Subject: Lost in translation ! From: bubblyrat Date: 12 Mar 15 - 08:00 AM For the Francophiles amongst you , this little gem, courtesy of Messrs "Agence de la Maison Rouge" , 22100 Dinan ,France . Subject ; a house for sale on the edge of the "Rance" , a stretch of water between Dinan,Dinard,& St Malo. Here goes then ! ; The Viscount House Sur Rance Village on the banks of the rancid in a quiet and small shops within walking distance and access to the rancid, home of the 18th completely renovated and offering indoor heat around a large stone fireplace off by a large open mezzanine hamlet to the roof.A beautiful aluminium conservatory enables you to experience the year of the garden and brings light and espace .4 bedrooms,1 ground rdc .Veritable haven for this place charmant .Tres good condition.If you believe in love at first sight, so come visit him ! ! ! I just love it !! We are looking at properties in France, but I think that we might give "The Rancid" a miss ! |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: GUEST,Robin Twatt Date: 12 Mar 15 - 09:51 AM Magnifick! |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: GUEST Date: 12 Mar 15 - 11:21 AM But does it have a French widow in every bedroom? |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Monique Date: 12 Mar 15 - 04:04 PM If you put it into Google translation, the French translation you get shows that Google did it (or its twin brother). |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: GUEST,# Date: 12 Mar 15 - 05:16 PM Looks like one of GW Bush's speeches and makes as much sense. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Jeri Date: 12 Mar 15 - 06:02 PM Translated Bubblyrat's initial post into Arabic, then back to English: For Francophiles among you, this little gem, courtesy of Messrs Agency "de la Maison Rouge" 0.22100 Dinan, France. Google Translate can be fun. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: GUEST,DaveRo Date: 12 Mar 15 - 06:07 PM hamlet to the roof? |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Jeri Date: 12 Mar 15 - 06:12 PM Hamlet on the roof because pigs have wings, as enny fule no. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 12 Mar 15 - 06:33 PM I don't have any idea what a "Conservatory aluminum" is, but if the listing is aimed primarily at a UK audience shouldn't it be "Conservatory aluminium"? |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: olddude Date: 12 Mar 15 - 08:22 PM Dang now I remember when I left the cheese |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Steve Shaw Date: 12 Mar 15 - 08:43 PM Reminded me of those long-lamented camera manuals from the 1970s that had been translated from Japanese. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: gnu Date: 13 Mar 15 - 05:31 PM Oddly enough, I find that when I read translated (Acadian) French from our Acadian newspapers and CBC REALLY fast, I have no problems at all. If I read it slowly, I get hung up and have to go back to sort it out. I understand the problems with e-translators but this method seems to break down those barriers for me. Of course, this won't work for anyone who is not somewhat familiar with "the language". |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Ed T Date: 13 Mar 15 - 06:00 PM Or, as Snoop Dog would say: Subjizzle ; a housizzle for sizzle on thizzle edgizzle of thizzle "Rizzle , a strizzle of wizzle bizzle Dizzle St Mizzle Hizzle goizzle thizzle ! ; Thizzle Vizzle Housizzle Sur Rizzle on thizzle bizzle of thizzle rizzle in a quizzle and smizzle shops wizzle wizzle dizzle and accizzle to thizzle rizzle homizzle of thizzle 18th complizzle rizzle and offizzle indoor hizzle around a lizzle stonizzle fizzle off by a lizzle opizzle mizzle hizzle to thizzle roof.A bizzle alumizzle consizzle enizzle you to expizzle thizzle yizzle of thizzle gizzle and brizzle lizzle and espizzle .4 bizzle ground rdc .Vizzle hizzle for thizzle plizzle chizzle .Trizzle good condizzle you bizzle in lovizzle at fizzle sizzle so comizzle vizzle hizzle ! ! ! I just lovizzle it !! Wizzle arizzle lookizzle at propizzle in Frizzle but I thizzle thizzle wizzle mizzle gizzle "Thizzle Rizzle a mizzle ! |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Mrrzy Date: 14 Mar 15 - 03:08 PM One of the fun things I do is take recipes for Hungarian food in the actual Hungarian and click Translate this page, instead of looking up English-language recipes for Hungarian food. It is a riot, seriously, I am occasionally moved to try random languages but haven't yet. Then there is ladle rat rotten hut! |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Thompson Date: 14 Mar 15 - 07:41 PM Excellent fun to be had by putting a portion of a story into Google Translate and putting it through a few languages. You get a kind of surreal version, occasionally tipping against the original story by coincidence. For instance: Republic of Ireland claims, loyalty every Irish women deserve is. Republic of religious freedom and civil rights, equal rights and equal opportunities for all its citizens guarantees, and copies of all children growing desire for happiness and prosperity to the country and announced that all of its components, and most of the country, which is divided a minority the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, I do not know. (The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.) |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Ed T Date: 14 Mar 15 - 07:57 PM Try the Ali G translate page-it is fun. