I bought this Roco track cleaner car off the bargain shelf for $5. I plan on adding body mounted couplers, screw mounted trucks, and whatever else I can think of to make it servicable.

Now, the reason I am posting this is because the "instruction" sheet was downright comical in some of its translations to english.

For example: "Attention! At an incorrect use there exists danger of hurting because of cutting edges and tips!"

I had a desk calendar that was mostly funny english translations on asian signs. Actually, I think there is a website covering that topic. Anyway, that got me thinking if things translated from english into another language are equally comical. For instance, people that get asian character tattoos. How do they know their permanent tattoo is not saying something absurd, and that if they took a trip to asia, they would be laughed at?

My nephew had a Ninja costume for Hallowe'en wih Oriental lettering on it. I told him it said "No MSG".

I could just imagine some evil tattoo artist doing some funny things with the Asian letters

Yeah, like, "Kick me!"

http://engrishfunny.com/



Oh...and about those Asain character tattoos...

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/960753/posts

I couldn't find the original article, but did find that cut and paste job.




We nw return you to your regularly scheduled forum thread.

When I was much younger I used to ride Japanese motorcycles. The repair manuals for them was really funny. Basically, you used the pictures and the torque specs, because any instructions were totally unintelligible. The problem was native speakers teaching English as a second language, but still using Japanese or Chinese or Korean syntax. I understand that there is now a demand for Americans to go to Japan, China, and Korea to teach English as a second language.

Russ Bellinis Wrote:I understand that there is now a demand for Americans to go to Japan, China, and Korea to teach English as a second language.

Been that way for sometime. I have a friend who is in Korea teaching English right now. She has been there for years now and is enjoying it very much.

Russ Bellinis Wrote:When I was much younger I used to ride Japanese motorcycles. The repair manuals for them was really funny. Basically, you used the pictures and the torque specs, because any instructions were totally unintelligible. The problem was native speakers teaching English as a second language, but still using Japanese or Chinese or Korean syntax. I understand that there is now a demand for Americans to go to Japan, China, and Korea to teach English as a second language.

At that time the English version was used by the next interpreter without any clue about the subject itself to "produced" the German version. That was true for stereo equipment, first wrist watches etc. It was a great fun for newspapers to print the most funny technical manuals.
Time has changed...

I once asked my Grandmother how she would say something she had just said in English, in her native Swedish. Her immediate reply was, "I'd have to think it in Swedish".
Literal translations, do not include "expressiveness". The "color" of a sentence comes not only from the definitions of the words, but in the sentence structure, and, in many cases the rhythm, and nuance of the spoken words.
To properly translate an "instruction" you have to think in the language you're translating to, and you have to accurately describe the "picture" (part A going to slot C).
Thank You, no, I would never be a good translator.

To be a good translator, you need to be a "native" speaker of the languages involved. I have heard some adds down here where it's obvious the translator (English/Spanish) had no idea of the nuances that exist in the Spanish vocabulary, and just picked the first word he ran across in the English-Spanish dictionary.

I think the classic case was with General Motors. I don't know if this story is true or anecdotal, but G.M. thought that the old Chevy Nova was a perfect vehicle for Argentina. Unfortunately they just couldn't sell them in Argentina until someone pointed out to them that no va in Spanish means no go. They change the name of the car to Commodore, and sold all that they could produce.

Russ Bellinis Wrote:When I was much younger I used to ride Japanese motorcycles.

When I was a teenager, my brother and I both had Yamaha motocross bikes. I can still remember my brother and I laughing our way through the manuals. One ofthe quotes, I still remember it, was "To run a race, keep the machine in top condition."

Back to the Roco car, gee, I would have to do something pretty crazy with it to get hurt by it!

One of the oddest things i've seen was printed in large bold print on the front of a children's outdoor playset: "Not to let children play on equipment."

That's hilarious!