Translation - art & business » Lighter side of trans/interp »
Off topic: Request for humourous translation/transliteration anecdotes
Thread poster: a2ztranslate
a2ztranslate
a2ztranslate  Identity Verified
New Zealand
Local time: 13:18
English to Japanese
+ ...
Mar 31, 2005

Hello everyone, i have to do a presentation at a seminar on the development of multilingual marketing materials. Unfortunately, it is one of the last slots in the day, so i assume most of the audience will be quite tired. so i want to inject some humour into it with a few interesting examples. i am particularly interested in examples of brand/company/personal names that when translated/transliterated from english to the target language can become humourous or give a negative nuance. the point be... See more
Hello everyone, i have to do a presentation at a seminar on the development of multilingual marketing materials. Unfortunately, it is one of the last slots in the day, so i assume most of the audience will be quite tired. so i want to inject some humour into it with a few interesting examples. i am particularly interested in examples of brand/company/personal names that when translated/transliterated from english to the target language can become humourous or give a negative nuance. the point being, that the translation process is not straight forward or linear (as so many of my clients seem to think), but does require lateral thought and the ability to be flexible. many thanks! ▲ Collapse
 
Antje Harder
Antje Harder  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 03:18
Swedish to German
+ ...
Two websites with anecdotes... Mar 31, 2005

Here are two websites with anecdotes about brand name misunderstandings:

http://www.linguist.com/text_files/services/BrandName_txt.htm
http://www.i18nguy.com/translations.html

Funny readings...... See more
Here are two websites with anecdotes about brand name misunderstandings:

http://www.linguist.com/text_files/services/BrandName_txt.htm
http://www.i18nguy.com/translations.html

Funny readings...

Regards from Sweden
Antje ▲ Collapse
 
Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly  Identity Verified
Local time: 21:18
Russian to English
+ ...
An absolutely hilarious site... Mar 31, 2005

Here is a site that may not exacly fit your needs, but it has some devastatinglyi funny examples of fractured English. It is www.engrish.com

Enjoy!

Kevin
 
NancyLynn
NancyLynn
Canada
Local time: 21:18
Member (2002)
French to English
+ ...

Moderator of this forum
Recycled yarn - good one! (recent submissions tab) Mar 31, 2005

Ha, ha, very funny.:lol:

You know, we've all read the 'ladies leave your garments here for a good time' type translations, but to see *pictures* of these howlers makes it so much more believable...

Nancy
 
Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:18
Russian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
See this previous topic Mar 31, 2005

http://www.proz.com/post/43730#43730
 
juvera
juvera  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:18
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Just for fun. Google translation experiments. Mar 31, 2005

http://richardwinskill.co.uk/Fun/google.php
 


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Request for humourous translation/transliteration anecdotes






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