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Ed T Date: 15 Mar 15 - 10:03 AM Breithla shona duit or Shona Naomh Pádraig lá a thabhairt duit go léir-which is correct, if either? |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! To the point of war? From: Donuel Date: 15 Mar 15 - 04:39 PM Before seeing this post and after listening to s TED talk about different forms of grammar I got this idea that WARS could result from an inability to share thoughts caused by an absence of a language's ability to think or express certain ideas between cultures. Is it possible "For lack of a tense a meaning was lost and a war begun"? Arabic does not have the past subjective tense that English has but it does have a work around addition of an adverb to form a possible passageway to the subjective thought but not directly as English. Is it possible that English will forever be misinterpreted even by second language English speakers and visa versa? Is it possible that some languages will always be more black and white and fail to capture the nuances of entire ways of thinking or expressing oneself. My ignorance in these matters of grammar are profound since I am dyslexic and all language forms are for me problematic. However my ignorance does grant me a freedom from pre existing bias and commonly accepted opinions that may be wrong or somehow backwards. If "never the twain shall meet" is not a mere fallacy could it be that asking certain cultures to have general understanding Past perfect subjective ideas as well as subjective future tenses IS JUST AN EXERCISE OF FUTILITY? I may be quite incorrect but it seems to me that the French language has a work around to make up for having fewer tenses while Japanese may exceed English in tenses and modes of thought. I am speaking of the general population misunderstanding certain ideas in our subjective tense in too literal a manner and totally miss our 'imagined possibility' way of thinking . I assume expert linguists of various languages will certainly know the differences and nuances of tenses that do not exist in their native tongue. Does our own military understand these profound differences in thought and communication?. Do we lose more in translation than we assumed? What about Hebrew? Isn't it loser to Arabic than English? |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Donuel Date: 15 Mar 15 - 04:42 PM Insert the missing 'c' in the correct place. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Thompson Date: 15 Mar 15 - 05:13 PM Ed, 'Breithlá sona duit' is 'Happy birthday to you'. It wouldn't really be a thing to wish someone a happy St Patrick's Day in Irish. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Mrrzy Date: 15 Mar 15 - 05:48 PM I understand that the Republic of Ireland is Roman Catholic and so starts life at conception; does that give my twins, made in Ireland on our honeymoon, a right to Irish citizenship? But back to the lost in translation thread - in today's Sunday WashPo was a great article on trying to flirt with someone without a shared language but with a device and google translate. Which brings back one of my very favorite memories of my late mother: we traveling through Brittany or Normandy and were eating at a lovely little restaurant, seated near an Australian gentleman dining alone. Now, English was mom's 5th language and she could only understand standard American or British English (she never understood a word either Jimmy Carter or Michael Caine said), plus she had quite a Hungarian accent which the gentleman found incomprehensible. So imagine: He says something charming, she smiles charmingly and says I beg your pardon, he repeats it, she looks blank, they both look at me, I repeat it in American, she is charmed, replies. He says I beg your pardon, she repeats it, he looks charmed but blank, they both look at me... It was a *great* dinner. Many (very French) courses, and they never learned, and I got to repeat their entire flirt in both directions. It was a howl. