Neatorama » mistranslation http://www.neatorama.com The Neat Side of the Web Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:26:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Never Use Google Translate to Generate the Text of Your Tattoo http://www.neatorama.com/2010/01/28/never-use-google-translate-to-generate-the-text-of-your-tattoo/ http://www.neatorama.com/2010/01/28/never-use-google-translate-to-generate-the-text-of-your-tattoo/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:53:59 +0000 John Farrier http://www.neatorama.com/2010/01/28/never-use-google-translate-to-generate-the-text-of-your-tattoo/

Good advice, right? Because you wouldn’t want a typo in something permanent. J. Harker, a graduate student in the classics, often gets requests for English to Latin translation by people who want to get tattoos. He has a blog post describing the various errors that people make when attempting to translate a language that they don’t understand, and pictures of the inked results. The text above translates as “He is better as I appear hated on behalf of what I am than as I appear I like on behalf of what not I am.”

Link via reddit

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2010/01/28/never-use-google-translate-to-generate-the-text-of-your-tattoo/feed/ 12 Chinese Poem is Brothel Ad http://www.neatorama.com/2008/12/18/chinese-poem-is-brothel-ad/ http://www.neatorama.com/2008/12/18/chinese-poem-is-brothel-ad/#comments Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:48:01 +0000 Miss Cellania http://www.neatorama.com/?p=21496

The Max Planck Institute in Germany printed a lovely poem in Chinese characters on the front of their latest journal issue. At least they thought so. They had consulted an expert on China to find the right poem, but the expert was German, not Chinese. After publication, it turns out the poem is actually an ad for a brothel!

The use of traditional Chinese characters and references to “the northern mainland” seem to indicate the text comes from Hong Kong or Macau, and it promises burlesque acts by pretty-as-jade housewives with hot bodies for the daytime visitor.

The cover has since been changed, and the institute has issued an apology. Link -Thanks, Daniel Kim!

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