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Post by palesa on Feb 17, 2009 11:26:50 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2009 11:48:55 GMT
Those were hilarious P., I may have to borrow "Today is under Construction" from time to time,speaks volumes.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2009 11:51:36 GMT
When I travel, I am addicted to reading all of the labels and signs and menu translations, because they're always good for fun.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2009 11:54:28 GMT
Sadly, I don't have to travel far.
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Post by palesa on Feb 17, 2009 12:19:38 GMT
These tickled me, no end, and I do feel like most of my days are under construction, but also feel like I could hang from the balcony on some days!
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Post by mockchoc on Feb 19, 2009 8:41:23 GMT
That was funny, passed it on to a friend I know will like it.
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Post by spindrift on Feb 19, 2009 15:41:52 GMT
By chance I looked at the Mail Online yesterday and saw that. It is very funny
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Post by gringalais on Feb 19, 2009 15:55:20 GMT
I saw an amusing one on a menu recently. The menu had 2 types of pisco sours, Chilean style and Peruvian style. The Chilean type is made in a cocktail shaker while the Peruvian type is made in a blender. The description however was a battered pisco, sugar and lemon juice.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2009 7:51:46 GMT
I was in a Turkish restaurant last night and on the menu, a salad that contained artichoke hearts (coeurs d'artichauts) somehow became in the English translation a very mysterious item called "artichoke corn."
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Post by BigIain on Feb 22, 2009 9:05:10 GMT
excellent!! Always a subject guaranteed to make le laugh. I used to have to recruit people to work in call centres in the Phillipines. The interview was always done by phone and every now and then the conversation would degenerate with a simple slip pf translation as seen in some of those signs.
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Post by rikita on Feb 22, 2009 22:52:52 GMT
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Post by BigIain on Feb 22, 2009 23:11:28 GMT
fantastic again, thanks for those Rikita
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 23, 2009 16:02:01 GMT
This: www.engrish.com/category/vending-machines/ is probably the best known site, although not the funniest. The vending machines are pretty amusing, though. I'd laugh harder at all this stuff if I didn't suspect that sometimes I sound like these examples when I speak Spanish. |
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Post by gringalais on May 15, 2009 15:31:59 GMT
I just saw a sign here the other day where someone was offering their services as a baby sister. People think it is cool to work in English words sometimes, so saying baby sitter has become popular, the problem is about half of them get confused and say baby sister instead.
And then there was some woman on the news the other night talking about a concert that took place here. She wanted to show off, I guess, so she kept using the word performance, or at least trying to. Her pronounciation was so off, if it weren't for the context I doubt I would have understood what she was trying to say.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2009 16:41:40 GMT
This past Sunday,Mother's Day at a performance by local legendary singer Irma Thomas,the woman who introduced her was a New Orleans City Council member.
She said:" And now I have the great pleasure of introducing to you,the one ,the only,the incomprehensible Irma Thomas."
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Post by lagatta on May 15, 2009 17:12:36 GMT
Not only non-English speakers and uneducated people mangle English (and other languages).
To wit the following exchange between former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (fluent in both English and French from childhood, as his family is Irish-Canadian and he grew up in a Québec town where few people spoke English) and the counsel of a commission questioning him about dealings with German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber. Both of these men were educated as lawyers.
"After two days of questioning by his own lawyer, Guy Pratte, lead commission counsel Richard Wolson began grilling Mulroney Thursday.
Wolson questioned Mulroney about the sworn testimony he gave during the discovery process of his lawsuit in 1996 against the federal government over the Airbus affair.
He suggested Mulroney wasn't being completely open when describing the relationship he had with Schreiber because he didn't mention the commercial arrangement he had struck with Schreiber.
"You're not quite fulsome in your response," Wolson said.
"I am fulsome and truthful," Mulroney said". (CBC news story).
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 8, 2012 7:56:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2012 10:50:09 GMT
And here we thought the Chinese were improving in English.
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Post by patricklondon on Jul 12, 2012 6:50:35 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 8, 2014 22:19:45 GMT
For that fun Carmen Miranda look in the kitchen :: ad for the Ovente Food Steamer:  This food-steaming tower's stackable bowls make prepping healthy meals quick and easy. Multiple ingredients can be separated and steamed simultaneously in unit's the three bowls. The top two containers can also be removed for simpler recipes and stacked on your head when you don't meet roller-coaster height requirements. Each bowl is also transparent, letting you monitor ingredients as they steam. An adjustable thermostat allows the steamer to cook foods such as fish, eggs, and veggies at a suitable, precise temperature. full ad: www.groupon.com/deals/gg-ovente-food-steamer-1?utm_source=GPN&utm_medium=afl&z=skip&utm_campaign=201080
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2015 6:00:08 GMT
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Post by auntieannie on Jul 2, 2015 20:50:39 GMT
sometimes, I despair. English people of English origin sometimes really badly mangle their own language.
Next time I see an example I'll try and remember to post it here.
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Post by onlyMark on Jul 3, 2015 6:11:07 GMT
S'right. We dunt all spoke proper.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 15, 2015 20:17:41 GMT
The translating engines provide some fun from time to time. I really did want to see this recipe in English and Google Translate did a pretty good job on it. The Facebook translator struggled, although now I have a strange craving for the nut nut plant.
Italian speakers: am I right in guessing that "per qualche minuto" in this context would mean [appropriate] for any time?
