An Italian flatmate from my time in Finland used some remarkable expressions in English:
To make the plates = to do the dishes (understandable, since Italian has the same word for doing
and making)
To make a shower = to shower
Once she was asking our English upstairs neighbour “Can I borrow your phone?”, so he handed her his phone, but she said: “No, your phone!”
He: “This IS my phone!”
She: “No, your phone!”
She meant his hairdryer. For me understandable, cause the Dutch word “föhn” also looks a bit like “phone”.
Oh, and another international student once was referring to contact lens solution as The juice for the lenses.
Over the past few years, some of the Viki team translations have been superb and follow the script. The spelling was spot on and the team took their time doing the translation and segmentation.
Lately (Ever Night 2 for example), the translation has been rushed, the spelling awful and I can only guess that someone was using Google translate. I would prefer that translations took longer but were more accurate. Perhaps a proof reader who is native to the translation language would help.
Apparently someone once translated the word ‘serial killer’ with ‘havermoutmoordenaar’ in Dutch. If you translate it back to English you get ‘cereal killer’
Havermout is a form of ontbijtgranen. I remember some foreign students in Finland referring to it (or other kinds of porridge) as “hot cereal”. Although you can also use it cold …
Btw, cereal killer could not only refer to someone who kills cereal, but also to someone who uses cereal in some way to kill someone (just like the "Yellow Umbrella Murderer in Born Again).
I’ve been hanging employees all day, so now I’m hungry. Let’s have some inner orgasm like a tube below stomach and braised food with balls from your hometown on the side.
Oh, crap with soy sauce! I’m stuck in a Mongolian net!
I really cracked up with these translations! And I thought I’ve seen worse.
That’s the prize of being cultural incompetent. Tsk tsk tsk… (My apologies for my sarcasm)
Not a mistranslation per se, but open to misinterpretation for sure.
I found this left out by the cleaning crew in the office working late one evening. I do question the cleaning power of weeing on the carpet!
Deformed man was so offensive but I couldn’t stop laughing. I can picture a man holding it in, and not using that ‘‘bathroom with such a disrespectful sign.’’
In the Chinese nail salon I have fixed many of their signs, and they laugh when they realize their mistake bc they have no idea whatsoever that the sign can be offending for some people. I have laughed like a lunatic while using their restroom bc of those ridiculous translations but I make sure they fix it before I leave (it gives them a chance to learn something new too).
Oh yeah, I read that! I was looking for this website, I couldn’t find it! Thanks for linking it here!!
I just love to read translated signs. If they ever make an attraction in a city out of these signs or something, I’d go
The last articles say that a translation company promoted its services using these pics and “Shenzhen Government Calls on Residents to Fix Chinglish Signs.” What a pity…
(My apologies for my sarcasm)
Oh yeah, I read that! I was looking for this website, I couldn’t find it! Thanks for linking it here!!
