Learn English
I've translated from French to English part time, but regularly for about 40 years. In the beginning, it was an interesting challenge to really understand what was being said and understood by the original author and those reading the translation. But this is not interpretation, which is even more challenging to do well. We're only talking about text here. Translation.
- Ted - Great Online Subtitled Talks
Do you remember TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design)? TED is a website that offers hundreds of videos about very interesting topics from important people in the society (more information in this post). And why are we talking again about TED? Because...
- Euronews - Read News In Various Languages
Would you like to keep up-to-date while reading the news in English? Euronews is a free Web page that will help you because it contains the latest international news from a European perspective. Euronews has recently updated its appearance and now it...
- Dictionary And Translation
This website http://vdict.com/ is a very great site for us who are learning Vietnamese and English. You can check many dictionaries such as: * Vietnamese-English dictionary * English-Vietnamese dictionary * Vietnamese-French dictionary * French-Vietnamese...
- How To Use Real English - Our 31st Translation: Slovenian
Thanks to Anja, we now have the translation of the instructions in 31 different languages. Thank you Anja, and all the other contributors!See Anja's translation at the top of this post:http://the-original-real-english.blogspot.com/2010/02/instructions-for-beginners-for-using.html...
- 30 Languages Of Instructions For Beginners
See all the translations here. Thanks to George Machlan, & his friends and students, and thanks to my friends from around the world, we now have 21 languages of instructions for Beginners. So, if your students need help in their native language, there...
Learn English
Funny Translations
The Oral Route
This is the first in a series called Funny Translations
My first funny observation concerns ubiquitous bad translations. My favorite is the pharmaceutical French to English text on all medicine of all sorts.
In French, there is clear emphasis on through which ?hole? you take your medicine. There are quite a few, such as Voie parentérale - Voie intra-nasale - Voie pulmonaire... - and the 2 most common - Voie orale and Voie Anale.
I have read the following translations for many years in France, sometimes on the outside of the package but always on the informative leaflet inside: "Oral Route" & "Anal Route".
How many packets of aspirin pointing out "Oral Route" for example, have you seen on aspirin sold in the UK or the USA? So what's a good translation of "Voie Orale"? No translation at all is the best translation. The only "translation" is contained in the instructions, such as "Take 2 at bedtime with a glass of water.", or something similar. The oral part is simply assumed as part of the sentence. We're not going to stuff aspirin up our nostrils (or anyplace else).
And yet, literally MILLIONS of over-the-counter and prescription drugs (tablets and capsules distributed by pharmacies in France) are translated/labeled "Oral Route". Ubiquitous insanity.
- Ted - Great Online Subtitled Talks
Do you remember TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design)? TED is a website that offers hundreds of videos about very interesting topics from important people in the society (more information in this post). And why are we talking again about TED? Because...
- Euronews - Read News In Various Languages
Would you like to keep up-to-date while reading the news in English? Euronews is a free Web page that will help you because it contains the latest international news from a European perspective. Euronews has recently updated its appearance and now it...
- Dictionary And Translation
This website http://vdict.com/ is a very great site for us who are learning Vietnamese and English. You can check many dictionaries such as: * Vietnamese-English dictionary * English-Vietnamese dictionary * Vietnamese-French dictionary * French-Vietnamese...
- How To Use Real English - Our 31st Translation: Slovenian
Thanks to Anja, we now have the translation of the instructions in 31 different languages. Thank you Anja, and all the other contributors!See Anja's translation at the top of this post:http://the-original-real-english.blogspot.com/2010/02/instructions-for-beginners-for-using.html...
- 30 Languages Of Instructions For Beginners
See all the translations here. Thanks to George Machlan, & his friends and students, and thanks to my friends from around the world, we now have 21 languages of instructions for Beginners. So, if your students need help in their native language, there...