This translator should be busted by Indiana State Police

4/17/2013

This one is for the books. You're not dreaming ... this is REAL! This translator seems to be making up his/her own language altogether. When the translation is way below industry standards, the image of the hiring Entity diminishes and the message gets "lost in translation" LITERALLY! Feel free to leave your suggestions.

Our Translation
¡No eche gasolina y huya!

Váyase sin pagar y su licencia de conducir puede ser suspendida.

De acuerdo a la ley de Indiana si usted echa gasolina y no paga, puede perder su licencia. El Acta 1066 del Estado de Indiana fue aprobada por medio de ley en el 2001.

Este mensaje de prevención contra el crimen es proporcionado por los vendedores de gasolina de Indiana y la Asociación de Tiendas de Abarrotes.

Simon

4/22/2013 10:33:19 pm

Actually, 'pompear' is used in US Spanish (or Spanglish) to mean 'pump'

http://nelson_g.tripod.com/spanglish.html#p

pompear/bombear/pump
tengo que pompear la llanta del carro, pues se poncho

Alex

4/23/2013 08:01:53 am

Simon,

Thank you for your input. The point of this is really about preserving the integrity and purity of the Spanish language as such. If one were to use 'spanglish' to translate important documents for, or to be presented to the Government and/or corporations globally, he/she might be POMPEANDO gas at the local gas station before long.

Fatna

4/24/2013 08:48:40 am

If it's for the US market, then maybe it doesn't have to be the Queen's Spanish :) a translation using local "language" is probably not incorrect?

Mauricio

4/23/2013 12:46:16 am

"Aprobada por medio de ley" tampoco es la traducción correcta de "passed into law". En español se diría algo como "la ley 1066 fue aprobada" etc.
También el título quedaría mejor con "no eche gasolina sin pagar".

Alex

4/23/2013 08:16:53 am

Thanks for your feedback Mauricio. There are many different ways to translate a point into a language and all of them can be acceptable as long as the main idea remains intact. No one has the authority to say, "this is absolutely the only correct translation of this text." This blog is really about pointing out some of the many illogical translations that are slowly eroding the precious and romantic Spanish language.

Mary

4/25/2013 03:25:49 am

Mi versión: ¡No cargue gasolina y huya! Si huye sin pagar su licencia de conducir puede ser suspendida.

Alex

5/1/2013 06:38:18 am

Hi Mary! Thank you for your contribution. This is an excellent example of how a text can be translated into multiple versions - without losing the integrity of the original text. Great job :)

margie diaz

4/26/2013 06:49:59 am

Hi Alex!
My contribution is related to the term "Act" which is a ´false friend´ (where words have similar roots but have different meaning) when is related to law and should be translated as ´Ley´, not as ´act´.

Alice

3/3/2014 06:38:41 am

@ Alex: This isn't a comment as much as a suggestion. I've been reading everything (and have even contributed) in this blog. I can appreciate what your doing but as my only languages are German and English I'm being left out on most of the jokes. Perhaps when someone posts they could let us know in English what's funny (or sad!) about the translation. For example if I knew what the pump and run post literally translated to in English it may have more meaning and relevance for me. And what's with the bus translation? What were they trying to say? I have the feeling if people don't take up this habit you'll lose out on many who may/might have read and contributed because of sheer frustration of not getting the joke and then become bored. Eventually the blog could morph into a spanish blog altogether (as so many of the examples -especially those with pix- are in spanish) (as this is the only language americans will post translations in-and this they do only begrudgingly!) When I posted this is what I did so that everyone could understand. Thx!

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Author

Alex 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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This translator should be busted by Indiana State Police

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