Some Things Are Lost in Translation....

[Luv Bunnies]

I was talking to a preschool teacher at my school today. She teaches a state-funded class and most of her parents are non-English speakers. She has a pinata every year for Halloween and asked her classroom parents for donations of wrapped candy to fill it. She showed me one of the donations she got. It was a bag of Halloween candy that was wrapped up like a present! The mom did indeed bring a bag of wrapped candy! I guess it's all in the interpretation!

 

[dogodisney]

Oh that's funny!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

too cute!

 

[minkydog]

Aw, that's so sweet

 

[pogo791]

I love the logic! After all, when you have a party, you giftwrap the presents.

Just the other day, I was talking with a colleague about mistranslations. One of my favorites was when I was in Finland, watching a subtitled Marx Brothers movie on television (The Big Store).

You remember the scene where Groucho was trying to get a job at the department store in order to keep an eye on the shifty-looking manager? The manager asked him if he had any experience, and Groucho answered something like "sure I have experience, I was a shoplifter for four years."

The poor translator had obviously never heard the word "shoplifter" before, and had tried to break the word down. "Shop" is obvious. And in British English, a "lift" is an elevator. The translation? "I was an elevator operator in a department store for four years."