Gifted Typist

And in Finland, if you can’t leave the room, then expose yourself in the window! More bad translations: Car rental brochure in Tokyo: When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor. Two signs from a Majorcan [...]

Haven’t done a bad translation in awhile. Never mind ladies with nuts, I’ve often wondered about the propriety of a bar that deals in things like cock-tails. I mean. Really! Bangkok temple: It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed like a man. Tokyo bar: Special cocktail for the ladies with [...]

Would you like to ride an ass? A Thai tourist operator wants to know.  In a Czech tourist agency: Take one of our horse driven tours–we guarantee no miscarriages. Ad for donkey rides in Thailand: Would you like to ride your own ass? On a faucet in a Finnish restroom: To stop the drip, turn [...]

More examples of the English language interpreted by those who speak other languages. Remember, people of a different sex, no sleeping in the same tent in the Black Forest unless married for purposes of sleeping in the same tent in the Black Forest. In a Vienna hotel: In case of fire, do your utmost to [...]

Past Posts on translations (3) Limpid beer, strict rotation, beef rashers beaten up, execute customers? I’ve been on airlines – no names mentioned – that embody this experience. Here is your next crop of bad translations. On a menu of a Polish hotel: Salad a firm’s own make; limpid red beer soup with cheesy dumplings [...]

Here are more bad trannies. Perhaps “trannies” is an ambiguous choice of word implying a man dressed as a woman. Maybe it is a bad translation for the word translation, but alas it has entered my wordscape and will not go away. On a menu of a Polish hotel: Salad a firm’s own make; limpid [...]

Tempted though I am, I won’t re-name this series Bad Trannies as it might not go down so well in translation. So, here is your second crop of Bad Translations. In a hotel in Athens: Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9&11 am daily. In a Yugoslavian hotel: The [...]