History Main / ComicalTranslation

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': Dominican nurse Carla provides [[CasanovaWannabe The Todd]] with a few prank translations when he asks for Spanish pickup lines, resulting in him telling women he has a "tiny penis" or "genital herpes, ''for you!''"

'''[[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels Prank Translation]]''': Someone asks a friend how to say something, perhaps to impress someone. Instead of giving him a real translation, the second character gives the first an insult or rude remark. HilarityEnsues.

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': Dominican nurse Carla provides [[AnythingThatMoves The Todd]] with a few prank translations when he asks for Spanish pickup lines, resulting in him telling women he has a "tiny penis" or "genital herpes, ''for you!''"

* Prank translations are remarkably common among native peoples, with an anthropologist or other first contact as the victim. Just give the anthropologist some obscene words (all languages have them) and tell him the words mean something else.

* TopGear

'''[[EitherWorldDominationOrSomethingAboutBananas Bizarre Multiple-Choice Translation''': A character attempts to translate a statement in a foreign language and comes up with two possible meanings for it[[note]]technically, there can be more than two possible translations offered, but the narrative device is both easier to write and more effective when limited to two[[/note]]. One of the possible translations is grammatically well-structured, makes logical sense, fits the context the characters are applying it towards, and is just very likely to be correct in general. The other possible translation is a NonSequitur.

--> '''Bob:''' ''*looks disgusted, yells for several minutes and spits on Alice's shoe*''

'''CompletelyUnnecessaryTranslator''': A character is introduced speaking a foreign language and has someone translate for him. The English-speaking characters may mutter something insulting under their breaths or casually discuss something meant to be a secret, but find out that the foreign character does, in fact, understand what they're saying.

* Played with in the ''{{Friends}}'' episode when [[TheDitz Phoebe]] dates an Eastern European diplomat.

* In ''{{Phenomenon}}'', there's an inverted Prank Translation. Nate has a crush on a Portuguese housekeeper but does not speak Portuguese, so he asks George, who does, to teach him some phrases related to asking her to clean his house. The ones George teaches him are polite, but very romantic phrases having nothing to do with housekeeping.
* ''{{Scrubs}}'': Dominican nurse Carla provides [[AnythingThatMoves The Todd]] with a few prank translations when he asks for Spanish pickup lines, resulting in him telling women he has a "tiny penis" or "genital herpes, ''for you!''"

* In the ComicBook/{{New 52}} issue #11 of ''{{Supergirl}}'', after beating the villain (who was a guy being controlled by a nanotech suit), she figures that there's someone after her, and she wants to figure this out, so she needs to leave Tommy and Siobhan (this continuity's Silver Banshee, who is friends with Supergirl and, via magic, [[{{Omniglot}} can speak Kryptonian]]) alone. We then get this exchange:

* In the {{New 52}} issue #11 of ''{{Supergirl}}'', after beating the villain (who was a guy being controlled by a nanotech suit), she figures that there's someone after her, and she wants to figure this out, so she needs to leave Tommy and Siobhan (this continuity's Silver Banshee, who is friends with Supergirl and, via magic, [[{{Omniglot}} can speak Kryptonian]]) alone. We then get this exchange:

--> '''George:''':''*says something insulting in French*''

--> '''Harry:''' Gibberish for "Screw you"

'''Prank Translation''': Someone asks a friend how to say something, perhaps to impress someone. Instead of giving him a real translation, the second character gives the first an insult or rude remark. HilarityEnsues.

* A justified Prank Translation occurs in Beanjamish's version of the last round of the DeviantArt OC Tournament [[http://burningavalon.deviantart.com/ "Burning Avalon"]]. His character Melody and his opponents' character, Huitzi, are captured by an army of angry spirits who want the rest of the soul coins they had. Unfortunately for the army, Huitzi (an Aztec warrior spirit from ancient times) doesn't have his coins on him or speak English. He ''does'' know a little Spanish, though, and Melody is bilingual (Spanish and English), so she can understand him. But since she wants to stop the army, she deliberately mistranslates what he says.

--> '''Carol'''(''To Alice''): He says he'd like to, but he must politely decline.

* In the {{New 52}} issue #11 of ''{{Supergirl}}'', after beating the villain (who was a guy being controlled by a nanotech suit), she figures that there's someone after her, and she wants to figure this out, so she needs to leave Tommy and Siobhan (this continuity's Silver Banshee, who is friends with Supergirl and, somehow, can speak Kryptonian) alone. We then get this exchange:

* In the New52 issue #11 of ''{{Supergirl}}'', after beating the villain (who was a guy being controlled by a nanotech suit), she figures that there's someone after her, and she wants to figure this out, so she needs to leave Tommy and Siobhan (this continuity's Silver Banshee, who is friends with Supergirl and, somehow, can speak Kryptonian) alone. We then get this exchange:

* Prank Translation in the MontyPythonsFlyingCircus sketch in which Creator/JohnCleese remarks, "{{My hovercraft is full of eels}}!" after buying an intentionally misleading translation book.

'''TactfulTranslation''': Perhaps Alice wants to ask Bob out on a date, but there's a language barrier. She asks Carol to translate, and asks Bob out. He responds rudely, but Carol translates his response into something more polite, perhaps to spare Alice's feelings or because she doesn't use profanity herself. The exchange might go something like this:

'''FunWithSubtitles''':

'''GagDub''': Inaccurately dubbing a show from one language to another for laughs.

