This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Evil Transduction launched as Blind Idiot Translation Discussion: From YKTTW
Working Title: Evil Transduction: From YKTTW
Blork: Is the entire description supposed to be an example of a non-English speaker translating the text or just the bit before "That didn't sound quite right"? I'm not sure whether to go into Grammar Nazi mode over the likes of "whatever they thought it would be more appropiated".
Fast Eddie: The original troper was trying for a joke based on messing with English syntax in the ways that translations often do. Noble attempt, but it seems to have missed the mark. // A little later: Did some editing that may have preserved the humor while still conveying the intent.
Servitor_2152: I do find it somewhat amusing that the first sentence of the "blind idiot translation" is actually more grammatically correct than the first sentence of the paragraph leading up to it.
Sukeban: "Another example of this would be the use of fragmentation granades in a kitchen, since some translator will inform you that the Spanish "piña" means fragmentation granade, instead of pineapple." At least here in Spain, a grenade (the fruit) is a granada and the explosive a granada de mano. Is this piña thing a Latin American usage I am unaware of? By the way, piña is here both a pineapple and a pine cone. Pine seeds are used in the kitchen quite often.
Twin Bird: I don't know too much about Spanish-language weapon names, but for future reference, the English-language name for the fruit (all countries) is "pomegranate."
Sukeban: Thankies :)
BTT He P: "Pineapple" is an old WWII nickname for the US fragmentation grenade, so that may be the source of the confusion. It's weird that both the official and unofficial names are fruit in different languages. (Of course, its real official name is "Grenade, Hand, Fragmentation, Mk II")
Sikon: Heh, Sukeban's confusion is all to familiar to me. In Russian, "granat" and "granata" mean "pomegranate" and "grenade" respectively. And the adjective "granatovy" can mean either "of pomegranate" or "garnet".
Red-Hatted Plumber: Arabic does that too - "pomegranate's" nisba (adjectival) form means "hand grenade." Similarly, bunduq, which means "hazelnut," adjectivizes to ''bunduqīya," which means "rifle."
Prfnoff: Having named this trope, I think it needs serious narrowing, probably enough to distinguish most examples of this from Engrish and Good Bad Translation. In my opinion, "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" should be an example of the above two tropes, but not this (or Gratuitous English for that matter - when is Engrish going to be split from that?). I propose that this trope be reserved for examples where the translation doesn't play loose with the rules of grammar and spelling so much as seriously distort the meaning of the text by picking the wrong words out of a dictionary.
Sikon: And how is this "we don't need a doctor" supposed to sound in Japanese? The phrase would be very unnaturally sounding for what is a translation of a very simple English title. Granted, my knowledge of Japanese is very limited, but a literal translation of "Doctor No" would be "Iie Hakase", which doesn't mean anything like "we don't need a doctor". And knowing the Japanese, they would probably sooner transliterate than translate (as they did for Doctor Who), giving us "Dokutaa Nou". Actually, now that I've checked Wikipedia after writing this, it's almost what the Japanese Wikipedia calls it.
Charred Knight: since the Anime Jump website is back up(i't just no longer updating), I put the links back to the actual page.
"had lots of quirks such as calling village priests popes due to a false cognate."
Technically, that might be justified since that is what they call village priests in Russia, and it has been used in some other translations when referring to Russian village priests specifically.
Khathi: No. Colloquial Russian for priest would be "поп", while Pope is "Папа". Actually, these are really cognates, and aren't, in fact, false, but it doesn't change the fact that people mix up these two words pretty often..
From Translation Correction:
- Sky Captain: The World of Tomorrow used online translators for their foreign headlines. Großer Fehler...
Also, from this page:
- Another example of this would be the use of fragmentation grenades in a kitchen, since some translator will inform you that the Spanish "piña" means fragmentation grenade, instead of pineapple.
- Er, that is also true in English. Pineapple is an English slang term for a grenade (owing to their similar textured appearance.)
- Er, that is also true in English
- This editor's father, who works as a proofreader, once proofread a book written by someone for whom English was their second language, titled "A Rigid Journey." Ironically, it worked better.
- This is one of the most egregious examples this troper has ever seen; the name of a business is written in English as "Translate Server Error."
Shini I removed the "World Without Logos" example because least from the title, and author notes on the page the removed entry linked to that the song IS suppose to be nonsensical.
Gracie Lizzie: I don't see what's wrong with this quote:
- Shinn Asuka: "I'm more than a match for these guys! Who's laughing at Shinn now?!"
It makes sense and is very in character for Shinn... so what's the problem?
Update: Okay so my line was cut because of the "Um". Which irritates me but whatever. However, please, would somebody answer me. I've had a crappy week and I feel like I'm being ignore. (And I don't appreciate the slap comment Ninjacrat, just saying)/
- "You spoony bard!" ~ Tellah, Final Fantasy IV
What's wrong with that? The quote has correct grammar, spelling, and makes sense in context (Tellah is angry over the death of his daughter and is taking out his rage on Edward, a spineless pretty-boy. The only problem I can see is that spoony is an uncommon word. For those of you who don't know, it means "shallow", "overly sentimental or amorous" or "silly" i.e. "Emo" which certainly describes Edward.
Ronfar: Yes, Edward really is spoony. However, it's not what Tellah was saying in Japanese (he was swearing), and that meaning of "spoony" is somewhat obsolete. The reason we're quoting it here is that it's an extremely memorable (and Narm-ful) line from a translation that, in general, is extremely poor.
67.224.241.220, why did you remove those bootleg examples? The Do Not Want page no longer exists, so "Blind Idiot" Translation is now the correct place for poor translations in bootlegs (at least for ones that aren't so bad as to go in Translation Train Wreck). I'm going to put them back, with the first-person phrasing removed. — Dracula On A Bike
- "I goofed! The lorry started to move!"
- What makes that a "Blind Idiot" Translation? Sure, it's Narmful, but is it actually incorrect? At least it doesn't have the grammatical error that "The truck have started to move!" has. — Dracula On A Bike
- Yeah Sukeban in latinamerica we have granadas (both the pomegranate and the grenade), granadillas, piñas with pretty much the same naming as in wikipedia, actually, with Answers.com, wiktionary and wikipedia other than grammar the only excuse for bad translations is not doing research!!! But then I wonder... Why is there no single live-action tv series example where characters throw in Spanish sentences either to prove they are somehow latinamerican and fail it on sheninegans or even worse, faill the Spanish alltogether, likewise non-native Spanish speakers are understood by native Spanish speakers even if they are so awfully lame at speaking Spanish it is like claiming that "nion gaen yun tai fun gang" is meaningful chinese, or for you to get the point, to claim that "loke hake vas trooph neen boy so dice meader done me I leight am" is meaningful English while it, at most, only sounds English to those that do not know the language and has some few English words thrown in with no regards for a grammar...
