refer to the process of inserting special characters from a list with your mouse. This refers to changing the input language for your computer without changing the operating system. Check out these links for [...]
Get Out of Jail Free with Google Mistranslation
In a 2010 legal mishap, “a Russian trucker in (the Netherlands) involved in a bar brawl was released because the (court) summons he received was poorly translated from Dutch into Russian using Google Translate,” reported the Dutch-English news blog 24oranges. Instead of reading, “you are to appear in court on 3 August 2010,” as it [...]
Cheap Translation Kills
Not all mistranslations mean the difference between life and death, but some do. Some cheap translations can actually kill. See the following examples from the article, "'Airline pulp' and bad translations that can crash a plane," by Globalization Group vice president Adam Wooten. ...a 2008 helicopter crash in France... was suspected to be the [...]
Emergency Air Handcuffs
Emergency exit instructions translated from Spanish to English read, “Handcuff until the it collide and without loosing it pull the hatch.” How comfortable would you feel following those instructions after a crash landing? Read more airline-related translation bloopers in the article "'Airline pulp' and bad translations that can crash a [...]
Mistranslation as a Virtue?
Mistranslation can cause physical or financial harm, as illustrated by many anecdotes on this blog. However, we must admit that mistranslation will - in extremely rare instances - be perceived as a virtue by some. For example, some U.S. restaurant patrons like to see poorly translated menus in ethnic restaurants because they then assume the [...]
“Safe” and “Comfortable” Flight
Misuse of punctuation - even small quotation marks - can quickly change the meaning of a sentence. For example, how reassuring is the following invitation from Japan Airlines? Please enjoy our "safe" and "comfortable" flight Read more airline-related translation bloopers in the article "'Airline pulp' and bad translations that can crash a [...]
Export Experts Seminar on eCommerce Effectiveness Highly Useful
The World trade Center of Utah gave Adam Wooten, vice president of Globalization Group, the opportunity to speak at a seminar on global e-commerce, Wednesday, April 13, 2011. Adam has given many presentations on this topic, so the World Trade Center kindly asked him to "pinch hit" the day before after another speaker was forced to cancel. Also [...]
Preventing Mistranslation is Easier than Retracting Translation Blunders
Benjamin Franklin said, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This is true in translation. As illustrated when a magazine ironically added Google mistranslations to an article about translation quality in bold, red print, it is easier to prevent mistranslations than it is to retract mistranslations and fully recover from [...]
