I had lunch with some friends today at a little bistro
in Anduze, and the menu there was just a howl. We all
enjoyed it very much, because the owners -- in the
interest of globalization, of course -- had gone to
the trouble of translating most of the items into
English. The only trouble was, it looked as if they
had used Google Translate or some other translation
utility to do so, with the following hilarious
results, just in the salad section:
The Original: Tatare de saumon, cocktail de crevettes,
avocat, et salade verte.
The Translation: Tartare of salmon, shrimp, lawyer,
and green salad. (The word 'avocat' in French applies
to both 'avocado' and 'lawyer.')
The Original: Eventail de melon accompangné de cartagène,
salade verte, et pétals du jambon cru.
The Translation: Range of melon accompanied by cartagène,
green salad, and believed ham petal. ('Eventail' connotes
a fan-shaped arrangement, thus the 'petals' at the end;
'jambon cru,' or aged ham, has been confused with the past
tense of 'croire,' or 'to believe.')
The Original: Subtil assortement de charcuterie de Pays,
bien sur !!
The Translation: Subtle set of pork butchery of Country,
of course !! (The common meaning of 'charcuterie' is to
refer to a selection of meats, not the process by which
they were created; 'de Pays' is a way of saying 'country
style,' and doesn't refer to a 'Country.'
I've just started compiling these wonderful mistranslations.
If I find more I'll share them with you. Some are even funnier
than these...
