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Off topic: More mistranslation (and misspelling) humour
Thread poster: Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 03:39
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Nov 21, 2009

Check this out for a good laugh:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/6193716/Sign-Language-special-restaurant-menus.html
 
Paula Sepúlveda (X)
Paula Sepúlveda (X)
Spain
Local time: 08:39
English to Spanish
+ ...
I don't get it! Nov 23, 2009

They're Indian specialties.
 
Grayson Morr (X)
Grayson Morr (X)  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 08:39
Dutch to English
Even so.... Nov 23, 2009

"Foul" is a pretty terrible choice. (I assume the original non-Western-character names have been translated into Western type; even if the name of the thing sounds like "foul" in Korean, they should spell it some other way. Any other way. "Fawel," for example. Though that may well be a terrible choice in some other language...)

I don't get the "roti" problem the picture poster seemd to have, either, but that word is v... See more
"Foul" is a pretty terrible choice. (I assume the original non-Western-character names have been translated into Western type; even if the name of the thing sounds like "foul" in Korean, they should spell it some other way. Any other way. "Fawel," for example. Though that may well be a terrible choice in some other language...)

I don't get the "roti" problem the picture poster seemd to have, either, but that word is very familiar to me in the Netherlands, with its large Indonesian population; the picture accurately represents Indian roti, as far as I can tell.

[Edited at 2009-11-23 13:27 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
PRAKASH SHARMA
PRAKASH SHARMA  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 12:09
English to Hindi
+ ...
'Roti' is o.k., but 'foul' is really horrible. Nov 23, 2009

'Roti' is commonly used in India. Another option is 'chapati'. While westernizing the concept, we have to translate this word as 'bread' yet 'bread' is different from 'Roti'.

'Foul' - is a foul as in any game/sport. Is there any referee/umpire here?

Regards,
PRAKAASH
 
Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:39
Russian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Unappetising drink Nov 23, 2009

A drink consisting partly of "coolpee" sounds very unappetising.
A lot of these are rather subtle and thus could be difficult for non-native speakers of English to understand.
 
Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 03:39
Portuguese to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Comment on Roti x Foul Nov 23, 2009

The joke here is that the restaurant used and spelt "roti" correctly but when it came to "fowl" they wrote "foul" instead. The signs are not completely wrong, there are some correct words too but the mistakes (like "coolpee") make you laugh your head off!
 


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