Friday, March 1, 2013

Getting Things Wrong in a Foreign Language

Paul of Blackwatertown fame brought the Loose Blogger Consortium this Friday topic.  But, he's got an advantage!  He's in Europe.

In America, we don't have enough close neighboring countries that I have been in for enough time to get in trouble.  I mean, I know a few Spanish cuss words, but I know when to not use them.  And I accidentally used a Japanese cuss word with our exchange students that stayed with us years ago.  My Dad didn't translate it as a cuss word when he used it after being part of the occupation force in Japan in WWII.

That is just too boring.  However, America is bigger than most Europeans are used to one country being and we can have misunderstandings based upon the region of the country you are from.  For example, in Kansas, the 3 meals of the day were breakfast, dinner and supper.  In California, it is breakfast, lunch and dinner.  That type of translation won't get you in much trouble.

But ... I did recall one that caused a real problem.  My wife said we were doing something NEXT Saturday.  So, Saturday showed up and ... I wasn't ready at all!  I expected the trip to be a week off still.  In Kansas, the coming Saturday is THIS Saturday and NEXT Saturday is the one following.

That's as good as I can do.  I haven't had a topic I couldn't dig something out for in a coon's age.

14 comments:

  1. Also gibt es keine Scheiße in die fanblades werfen heute mein Freund? Klingt wie ein guter Tag für mich,

    At least that;s what the translator says - LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @shackman

      As the translator renders it back:
      "So there is no throw shit in the fanblades today my friend? Sounds like a good day for me."

      LOL Rolls right off the tongue, but I definitely get the meaning! It reminds me of someone translating a piece about a water buffalo to Russian and translating it back as a piece about a hydraulic ram!

      Delete
  2. I know exactly what you mean. Having been born and raised in Minnesota, I still want to feed friends "a little lunch" before they leave for home.

    I have a close friend who grew up in the Dakotas and her first California invitation was to dinner on a Sunday. Well, of course she thought noon or 1:00 PM. She arrived while the host was still in his bathrobe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Maria

      I can see exactly how your friend from the Dakotas would have that happen to her! I was lucky it didn't happen to me at first.

      Delete
  3. I have to admit hat when I hear people from the south, I think I'm in a foreign country. lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Delirious

      Kansas wasn't quite fish or fowl. It was called Bloody Kansas in the Civil War because it was not quite North or South. We had expressions that were a blend.

      Delete
  4. I'm with ya, Fossil. Being a Florida girl it's breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now the Saturday mishap was a read "day twister."
    blessings ~ maxi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Maxi

      Being a week off doesn't help preparations! I now make sure which day we are talking about when we say "Next" because I still get it wrong half the time. Couple that with the other half when I get the old man forgetfulness and you are lucky to get me to anything! LOL

      Delete
  5. If you can get into that kind of trouble when one language is the official language, imagine living in a country with this kind of statistics. According to the most recent census, 29 'languages' have more than a million native speakers, 60 have more than 100,000 and 122 have more than 10,000 native speakers.
    And, those who can speak, read and write English do better than the others who don't. Is English a foreign language for Indians?

    ReplyDelete
  6. When I was growing up in Dublin our three meals were: breakfast dinner and tea - Not afternoon tea - but a full meal like a second dinner. In those far off days, if we had not reached Saturday in the present week, then it was 'Next Saturday. When I moved 100 miles up the road to Northern Ireland The 'next' moved on a week.

    Now for all my American friends, if you ever come to €uroland. Euro is singular and plural just like sheep. Euros in a very naughty word in Greek.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Grannymar

      Wow! I never would have guessed that you have very much the same regional differences that we do here. I thought it was a function of geographic size, but it sounds more like a function of cultural isolation.

      By the way, now you tell me! I cussed using that word on several occasions in Italy. Good thing we didn't get across the Adriatic to Greece!

      Delete
  7. Your take on the matter of localised systems is really interesting. So many things in NZ have probably moved off into different ideals because we are now really getting to be a multi-ethnic country.

    What interesting subject this has been...I haven't read everyones' take on it but it has made me think a lot about our usage of the English language in general...

    ReplyDelete
  8. @cedar51

    I find the dynamics of New Zealand fascinating! Your country is very special and I hope it does well with the developments it will make over time.

    ReplyDelete

If a post is older than 7 days, the comment will go for moderation. Sorry for that inconvenience, but it cuts down on spam and it is much better than Captcha. I promise to check the moderation folder regularly.