Game of Words
(Translations mistakes)
How many times have you watched a movie with subtitles in Spanish or English? Did you receive the right translation? Living in a diverse and multilingual world, it is important to deliver both the right message and meaning. We can experience many kinds of feelings when we encounter a bad translation in an important document, phone call, or on a site interpreting, even in a court process where the future of a defendant depends on the translator and interpreter.
Words have different meanings in different languages, most of the time an experienced translator has to find the correct meaning to a specific word. Here is an example of a translation mistake some in English translation with a Spanish subtitle.
In the movie Slum dog Millionaire (2008), there is a scene where the translator did a mistake, translating “TORCH”, into “ANTORCHA” (literal translation into Spanish) instead “ Linterna” (lantern), more appropriate for the scene showing the people taking lanterns vs. torches. People watching the movie and reading subtitles could be confused. Mistakes occur when their lack of a detail in the document, project, and or inexperience with this knowledge of the language. We are advised to not use the web based Google Translation due to lack of both subject matter and cultural differences between languages. There are specific rules to translating the different languages. In general, we have to avoid the literal translation, because a mistake can completely change the meaning of a document, speech, or a project.
Another example we have a GOOGLE TRANSLATOR VS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATOR: The first one translates literally, the second one, read, analyze and uses the right meanings to deliver the message. We can encounter multiples dialects and languages around the world with words that can’t be translated because there is not a direct word in a different language. This is when a translator has to find a meaning for a specific word. Customer’s requirements can be diverse and some times request unique language translation, and only a professional translator will be able to solve. Always remember the context in a document can be dangerously changed and affect the message, if the client doesn’t use the right expert.
On the other hand, let’s see the funny side of translations mistakes in some signs we can encounter outside in some buildings, stores, clubs etc. Here are some of them:
Spanish into English
Pollo a la jardinera “Chicken to the Kindergarten”
Peligro !No pasar! “I am in Danger, not to happen”
Cuarto Electrico Fourth Electric
Prohibido el paso Forbidden step
Auto translations sometimes fail and can be hilarious, but not practical when we are looking for the right translation. Even language schools advise not to use Google to translate as a tool for assignments. The pros and cons using Internet tools for translate might cause a big impact in any project. Online public translation access is free but risky. Google translate works using the frequency of word matching between languages as a database for its translation
TWO WORLDS LANAGUAGE SERVICES, provides you with professional accuracy. We are a professional and skill translation company, who can help in any endeavor, translating: Legal, scientific, academic, financial or individual documents in the language you request. We offer native and experienced translators with excellent English proficiency. We are detailed oriented, precise, and confidential. We understand our clients require timely completion “Any Language Everywhere” our slogan and “your projects are our Priority” our Philosophy.
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