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Humorous Article on Mistranslations | ||
Tags: Error | Translation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6869 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 1 of 15 07 April 2013 at 3:54am | IP Logged | ||
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Here is an article that some of you might find entertaining, and possibly a bit disturbing:
6 Mistranslations That Changed the World I'm not sure if all of these really "changed" the world, but they are wroth knowing about. For what it's worth, I'd probably also have ruined that poor guy's life in No. 2: I've lived three years in Latin America and had no idea "intoxicado" really meant "ill from food-poisoning". Fair warning: it's from Cracked.com so it's probably NSFW if you are nervous about foul language. Enjoy! :-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| berabero89 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4643 days ago 101 posts - 137 votes Speaks: English, Amharic* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, French | Message 2 of 15 07 April 2013 at 5:41am | IP Logged | ||
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According to two online dictionaries I checked, it literally means "intoxicated".
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| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6869 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 3 of 15 07 April 2013 at 6:03am | IP Logged | ||
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I checked one and it corroborated that it means "ill from food poisoning" but I haven't verified it with anyone, nor in a printed dictionary...
...although printed dictionaries have their own errors too, of course. Look up "mosquito" (English word) in a Spanish dictionary and often you'll find a word that is the same thing, from "mosca", I guess, meaning "fly". The correct word, at least in Peru, but I think it's elsewhere too, is "zancudo". Native speakers, please correct me if I'm in error about this. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JohannaNYC Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4453 days ago 251 posts - 361 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, Italian Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Arabic (Egyptian) | Message 4 of 15 07 April 2013 at 6:19am | IP Logged | ||
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Intoxicado can mean ill from food poisoning, alcohol poisoning, etc.
Zancudo, I think might be slang. I know I've heard it a couple of times, but not more than a handful. Mosquito is more standard/proper and understood in all Spanish-speaking countries. Mosca is definitely fly, is the only word I've heard for it. Thanks for sharing the article it was very funny. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6869 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 5 of 15 07 April 2013 at 7:06am | IP Logged | ||
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Johanna,
Is it also possible that zancudo can be a regional word? The only reason I ask is because when I was in the Peace Corps in Peru, the medical staff told us about malaria taught us the word zancudo. They never said it was slang, although they never said it wasn't, either. I'm a little struck by the irony that I seem to be derailing my own thread! :-) I'm glad you liked the article! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 6 of 15 07 April 2013 at 8:27am | IP Logged | ||
When I lived Mexico (Veracruz) I learned that "intoxicado" meant suffering from food poisoning, at least in that region of the country. I learned it from the doctor that told me I had gotten food poisoning. But I probably would never have learned it had I not eaten bad pork. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JohannaNYC Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4453 days ago 251 posts - 361 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, Italian Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Arabic (Egyptian) | Message 7 of 15 07 April 2013 at 4:48pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, regional is a better word as it doesn't carry the negative connotations sometimes attached to slang. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6869 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 8 of 15 07 April 2013 at 6:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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On the article, I'm a little surprised that the government would hire someone who didn't have a grasp of the Polish language to do the translating for such an important state visit. Did the guy just embellish his skills, and if he did, I would have thought he'd have been noticed by that point.
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