| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Off topic: Concrete Examples of Translation Errors Thread poster: Simone Leccese
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Hello everyone.
I asked this on Reddit ( https://www.reddit.com/r/TranslationStudies/comments/15rvk7s/examples_of_translation_errors/ ), but was advised to also ask here to reach out to more people!
I'm currently working on a thesis focusing on translation errors and I want to showcase two varieties of errors in a varie... See more Hello everyone.
I asked this on Reddit ( https://www.reddit.com/r/TranslationStudies/comments/15rvk7s/examples_of_translation_errors/ ), but was advised to also ask here to reach out to more people!
I'm currently working on a thesis focusing on translation errors and I want to showcase two varieties of errors in a variety of media (patents, books, TV, games... anything that can be translated).
I'm classifying two kinds of errors:
1) Errors whose fault falls on the translator, and
2) Those caused by external factors (Say, uncooperative agency failing to provide more context to the translator, which should be part of their job)
Ideally, I'm looking for a concrete example of an error I can actually look up, so if you know anything in particular, do share!
Otherwise, please share your experience of translating something only to realise you messed up AFTER the fact, whether that was on you or not! (Of course, being a thesis, I hope you'll let me write about it! Credits will obviously be given properly.)
If I didn't explain myself properly and/or you need more clarification, let me know!
[Modificato alle 2023-09-27 10:00 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | | | Reply to Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida's message | Sep 27, 2023 |
Sure!
Any language is welcome, BUT, since I can only get by with Italian, English, Spanish, and some Japanese, if it's any language that isn't any of these, make sure to give a brief explanation, or I might not be able to understand the error myself.
| | | | Barbara Carrara 
Italy
Local time: 20:49
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
To get the ball rolling, here are a few thoughts you may want to consider.
I doubt any professional translators would be willing to admit any errors (glaring or otherwise) they might have made, unless they did so when they first started translating.
When working with outsourcers, translators are requested to sign NDAs, which would prevent them from sharing any content translated for said outsourcers and their end clients over time.
Once a translation is del... See more To get the ball rolling, here are a few thoughts you may want to consider.
I doubt any professional translators would be willing to admit any errors (glaring or otherwise) they might have made, unless they did so when they first started translating.
When working with outsourcers, translators are requested to sign NDAs, which would prevent them from sharing any content translated for said outsourcers and their end clients over time.
Once a translation is delivered to an agency, either their own reviewer(s) or the end client's may edit the original translation without the translator knowing, introducing what they see as improvements in the process, with end results that may not always be up to par.
Agencies may not be familiar with the language pairs their pool of translators work in. Here's another setback.
You also have to take into account the 'wild west' of amateur translators, whose mistranslations, etc. regretfully abound on- and off-line, as well as on paper.
Not being familiar with the field or the subject at hand is another element which may produce risible results, as it is evident on a daily basis in the KudoZ area.
And then there's those translating out of their native language. Again, there's plenty of examples of this sort of translations around.
Least but not least, machine-translated or AI-produced content.
The colleagues who, like me, have been around the block more than once, have seen their fair share of mistranslated content. But asking us to retrieve those for you would take too much of our time.
I'm afraid to say it looks like things might not be as straightforward as you would have hoped.
If you want to keep delving into this topic, you'd better put your best foot forward and start searching yourself.
But beware, it's a minefield out there! ▲ Collapse
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Matthieu Ledoré
France
Local time: 20:49
Member (2022)
English to French
+ ...
| Interesting topic | Sep 27, 2023 |
Hello Simone!
I haven't been able to access your Reddit post.
However, I can think of a handful of cases which could help you immediately, and more that I could research.
Could you, however, clarify the scope of your work? For instance, translations in a wrong dialect might or might not be considered as errors.
Best regards,
Matthieu.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 20:49
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| False friends | Sep 27, 2023 |
You may take false friends as an inspiration. While I used to do proofreading, I saw plenty of this type of errors with newbie/inexperienced/incompetent translators.
Examples of false friends include English embarrassed and Spanish embarazada 'pregnant'; English parents versus Portuguese parentes and Italian parenti (both meaning 'relatives'); English demand and French demander 'ask'; and English gift, German Gift 'poison', and Norwegian gift 'married'.
Taken fro... See more You may take false friends as an inspiration. While I used to do proofreading, I saw plenty of this type of errors with newbie/inexperienced/incompetent translators.