'''CompletelyUnnecessaryTranslator''': A character is introduced speaking a foreign language and has someone translate for him. The English-speaking characters may mutter something insulting under their breaths or casually discuss something meant to be a secret, but find out that the foreign character does, in fact, understand what they're saying.

--> '''Tommy:''' What does "je ne sais quoi" mean?

* Prank Translation in the MontyPythonsFlyingCircus sketch in which JohnCleese remarks, "{{My hovercraft is full of eels}}!" after buying an intentionally misleading translation book.

* In ''{{Phenomenon}}'', there's an inverted Prank Translation. Nate has a crush on a Portuguese housekeeper but does not speak Portuguese, so he asks George, who does, to teach him some phrases related to asking her to clean his house. The ones George teaches him are polite, but very romantic phrases having nothing to do with housekeeping.

* On an episode of ''{{House}}'', where House gives us this quote:

'''Suspiciously Specific Translation''': When a word or name in a foreign language translates into something incredibly specific to the situation. Happens often with {{Meaningful Name}}s. May overlap with TranslationYes if a name actually tells a whole story.

!! Notes: This is intended as a SuperTrope page for comedy tropes related to translations. Any tropes covered by a subtrope would obviously go on that page. NeedsABetterTitle. EarlyDevelopmentPhase. NeedsABetterDescription for some sections. Feel free to edit, just comment and say what you did.

* A joke with various permutations, [[OrphanedPunchline whose gist is]] a white boss thinks that "[[YourMama Tu madre]]" is Spanish for "Yes, sir."

* A joke with various permutations, [[OrphanedPunchline whose gist is]] a white boss thinks that "Tu madre" is Spanish for "Yes, sir."

--> '''Carol'''(''Translating for Alice''): Bob, would you like to go on a date with Alice?
--> '''Bob''': ''*looks disgusted, yells for several minutes and spits on Alice's shoe*''

--> '''David''': Mashakatara vazookary bashabasha nook, vazoopti kanazook tri, flabbalabba dingdong dooda, sizzabizzaborp.
--> '''Subtitles''': Yes

'''Pragmatic Translation''': There are certain phrases that are common in the english language, but derived from other languages. Often, their literal translation is only loosely related to their common usage. Sometimes, it's easier to just tell someone what a phrase means in context, rather than translate it. It's also commonly used condescendingly by {{InsufferableGenius}}es.
--> '''Eric''': I'd like a refund. This toy you sold my son broke after five minutes.
--> '''Fred''': [[GratuitousLatin Caveat emptor.]]
--> '''Eric''': What does that mean?
--> '''Fred''': It means you're shit outta luck.

'''Obviously False Translation''': When someone says something, which may or may not even be a real language, and then offers their own translation, usually as a bad come back.
--> '''George''': ''*says something insulting in French*''
--> '''Harry'''(''Obviously not understanding''): Oh yeah? Well ''vuvu zoo la moo'' to you too.
--> '''George''': That was gibberish.
--> '''Harry''': Gibberish for "Screw you"

'''CompletelyUnnecessaryTranslator''': A character is introduced speaking a foreign language and has someone translate for them. The english speaking characters may mutter something insulting under their breaths or casually discuss something meant to be a secret, only to find out that the foreign character does, in fact, understand what they're saying.

'''Suspiciously Specific Translation''': When a word or name in a foreign language translates into something incredibly specific to the situation. Happens often with MeaningfulNames. May overlap with TranslationYes if a name actually tells a whole story.
--> '''Tour Guide''': This place is called Drom by the locals, which loosely translates to "Ancient forest protected by mystic spirits where legendary heroes will one day find a magical sword."

--> Tommy: What does "je ne sais quoi" mean?
--> Merton: "I don't know what."
--> Tommy: That's what I'm asking you!

'''Prank Translation''': Someone asks a friend how to say something, perhaps to impress someone. Instead of giving them a real translation, they give them an insult or rude remark. HilarityEnsues.
--> '''Bob''': How to you say "You're Beautiful" in Spanish?
--> '''Carol''': "Tu eres un burro."
--> '''Bob''': Thanks!

'''False Cognate Translation''': When someone translates something, either seriously or sarcastically, as whatever it sounds like in their language regardless of the real meaning.

* Prank Translation in the MontyPythonsFlyingCircus sketch in which JohnCleese remarks, "My hovercraft is full of eels!" after buying an intentionally misleading translation book.

* In ''{{Phenomenon}}'' there's an inverted Prank Translation. Nate has a crush on a Portuguese housekeeper but does not speak Portuguese, so he asks George, who does, to teach him some phrases related to asking her to clean his house. The ones George teaches him are polite, but very romantic phrases having nothing to do with housekeeping.
* {{Scrubs}}: Dominican nurse Carla provides [[AnythingThatMoves The Todd]] with a few prank translations when he asks for Spanish pickup lines, resulting in him telling women he has a "tiny penis" or "genital herpes, ''for you!''"
* On an episode of {{House}}, where House gives us this quote:
--> "Idiopathic, from the Latin 'idiot', meaning we're idiots because this kid's lungs are turning into swiss cheese and we don't know why."
* A joke with various permutations, [[OrphanedPunchline the gist of which is]] a white boss thinks that "Tu madre" is Spanish for "Yes sir."