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500ML of water becomes "one liter" in the Slovenian translation.
Like every student in the history of academia, I once subsisted almost entirely on Ramen noodles. It’s a miracle I didn’t contract scurvy at some point during my studies. But don’t get me wrong, I have no regrets — just plenty of long-lasting health problems.
After
seeing some Ramen on sale here, I decided to rekindle my
old love affair. When I went to cook them, though, I noticed something
strange. The six languages on the backside all say to boil 500 mL
(milliliters) of water, while the Slovenian sticker (inexplicably)
insists on double the dosage: a full liter. I’ve never tried using a
whole liter, but I’m pretty sure it would taste like a lot of hot water and that’s it.
The importer (and I’m guessing the one most responsible for the
translating mishap) is listed on the back of the package as Port d.o.o., Letališka 32, Ljubljana. A quick google search turns up this.
Same name and address, but no hint of any instant Japanese noodles
anywhere — unless "Avery Dennison intelligent printer systems" counts.
Regardless, the Ramen mistranslation provides a great introduction to today’s main event: MojsteR prevodov.
(Master of Translation) This wonderful site documents some of the
oddities that appear in the work of translators here, especially the
ones responsible for putting Slovenian subtitles beneath English-language
T.V. shows. Two recent samples: Someone translated the word "slut" as deklica (girl) while someone else translated the British word "crisps" ("potato chips" for Americans) into krispiji instead of the seemingly obvious Ä?ips.
I
think I like it so much because after four years of the Slovenian
language pummeling me into the ground, and then stomping on my head with its
iron-tipped boots, it’s a relief to see the tables
turned and other people struggling to tame the wild stallion that is
English. It’s also very instructive, especially the lively debates that regularly occur there.
You can sign up for their mailing list here. If you’ll allow me a brief Vidmar moment… I think it would be ideal if they would set up a syndication feed of some kind. However, this should be taken as a suggestion, not an insult.
(Thanks bnf!)
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you`d be amazed how poorly slovene instructions get translated. They
usually omit a thing or two and when the thing that came with
instructions is not working, you check the english/original ones and
realise that there`s a whole page missing. We are still miles away from
decent instructions, that will include everything you need to know.
I heard that once on an US movie, "it’s piece of cake" was subtitled
in "to je kos torte" in slovenia (that was on TV dunno about the
cinema)…for french, it’s not much better. in the movie taxi
(or taxi2 maybe), the driver teases somebody else to make a race for
"100 bags", which is basically 100 francs in slang. i guess i don’t
need to say how it was translated…Also I remember i saw once,
in one US TV series, "San Francisco" was said, but in the subtitles it
became "Los Angeles" (or the opposite) !!! there are tons of such examples… many times it’s quite appalling.
slightly off topic: since we’re also discussing almost total lack of knowledge about syndication in Slovenia… any development on blog about slobs? ;)PS European blogosphere summary page (by Loic Le Meur) http://www.socialtext.net/loicwiki/index.cgi?summary_page
Mmm, Ramen!
That "piece of cake" thing really made me laugh, thanks. Idioms are always the worst — and English is bursting with them.Sometimes I think it must be difficult for someone to live in Slovenia and only speak Slovene. Instructions, like Domen said, are one thing. Grocery stores are also bursting with goods from abroad. It’s true that Slovenian stickers are usually on the back, but still.Jernej: Absolutely nothing. Zero progress. For the record, I blame Vidmar.
I used to subtitle (can that be used as a verb?) for a certain Slovenian TV station. The majority of my colleagues were 2nd year English language students at best, who were familiar with all the finer theoretical points of English grammar but drew a complete blank when faced with even the simplest idioms. Hence the results.
Completely unrelated, but funny:Am I annoying - Slovenia
Since we’re sharing stories here, I¨ve seen a web page fairly
recently containing the description of an LCD monitor in English and
Czech. The English text said the monitor could be turned sideways 90
degrees, whereas the Czech text said 35 degrees. For quite some time I
couldn’t understand how such an error could have come about, but then I
realised that 90° Fahrenheit = approximatly 35° Celsius.Uhuh. Thank God for such smart and knowledgeable translators.