History Main / TactfulTranslation

-->--''"Brrach scraah!"''

* Disney's ''[[{{Disney/Aladdin}} Aladdin]]''. While Aladdin and Princess Jasmine are together in his hideout, Abou is angered when Aladdin gives Jasmine his apple.

* Disney's ''[[{{Disney/Aladdin}} Aladdin]]''. While Aladdin and Princess Jasmine are together in his hideout, Abou is disgusted by their growing attraction.
->Princess: My father's forcing me to get married.
->Aladdin: That's...that's awful!
->Abu: [Chitters angrily]
->Aladdin: Abu!
->Princess: What?
->Aladdin: Abu says that...[thinks better of it]...that's not fair.
->Abu: [stares in stark disbelief]
->Princess: [disbelievingly] Oh did he?
->Aladdin: Yeah, of course.

[[folder: Anime/Manga]]

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* There's an inversion in ''[[TheWizardOfOz The Marvelous Land Of Oz]]'' a ''Wizard of Oz'' sequel. Jack Pumpkinhead figured that he and Scarecrow must speak different languages because they come from different countries; he discusses the situation with Scarecrow, who gets an interpereter. The interpreter proceeds to insult Scarecrow, saying it's what Jack said, but Jack disagrees.

* Once at a Catholic high school, a young newspaper reporter was interviewing someone about a rabble-rousing speech that had recently been given at a school function. The interviewee said something along the lines of "I'm glad he had the balls to say that." The reporter knew this wouldn't fly with his editor, so he changed the line to "I'm glad he had the [courage] to say that." Oh, and [[ThatLittleGirlWasMe by the way....]]

** A ganster takes a translator to visit the shop of a man, whose brother has just died. He had taken money from the gangster and hid it away somewhere - and the gangster assumed he had told his only living relative, his brother. But the brother only spoke Italian, you see, which is why a translator was needed.

* In TheLastSamurai, Simon Graham is a westerner who has lived as a translator in Japan for quite some time. He briefly describes being let go from the British trade mission because he told the truth instead of lying politely. As he describes it, what he now does instead is "Very accurately translate other people's lies."

** When the two got to the shop, the gangster asks the translator to translate everything exactly - so he does. "Do you know where your brother hid our money?", the gangster asks, and the man answers "No." This goes on for a while, the translator pausing to make sure he has everything correct before he translates. Eventually, getting fed-up, the gangster pulls out his gun and snarls. "Listen, if you don't tell me where that money is, I'll shoot you in the head!" The translator tells the man this, confesses; it's in the back-yard of his house, beneath the apple tree, and the gangster can have it back; he doesn't need it!

A ganster takes a translator to visit the shop of a man, whose brother has just died. He had taken money from the gangster and hid it away somewhere - and the gangster assumed he had told his only living relative, his brother. But the brother only spoke Italian, you see, which is why a translator was needed.
When the two got to the shop, the gangster asks the translator to translate everything exactly - so he does. "Do you know where your brother hid our money?", the gangster asks, and the man answers "No." This goes on for a while, the translator pausing to make sure he has everything correct before he translates. Eventually, getting fed-up, the gangster pulls out his gun and snarls. "Listen, if you don't tell me where that money is, I'll shoot you in the head!" The translator tells the man this, confesses; it's in the back-yard of his house, beneath the apple tree, and the gangster can have it back; he doesn't need it!
The translator pauses, and says, "He says you don't have the balls to shoot him, boss."

Often winds up looking like a case of TranslationYes. May be the job of a CompletelyUnnecessaryTanslator.

Often winds up looking like a case of TranslationYes.

* An episode of ''FullMetalPanic? Fumoffu'' features a 'negotiation' session between Sousuke, an ex-mujaheddin ChildSoldier who tends to speak in SpockSpeak, and a {{Delinquent}} representing a gang who's kidnapped one of his friends. Sousuke is unable to understand the thug's street jargon and extremely heavy accent, prompting the StudentCouncilPresident to step in and calmly translate it into SpockSpeak. The show then goes on to invert the trope when Sousuke's equally formal reply flies right over the thug's head -- so the StudentCouncilPresident translates it into a series of crude threats completely deadpan, using the exact same tone of voice he used when doing the formal translation.
-->'''Sousuke:''' I see. Then tell him this: My military might exceeds yours by a vast margin. Retaliation would be pointless.\\
'''StudentCouncilPresident:''' Of course. ''**To thug**'' Hey, you there: Listen, bitch, ya couldn't beat me in a million years, ya got that?

* Brazilian movie "Meu nome Não é Johnny" ("My name isn't Johnny") featured a middle-class guy that ended up in prison due to drug sale and abuse. He knew English, and, as his fellow prisoners had to deal with American prisoners (in none-too-friendly talks), he had to interpret between them and tried to do this. It went downhill when one of the Brazilian inmates remarked he knew what "fuck you" means. [[Tropers/TheWeirdo This (then unemployed, now working well as a free-lance) translator troper]] remarked at the time: "How come even a drug-addict gets to do some translation work and I don't?".

* An episode of ''FullMetalPanic? Fumoffu'' features a 'negotiation' session between Sousuke, an ex-mujaheddin ChildSoldier who tends to speak in SpockSpeak, and a {{Delinquent}} representing a gang who's kidnapped one of his friends. Sousuke is unable to understand the thug's street jargon and extremely heavy accent, prompting the StudentCouncilPresident to step in and translate into military terms and providing a straight example of this trope. The show then goes on to invert the trope when Sousuke's equally formal reply flies right over the thug's head -- so the StudentCouncilPresident translates it into a series of crude threats, using the exact same tone of voice he used when doing the formal translation.

'''StudentCouncilPresident:''' Of course. ''**To thug**'' Hey, you there. Listen, bitch, ya couldn't beat me in a million years, ya got that?

* ''BattlefieldEarth'' TheFilmOfTheBook: Terl makes a long threat (which [[TranslationConvention we hear in English]]), and Jonnie translates as "Try to run, he'll kill us". Terl [[LampshadeHanging hangs]] a [[TranslationYes lampshade]] immediately after.

* In one ''BloomCounty'' strip, legal assistant Opus translates lawyer Steve's dictated letter to a deadbeat (and evidently quite violent) client from a profanity-laced tirade to a gentle reminder: "PS: strangled your wife yet, psycho-brain?" "PS: Give Mary Lou a peck for me!"

* Brazilian movie "Meu nome não é Johnny" ("My name isn't Johnny") featured a middle-class guy that ended up in prison due to drug sale and abuse. He knew English, and, as his fellow prisoners had to deal with American prisoners (in none-too-friendly talks), he had to interpret between them and tried to do this. It went downhill when one of the Brazilian inmates remarked he knew what "fuck you" means. [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Tropers/TheWeirdo This (then unemployed, now working well as a free-lance) translator troper]] remarked at the time: "How come even a drug-addict gets to do some translation work and I don't?".

-->'''Japan:''' Go Away.
-->'''Translator:''' It's nice that you have such interesting pursuits, but please pursue them in your own residence.