Examples of false friends include English embarrassed and Spanish embarazada 'pregnant'; English parents versus Portuguese parentes and Italian parenti (both meaning 'relatives'); English demand and French demander 'ask'; and English gift, German Gift 'poison', and Norwegian gift 'married'.
Taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend#:~:text=Examples%20of%20false%20friends%20include,and%20Norwegian%20gift%20'married'. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Reply to Matthieu's and Barbara's messages | Sep 27, 2023 |
Thank you for the insight Barbara. It really is a minefield out there!
One of the inspirations came from a drastic change in a character's writing in the manga "I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into A Girl", which I showed to my teacher when proposing the idea behind the thesis.
There was a lot of controversy around it, and it being the internet, there was a lot of toxicity from both those defending the choice and those attacking it!
There is quite a bit to say about it so ... See more Thank you for the insight Barbara. It really is a minefield out there!
One of the inspirations came from a drastic change in a character's writing in the manga "I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into A Girl", which I showed to my teacher when proposing the idea behind the thesis.
There was a lot of controversy around it, and it being the internet, there was a lot of toxicity from both those defending the choice and those attacking it!
There is quite a bit to say about it so I suggest you check it out if you're not familiar.
Finding controversies in manga/anime (even games) media is actually rather easy to the point a whole thesis could probably be made just on those, but I want variation so I was looking for other types of media, and it would probably look better for the thesis.
Hey Matthieu!
As for the Reddit post, it might be because the URL accidentally includes ")," from the post. Try removing those and it should work! (I've also gone ahead and added spaces before and after the link, so it shouldn't happen anymore.)
For errors, I mean in the actual sense of the word. Something that everyone agrees it just is one, without much interpretation in the way. (See above, but doesn't necessarily need to be anything *that* major)
Thank you for the responses to everyone so far.
I try to reply as fast as I can but it seems approval time takes a little while. ▲ Collapse
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 19:49
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| A few concrete examples | Sep 27, 2023 |
Grammar and syntax errors (ex.: different use of PT-PT and PT-BR personal pronouns);
Mistranslations (ex.: take a look at some of the historical fails in translation on the Web);
Cultural differences (ex.: the word "desert" for the Maya people means an open field, while for the Arab people it means a dry and sandy area);
Inconsistent translations (the good use of CAT tools prevent them);
Missing context (it happens more than we can imagine);
Acronyms and abbreviatio... See more Grammar and syntax errors (ex.: different use of PT-PT and PT-BR personal pronouns);
Mistranslations (ex.: take a look at some of the historical fails in translation on the Web);
Cultural differences (ex.: the word "desert" for the Maya people means an open field, while for the Arab people it means a dry and sandy area);
Inconsistent translations (the good use of CAT tools prevent them);
Missing context (it happens more than we can imagine);
Acronyms and abbreviations that are in a different language than the source text (something very common that translators have to deal with);
Slang, idioms and expressions (ex.: the PT-PT idiom "go comb monkeys!" doesn't mean that we necessarily have to comb those animals, instead it means "get lost!".
False friends as suggested by Lingua 5B are a very good example of translation errors too. ▲ Collapse
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Subtitling and audiovisual translation in general are a good field to find mistakes, on the one hand, it has the reputation of being very badly paid and, on the other hand, automatic subtitling is increasingly implemented without any post-editing. I recall for example ‒ though, unfortunately, I can’t remember the movies name ‒, magazine being translated in Portuguese as a periodical publication before a huge explosion was heard…
Good luck with your thesis!
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 19:49
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| There's missing one example: | Sep 28, 2023 |
Answers from ChatGPT here.
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 14:49
Spanish to English
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| Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 14:49
Spanish to English
+ ...
[Edited at 2023-09-29 01:51 GMT]
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Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 14:49
Spanish to English
+ ...
[Edited at 2023-09-29 01:51 GMT]
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 14:49
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 20:49
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
| Sources for translation mistakes | Sep 29, 2023 |
I could provide a very funny leaflet, translated from Italian into German, about an ancient church in Italy.
The whole text is full of mistakes that make you laugh for a while.
Restaurant menus are another good source of funny mistakes.
The above fall under #1 of the asker's categories.
I also collect funny German compounds invented by neural machine translation engines.
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