Showing posts with label false friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label false friends. Show all posts

Friday, October 13, 2017

«Un palo tártaro», por Herminio Huerta

Hace unas semanas, en un restaurante de cierto postín, el maître me sugirió como especialidad muy recomendable de la casa el "estik tartar" (así lo pronunció). Al responder yo que se trataría de un "esteik", pues estik significa palo, insistió con gesto contrariado espetándome que, para mi información por si yo no estaba familiarizado con el término, se trataba de carne cruda con variados aliños. Lo dejé por imposible -como dicen los gauchos: hay caballo que nunca coge trote- y pedí el famoso steak, que, por cierto, no estaba nada mal a pesar de que la carne había sido picada con una máquina y no cortada finamente a cuchillo como mandan los cánones y como lo hacen en The Forge en Miami, probablemente donde se come el mejor steak tartare del mundo.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Europa Press News Agency's Translation Mistake

Europa Press News Agency has distributed a piece of news to Spanish newspapers, radio stations and televisions containing a gross translation mistake in one of their headlines which has sparked Spanish F1 fans rage as as we can see at Marca.com:
Niki Lauda : "No hay nada que hacer con Alonso, no es como Michael Schumacher"

What the Austrian former driver had actually said, as published in Formula1.com was:
Question: So is Fernando Alonso following in Michael Schumacher's footsteps and taking a tight grip on Ferrari?
Niki Lauda: What they did in Hockenheim was against all rules. Either the rules are changed or everybody observes them. What they've done is wrong and they got an immediate punishment - and they will get a pasting from the FIA World Motor Sport Council, that is for sure. And that has nothing to do with Alonso. He's no Schumacher." 

The correct translation should have been:
Pregunta: ¿Fernando Alonso sigue los pasos de Michael Schumacher y está apretándole las tuercas a Ferrari?
Niki Lauda: Lo que hicieron en Hockenheim incumple todas las reglas. O cambian el reglamento o lo cumple todo el mundo. Lo que han hecho está mal y recibieron un castigo inmediatamente, y recibirán una tunda del Consejo Mundial de Automovilismo de la FIA, seguro. Y Alonso no tiene nada que ver con esto. Él no es como Schumacher."
Europa Press reporters do not know that "to have to do with" does not mean "no hay nada que hacer", but "no tener nada que ver".
So, you can see what a bad translation can lead to...

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Meaning Beyond Words



Translation is not just about words. It's about what those words are about.

Here is a fine blog about translation, translation mistakes, false friends and much more:

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Percussionists and Conductors

I was a percussion major when I was in college, and during a rehearsal of the student orchestra, my section kept making mistakes.
“When you’re too dumb to play anything,” the professor conducting us sneered, “they give you a couple of sticks, put you in the back, and call you a percussionist.”
A friend next to me whispered, “And if you’re too dumb to hang on to both sticks, they take one away, put you in the front, and call you a conductor.”

No copyright infringement intended. For educational purposes only

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