Comments on: Brain Game: Papa!

By: emaneff

emaneff — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:19:01 +0000

In seagullese

SQUAWK= you gonna’ eat all those fries?

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:43:10 +0000

camera= room
in italian

By: Erin

Erin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:17:25 +0000

I believe “tako” (sounds like taco) is ell, and of course, “constipado” is Spanish for “congested.” My students also like, “molestar” = “to bother.

By: John

John — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:48:39 +0000

Being a Spanish speaker, this was obviously pretty easy for me. I actually learned at some point, either in a Spanish class or when I visited Rome, that the English word “arena” comes from the Latin word for sand, from which the Spanish word “sand” is derived (the Latin itself may have been “arena,” I’m not sure and am too tired to look it up). The English word “arena” was rooted in the fact that Roman coliseums were covered in sand (Gladiator, anyone?).

Pretty effective at soaking up blood!

On a side note, for all the comments about Spanish, French, etc., I like that my reCaptcha is “Cordero loire”

By: @jodie_nodes

@jodie_nodes — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:25:49 +0000

I once had a boyfriend from Paris. While apart, I wrote him letters… he finally had to ask me why the heck I kept ending my letters with ‘beouf, beouf, beouf’ (beef, beef, beef in English). Had to laugh because I ended each one with:

OXOXOX

;)

By: Alli

Alli — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:56:42 +0000

My finace told me that Emo means potato in japanese… maybe that’s why those kids are so sad :)

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:22:23 +0000

Norwegian:
gift – married

By: cybergoober

cybergoober — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:35:53 +0000

Other Germanisms that will mislead an uninformed Anglo:
man hat = somebody has
bald = soon
elf = eleven
Boot = boat
wo & wer = who & where, but not in that order

By: PartiallyDeflected

PartiallyDeflected — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:17:01 +0000

pan also means bread in Japanese, and has multiple meanings in English – give a bad review, rotate a camera.

The biggest problems for translators are figures of speech. I heard Billy Kim, the translator who worked with Billy Graham in Korea, speak one time. He said that once Graham opened by saying, “I’m just tickled to death to be here.” Kim stopped and asked him to clarify, and Graham just repeated it. Kim finally just said (in Korean) “He scratched, he scratched, he died.”

By: JT

JT — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:43:22 +0000

In German:

Fast = Almost
Art = Type
Rat = Advice
Bad = Bath
Roman = Novel
Gift = Poison
Mist = Crap
Wand = Wall