[FairfieldLife] The perils of translation utilities
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...
Re: [FairfieldLife] The perils of translation utilities
In the US you can have this kind of fun just going to a Chinese restaurant and reading the menus. There are often hilarious misspellings and grammatical errors to be found. :) Movie tip of the day: Fay Grim -- Hal Hartley's sequel to Henry Fool and well worth the watch (or multiple watches). TurquoiseB wrote: 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...