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Ed T Date: 15 Mar 15 - 05:53 PM Thanks Thompson, it was on a St. Pats day site and did not seem ( to me) like a St Pats day related comment:) |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: GUEST,achmelvich Date: 16 Mar 15 - 03:38 PM quand it comes to la fut d'anglais. je suis une jambonnaire |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Mr Red Date: 16 Mar 15 - 03:46 PM Francophiles? Methinks in Dinard/Dinant they would bristle at being called French. "Breton , sûrement. Européen , Peut-être. Français NON!" Though they might say it in Breton or Gallo. Even the translation services of Wikiled or Goggle etc couldn't translate Breton. Very revealing! |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Mrrzy Date: 16 Mar 15 - 04:41 PM I liked the freudian slip about Hebrew being loser, rather than closer, to Arabic. A freudian slip, my shrink once told me, is when you mean to say one thing and accidentally say your mother. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Bill D Date: 16 Mar 15 - 10:09 PM Many, many years ago in the early days of TV in the USA, Jack Paar hosted an early version of the Tonight Show. Sometimes he did his "Berlitz bit" after the language school. He would have several linguists, each proficient in at least 2 languages. Paar would whisper a joke to #1 in English, who would then tell it to #2 in, say, French, who would tell it to 3# in German, who would tell it to #4 in Italian.. who would then tell it back to Paar.. and us... in English. The point was usually totally lost.... I thought of this when Ronald Reagan met Gorbachev in Iceland, and there seem to have been misunderstandings from 'ambiguous' translations. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: DMcG Date: 17 Mar 15 - 03:03 PM Not quite relevant buy back in around 1973 I read an IBM research paper who had noted the English phrase "it is all Greek to me", found there was a Greek equivalent which translated as something like "it is all Hungarian to me" and decided to research all the relevant languages to see if they were strictly ordered or whether they had loops. Apparently it was strictly ordered with one of the Chinese languages as most difficult. It used the phrase "it is all heavenly script to me" at which point the researchers decided heavenly script could not be considered to be a natural language. |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: bubblyrat Date: 17 Mar 15 - 03:25 PM Whilst on the subject of estate agents ; I am AMAZED at the number of them who cannot , it seems, grasp the different meanings of similar -sounding words when describing their properties , for example "duel-fuel" cookers instead of"dual -fuel" --"principle bedrooms" instead of "principal bedrooms" --"grills" on radiators instead of "grilles",and "formally two cottages" instead of "formerly ".Even "there" and "their" seem to present challenges !! Anybody else notice this ?? (I am talking of English estate agents in this instance, sadly ). |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Ed T Date: 17 Mar 15 - 04:27 PM jeu m de saute-mouton India ink in English is Encre de chine in French Goose flesh in English is chair de poule in French Leap frog in English is saute-mouton in French (which has a different meaning down on the farm) |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Steve Shaw Date: 17 Mar 15 - 07:08 PM We had an estate agent in Bude whose particulars often included directions to the effect of "...then take the second exit from the round-a-bout..." |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Tattie Bogle Date: 17 Mar 15 - 09:23 PM When I was working we used to find some real howlers in hospital letters: e.g back in the day when both husband and wife had to sign consent forms for sterilisation- "Mr & Mrs X have signed the duel consent form". ( Scalpels at dawn?) Back on thread a bit more, I did translate a French song into English last year: not absolutely literally or it would have been very stilted, but keeping the meaning and sense of the thing. Meantime my French friend also produced a translation which he wrongly attributed to me, dished out endless copies of to all and sundry: it was a pile of merde. When we came to sing it, some people had my version, some had his, so there were some very puzzled looks going around, especially on the faces of the English speakers who had the rubbish translation! |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Gurney Date: 17 Mar 15 - 11:33 PM I read long ago that the Russian translation of 'Out of sight, out of mind' comes out as 'Invisible lunatic.' I've been watching for him a long time! :-) |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Mr Happy Date: 18 Mar 15 - 03:44 PM Singing in Tongues!! |
Subject: RE: Lost in translation ! From: Gallus Moll Date: 18 Mar 15 - 06:00 PM did I not read in the press this week that ALL language originated with one specific small group in Africa - -- - - mind you anyone who has tried Chinese Whispers with a group, even all speaking / using English, knows how quickly the meaning disappears! |
Share Thread: |