by Wesley
Home >> For the love of the English language...
Now don’t get me wrong. I and every other English speaker in the world truly appreciate the effort restaurateurs make so that we can understand what they offer us for lunch. However, I have one piece of advice to give. If you don’t know a word or have even the slightest doubt, please, pick up a dictionary or ask someone who knows!
The photo you see in this week’s Weekly Letter is one that I took in Seville. I took it because it was one of the few that would come out clearly in a photograph. I did not take it because it was the only one. My trip to the South of Spain gave me hundreds of chuckles. I thank God that I know Spanish. If I had to rely on the English translations, I think I would have to resort to eating bread and water.
This practice of “loose�? translation is not limited to the South of Spain or even Spain at all. It’s not even limited to English (how many times have French tourists turned down “soupe de poison?�?) Anywhere you go in the world where tourists have a bite to eat, take a tourist bus, or look at the stainedglass windows of a cathedral, you will find these humorous, sometimes extremely confusing translations into other languages.
I am convinced that nearly everyone in the world knows someone who speaks English (or X language) well or fairly well. They may be a native speaker or they may have lived in an English-speaking country. Either way, they KNOW English and can probably help out with these translations. I just don’t understand why these things are not edited before being published, painted, or printed on an awning!
To have some fun with these, take a look at http://www.engrish.com/ . There are mostly Japanese examples here; they are experts at humorous translations. It will give you some laughs, I hope, because I know you all speak English much better than this. And next time you are in a tourist area, take a look at the English menu. Perhaps you can even give some tips to the management!
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Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2009-08-27 02:00:00 +0200
Copyright (C) ITT (http://www.itt.es) and Planet Lingua (http://www.lingua.es)
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So funny the translation in the blackboard. I would had have to ask about the pastel de atun because, what’s it?.
I understand the foreigners’ problem to understand the menu, explanations and stands in Spain but worst is to stay in your own country and don’t find the translation to spanish and I’ve seen in some restaurants in Cadiz and Tenerife. Incredible!. Of course this restaurants was not only for foreigners but the menu yes.
Even in Spain you can buy a TV, computer, video, ... and the instructions in English, French, German, ... but not in Spanish. At least thanks to a+ we have a good level in english to understand everything. He, he, he!
This week, the text is very good,:-))
See you next weekend!
Iñaki
You never find blackboards like that in the english restaurants for two reasons:
Best regards.
You are right about ‘Fish and Chips’ – I think ‘Merluza a la Romana con Patatas Fritas’ is horrible too !
The worst thing is when the menu is in your own language, but you understand very little!
For example:
* Oxtail ravioli on a shallot purée with Jerusalem artichoke broth * Gateâu of haggis, neeps and tatties with Macallan and Arran mustard sauce * Tournedos of prime beef fillet from Aberfoyle with onion marmalade, brioche and rosemary crust, roast vegetables and pan juices
http://www.g1group.co.uk/content/default.asp?page=s12_7
What? You mean you’ve never served your guests gatêau of haggis, neeps and tatties?
Hi Sergio; thanks for your comments. I’m not sure you understood my point, though. First of all, I’m not English and the only fish and chips I’ve ever eaten were right here in San Sebastián. And second of all, I wasn’t attacking anyone. I think that the fact that there are translations is very considerate (and profitable) on the restauranteurs’ part. However, as considerate as it may be, it doesn’t help if the translations are completely unintelligible. Imagine I, with all the goodness of my heart, tell you that you can have “mollete de pacana y ruibarbo” or “canela brindis” with “toronja jugo” and “bombón caliente.” What will it be? You can understand some of it (perhaps something entirely different…humourous?) but not enough to decide what you’re actually going to eat…
It’s a funny point of view, don’t forget.
I love “poisson avec pomme de terre avel sel et vinaigre”.
Don’t forget the “petits pois pâteux.”
I think that the way food is cooked, the ingredients it has and its taste, is really difficult to explain with just two or three words. I think this happens almost anywhere you go all over the world.
Unless you start calling your dishes something like:
Really fresh spicy boiled muscles with pepers, onions and tomatoes.
Best regards
Cristina
Wesley it’s very funny, but it is right. Here this things happen every day. I say you that I live in Málaga. Here ,they think that the turist is better if see the eat traslation.
kiss for San Sebastián.
Well, I certainly wouldn’t mind savouring Brad Pitt’s muscles in the movie “Troy”!
(For those of you who don’t see what Cristina and I mean, take note of the following:
muscles = músculos
mussels = mejillones
‘Muscles’ and ‘mussels’ are pronounced the same way.)
Thanks! Perhaps the solution to all of this is to take pictures of the things…a universal translation. Of course, then people will say “excuse me…what’s this?” And we’ll be in the same situation all over again. Where’s Esperanto when you need it?
I think Esperanto is useless. Why make everybody learn a new, artificial language if most of us speak English anyway?
I have been in england for three month,my first stay in England!.I payed an English family to stay in one rooms of its house.I had breakfast and dinner with them and we changed information about all.Of course I ate in a great restaurant in Hasting town and I felt that I was a tourist.I didn´t understand some parts of their menu.I ate the menu pointed for my family because the waitress couldn´t translate me in English some parts of own menus.
I think that the most important thing is that people can understand you. It is very funny but the tourist can know what he is going to eat (more or less). He is on holidays and it is something funny to tell when he comes back home.
It is a pitty that the people have different languages, but the changes of cultures are also very interesting . If all of us have the same language, it would be very bored, isn’t it?
The way of speaking is very important in order to know someone, but not so important when is not his language.