The original text:
SPAGHETTATA ÇIFALUTANA
Ingredienti: Acciuga salata, aglio, cipolla. uva passa e pinoli, prezzemolo (abbondante), pomodoro pelato, concentrato di pomodoro, dado vegetale, pangrattato. Spaghetti
Far soffriggere in abbondante olio d’oliva, l’aglio , la cipolla tagliati piccolissimi, l’acciuga, il prezzemolo. Aggiungere concentrato di pomodoro (un poco ) e pomodoro pelato. Quando questo sugo sta restringendo aggiungere il dado vegetale (1 dado per 2 piatti di spaghetti) ed un po’ di acqua tiepida. Il sugo non deve venire né liquido né molto denso. A parte cuocere gli spaghetti. Quando sono al dente passarli in padella insieme al sugo. Mantecare, aggiungendo il pangrattato , per qualche minuto.
Facebook's effort:
Spaghetti dinner çifalutana
Ingredients: Anchovy, salt, garlic, onion. Raisins and pine nuts, parsley (abundant), Peeled Tomatoes, tomato concentrate, nut plant, bread crumbs. Spaghetti
Fry in abundant olive oil, garlic, onion cut tiny, Anchovy, parsley. Add Tomato Concentrate (a little) and tomato bald. When this gravy is shrinking add the nut nut plant (1 TO 2 Plates of spaghetti) and a bit of warm water. The Sauce should not come or liquid or very dense. Besides cook spaghetti. When I'm at the tooth pass them in the pan with the sauce. Wisk, by adding the bread crumbs, for a few minutes.
Google Translate:
SPAGHETTI ÇIFALUTANA
Ingredients: salted anchovy, garlic, onion. raisins and pine nuts, parsley (large), peeled tomatoes, tomato paste, vegetable stock cubes, bread crumbs. Spaghetti
Fry in plenty of olive oil, garlic, onion cut tiny, anchovy, parsley. Add tomato paste (a little) and peeled tomatoes. When the sauce is shrinking add the vegetable stock cubes (1 cube for 2 plates of spaghetti) and a little 'of warm water. The sauce should not be neither liquid nor too dense. Aside cook the spaghetti. When they pass them al dente in a pan with the sauce. Stir, add the breadcrumbs, for a few minutes.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 5, 2017 18:07:40 GMT
I have a cousin who often posts on facebook in Sicilian. Google Translate cannot translate Sicilian, which doesn't stop it from trying.
This was a poem written from my cousin's grandmother to her grandfather. The original:
chi d'argientu puorti l'ali, ti scruscinu li pinni quannu voli, dammi nna pinna ri to bianchi ali quantu fazzu nna littra a lu me amuri. Tutta si sangu a vuliva fari e ppi siggillu cci mittiva u me cori.
Google Translate "detected" the language as Corsican, & came up with this translation:
what do you put on your wings, you lose your pencils when you want to get rid of white lily? What do I do in the letter to love me. Anybody who wants to kill her and send her to my heart shakes me.
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Post by whatagain on Oct 5, 2017 20:07:41 GMT
A friend of mine took a pic of a breakfast menu.
In French it said ´ croissants ´.
I English ´ growings ´.
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Post by patricklondon on Oct 6, 2017 9:54:45 GMT
The hotel I stay at in the Austrian Tirol has a daily page of announcements and upcoming events. One day, it suggested the enticing prospect of a visit to "the monastery bodice". We had to ask the English-speaking Germans on the next table for help - they worked out that, rather less excitingly, that the German word for bodice is the same as the name of the next village along the valley. Though why a village should be named for underwear, I don't know. By the way, I recommend: Lost in Translation, by Charlie Croker, which includes such gems as "The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the task of the chambermaid. Turn to her without fail." My blog | My photos | My video clips My Librivox | "too literate to be spam" |
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Post by fumobici on Oct 6, 2017 22:00:50 GMT
I have a cousin who often posts on facebook in Sicilian. Google Translate cannot translate Sicilian, which doesn't stop it from trying. This was a poem written from my cousin's grandmother to her grandfather. The original: chi d'argientu puorti l'ali, ti scruscinu li pinni quannu voli, dammi nna pinna ri to bianchi ali quantu fazzu nna littra a lu me amuri. Tutta si sangu a vuliva fari e ppi siggillu cci mittiva u me cori. Google Translate "detected" the language as Corsican, & came up with this translation: what do you put on your wings, you lose your pencils when you want to get rid of white lily? What do I do in the letter to love me. Anybody who wants to kill her and send her to my heart shakes me. That's not just Sicilian, that's colloquial, and in thick dialect too! I think the machine translator did OK given all that. Oh, and in the post above from 2015, "per qualche minuto" in this context would mean [appropriate] for any time? " No, no no!  it means 'for a few minutes'. I hope gli spaghetti were nice anyway. |
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 6, 2017 23:09:01 GMT
Yes, but the part about the pencils is so poignant!
I posted a recipe yesterday in What's for Dinner that is either translated from Spanish or written by a native speaker of that language. It's not really mangled, but some of the syntax is not exactly standard English. It's as though Wallace Stevens wrote it:
Transfer from the saucepan to the blender, with a kitchen spoon, the ingredients that were cooked.
"Take from the dresser of deal lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet on which she embroidered fantails once ..."
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Post by patricklondon on Oct 7, 2017 6:42:18 GMT
This past Sunday,Mother's Day at a performance by local legendary singer Irma Thomas,the woman who introduced her was a New Orleans City Council member. She said:" And now I have the great pleasure of introducing to you,the one ,the only,the incomprehensible Irma Thomas." A candidate in a Scottish election (somehow this demands the Scottish accent) was introduced by the local chairman with the words "You'll be pleased to hear our speaker is no' gun tae mak a long speech. And he'll no mak a short speech either. It'll be a mediocre speech." My blog | My photos | My video clips My Librivox | "too literate to be spam" |
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it means 'for a few minutes'. I hope gli spaghetti were nice anyway.