My cousin Angela grew up in Spain and came to the USA when she was already in her late 30’s. She is pretty and voluptuous. I've been trying to help her lose her accent, and for some reason she’s having a hard time pronouncing the word “teeth”. Recently she had some cosmetic work done on her teeth, and last week she came into the house and in front of all of my English speaking friends said (as she flashed a big smile): “Guys, look at my new TITS.”
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My cousin Angela grew up in Spain and came to the USA when she was already in her late 30’s. She is pretty and voluptuous. I've been trying to help her lose her accent, and for some reason she’s having a hard time pronouncing the word “teeth”. Recently she had some cosmetic work done on her teeth, and last week she came into the house and in front of all of my English speaking friends said (as she flashed a big smile): “Guys, look at my new TITS.” Warning: if you are a professional translator, “No el sube” a este autobus. This is the perfect example of total negligence by the manager in charge of placing the public signs for one of the biggest bus manufacturers in the United States. Hint: They manufacture the ‘Articulated’ bus, have been in business since the 50’s and for years have signed contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, not only in the States but in Canada and Mexico as well. So, each of these buses is worth roughly half a million dollars and they could not bother to hire a real translator to do this for them, for perhaps less than a hundred dollars in some cases? It appears to me that they hired their ‘cousin’ who once took a two week crash course in Spanish before he went on his honeymoon to a Latin country. It is challenging to remain objective here, since all too often this apparent lack of respect and total disregard for the Spanish speaking community in the United States is becoming more prevalent. Sadly, it is the very same company responsible for the first mistranslation which started this discussion: “Welcome to Ameri-Qua!” 
Here are some of our favorites, posted by members in one of our
LinkedIn discussions. Galina Pritchard (Senior Translator at CPC; Russian Federation)• "The best mistranslation I ever saw was in a restaurant menu in Kazakhstan. It featured dishes like "bricks from cheese" (diced cheese), beef with bow (beef braised with onions - the menu was translated from Russian where "лук" means both onion and bow. However, "horse crudely smoking" (cured horse meat) definitely took the cake!" Josephine Bacon (Owner, American Pie and Translation; London, United Kingdom)• "My own favourite is when a translation agency in British Columbia asked me to check a set of questions that the police would ask suspect motorists in Hebrew. In one question they meant to ask "are you carrying a weapon?" but what the translator, who had clearly not learned Hebrew beyond first grade Sunday School had written was "will you give me a kiss?" The difference between "neshek" weapons and "neshika" kiss!" Marcel Gallego (Technical Translator; Barcelona, Spain)• What about "Secretaria de dirección" being translated as "Secretary of address"? And for "Maquinaria para embalaje de botes de ketchup" - "Machinery for the packaging of ketchup boats"? I have seen a Mazda "Laputa" and a Nissan "Moco", though these are obviously for the Asian Markets (and Nissan, who own a full-fledged car making factory in Spain, should know better)."  Hi guys:
Are we having fun yet? :) Before I continue placing mistranslations on this blog, I need to clarify a few things to you, so that everyone understands exactly what it is that we are trying to accomplish here: One of our goals is to expose ghastly mistranslations through this powerful communication tool called the Internet, so that corporations and entities around the globe who provide a source of income to the translation industry (rather than looking foolish by trying to save a buck by using Google, an ineffective machine, or an incompetent friend) use the services of a COMPETENT translator. Let’s face it: in our industry a machine has not yet been invented to replace the quality of work or human touch that a competent translator can provide. An electronic device or a ‘cheap’ unqualified translator can only produce below mediocre work which can reflect negatively on a company or entity’s image tremendously. It’s analogous with letting the guy in charge of the mail room at your company run the accounting department! I have read your different profiles on LinkedIn and I was very impressed by the amount of demonstrated knowledge, intelligence and professional experience of my colleagues who have honored me with their participation in this blog. We all have our own specialties and I claim NO authority in the fields of linguistics, technical terminology, science, fictional literature, etc. I do however, consider myself a near expert as a real-time interpreter for Political Asylums and Residency adjustment interviews for USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services also known as the US Department of Homeland Security) procedures, as well as a translator of legal documents meant for these processes. Therefore as professionals, we can all agree that translations are not a precise science by any means. There are many ways to interpret any given text; for example: EXIT ONLY - something as simple as these two words can be translated from English to Spanish in many ways, to name a few: “Solo Salida”, “Solamente Salida”, “Salida Solamente”,”Unicamente Salida”, “Salida Aquí” or simply “Salida”, but NEVER in this world, “Exito Aquí", which in English means, “Success Here”. This very last translation is completely unacceptable by any standards as it makes no sense whatsoever and makes this great corporation look silly in the eyes of the consumer. Why does this happen? Because a company manager out there was not paying full attention, wanted to save a few dollars and decided to put his full trust into someone who was not qualified at all to translate this for him/her instead of hiring a competent translator. The lesson here guys is: NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO IN LIFE, YOU MUST PAY FULL ATTENTION. Mediocrity, stupidity and greed can be very costly in many ways! I encourage, appreciate and welcome any contributions of mistranslations in any language; mind you, I am only competent in Spanish and English so there is no way for me to evaluate mistranslations in any other languages. I can also only routinely collect mistranslations that I notice in the South Florida area, so as of now, I am “deputizing” all of you guys around the world as members of the TRANSLATION POLICE. Feel free to send in all kinds of mistranslations that you encounter out there. I will store selected posts and publish them in this blog in the order they come in. I will also give full credit individually for every mistranslation that you contribute to the cause. Time for me to go on PATROL ;-) Signing off, Alex |
AuthorAlex Montalvo is the Director of the Professional Translation Group based in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Since 1999, he has provided legal document translation and interpreter services at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's six locations in South Florida. Prior to entering the translation industry, Alex was an English language teacher and instructor for U.S. Citizenship courses in Miami, FL. He is the co-author of 'The DOs and DON'Ts of the Immigration Process' set to be released this year. 
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