Some interesting facts about translations
The translation world is full of jokes and just interesting facts. This time, our translation agency decided to cheer you up and share a few of them.
Some interesting facts about translations
Why did they “split” Shakespeare?
Who is unfamiliar with those who have already become winged, in the words of Shakespeare’s Richard III: “Horse! Horse! My kingdom for a horse! ”? But the snag is that in the original, the desperate king is ready to give twice as much for a horse — all his kingdom: “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse! The Russian actor Jacob Bryansky “divided” the patrimony of Richard. There are two opinions why Bryansky inaccurately translated Shakespeare. Some believe that the matter is in Russian folklore, where it is customary for all half the kingdom to pay for everything. Perhaps the actor decided to adapt the words of the monarch to the Russian reality. Others argue that the reason for the error was that Bryansky did not translate from the English original, but from a prosaic French translation already done.
How is Terminator in Spain forgiven
Forever in the world cinema the phrase, spoken in Spanish, of the handsome Terminator robot: “Hasta la vista, baby”. However, when the film was released in Spain, the translators had to sweat. After all, they wanted to preserve the foreign sound of the phrase for the Spaniards. As a result of heated debate, he defeated Japanese. The Spaniards, watching the film, heard: “Sayonara, baby.”
Give other shoes
One of the funniest translation incidents happened to the famous sports company Nike. In 1989, she released an ad for sneakers, in which residents of one African tribe took part. The plot of the video was uncomplicated: the tribe in bright clothes was dancing traditional dance, after which the aboriginal said a few words in his own language, and on the screen at that time the constant appeared: “Just Do It”. Advertising had an unprecedented success. After some time, an anthropologist addressed the editorial office of one of the journals. He told the media that the Kenyan actually said: “I don’t want these. Give me other shoes. ” After that, the company had to admit that during the shooting it was not possible to achieve an accurate translation of the slogan into the local language. Therefore, it was decided to leave everything as is. The editors were sure that nobody would understand anyway.
Such oddities once again confirm the importance of the work of translators. And it’s good if such incidents cause just laughter. But often, because of the unwillingness to make an accurate and high-quality translation, a serious deal can be broken, a life’s derailment and even a relationship can be ruined. So we advise you never to neglect the services of qualified translators and contact professional translation agencies only. And you can find the appropriate translation company on request “translation bureau Kiev”
