Lost In Translation (9/27)
September 27, 2008 Posted by ChrisNormally I try to steer clear of posting juvenile things like this next lost in translation photograph (mostly cause my family is also reading this). But I feel that this picture really shows how little it takes when translating into English to become vulgar, obscene or as I’d say: really funny.
When we were in Jiji we went through a natural history museum and all the pieces in the museum were labeled in Chinese & English. Most the English translations were very rough and this one caught all of the American’s attention right away:
If you haven’t figured it out yet, look right below the title in Chinese and you’ll see: “Flower-cum-Fruit”. Very wrong! Terribly wrong! The Chinese title reads as best I can translate “These are Flowers & Fruits” how they arrived at Flower-cum-Fruit I don’t think anyone will ever know.
My little disclaimer to go a long with these photos is that I have much respect for the many cultures in Asia. It is only that many Asian ideologies inherent in their languages translate poorly into English. Even with these translation errors, I am completely grateful that most signs are translated into English, it has been infinitely helpful to me.
Posted: September 27, 2008 under Lost In Translation
hahaha. quite funny…
Cum is a Latin word meaning ” along with” or “and” so it’s technically a correct usage I think. Usually it’s used for hyphenated words.
Hey you’re completely right Talen!
Half of the exhibits had translations into English the other half were the Latin genus species names.