Translation Errors

[zerocoolcat]

Howdy!

I thought we might be able to create a list here of Translation Errors or Translation Flaws occurring in magazines, books or movies ( ).
It happens to me very often that I see a movie in german and notice some mistakes or at least flaws in the translation.
Of course, some of them are unavoidable because of the synchronisation, but still...

Okay, so much from me...

Tortenhuber would be most welcome...


Best Regards,
zero

 

[Sedge]

though i'm not tortenhuber i'd like to post some bad translations:

i think it was one af the "alien"-movies:
do you copy
=> schneiden sie mit?

"kill bill vol.1"
Now if any of you sons of bitches
got anything else to say
now is th fuckin time!
=> Also wenn einer von euch dreckigen Scheißkerlen
noch irgendwas dazu zu sagen hat,
dann ist jetzt der richtige Zeitpunkt!

"snatch"
the germans?!
=> vor wem denn schützen? vorm bösen mann?!

5th element
are you germans?
=> seid ihr von der erde?

to be continued...

 

[Ellinaelea]

ähm... ich kann ja eigentlich nur Deutsch und versteh hier nur einzelne Worte, aber hab ich das jetzt richtig kapiert, dass die deutschsprachigen Begriffe, bzw. Bezeichnungen "böser Mann" und "von der Erde" von den Ami's synonym zu "German", also "Deutscher" verwendet werden?
Was man wohl davon halten soll? *grübel*

 

[Franziskaner]

Was man wohl davon halten soll? *grübel*

strictly english in da lounge, Ellinaelea...

regarding your concerns about the use of the word "german" in movies describing the bad guys, hey, seems some of the most popular movies of the past years have been written between 1938 and 1945...it just took so long to get the script out of the desk drawer where they were lost...

my favorite is Arnie Schwooorzenegger in Predator. Original: "You ugly motherfucker!" (consider the austrian accent!). German Translation: "Du bist so abgrundtief hässlich!". Horrible...

 

[Tortenhuber]

auch wenn du mir das vlt wieder übel nimmst aber dann hast du hier vermutlich nicht viel freude:

A forum for our international guests. Every topic is allowed. Please notice: The language in this section is strictly english.

edit: too late

on Topic:

Tortenhuber would be most welcome...

well then, unfortunately nothing specific comes to my mind, yet I do have some shining examples of how funny the German language in English movies can be:

die hard 3:
(john mclane)
"put your head down, put your head fucking down - its gonna be really bad, listen to me, hang the fuck on alright?"

deutsch: "runter mit dem kopf, zieh deine birne ein - jetzt wirds wirklich grob, hör mir gut zu: du hälst dich jetzt fest klar?"

on the ship:

(english audio) "hey katja, was ist mit dem essen? ich will heut noch was haben (gelächter) ... unter die decke schlupfen, hehe, schönen arsch hat die. ein heisses weib. naja irgendwann gehts wohl los nech? *another scene* ne leider, hab keine mehr" (dont know what was actually meant)

and the german audio "hey katja, was ist mit dem essen? ich will heut noch was haben ... ja ich könnte auch was zu futtern vertragen, ein heisses weib" "ja find ich auch" "ich brauch 2 leute unten im frachtraum" "bring mal die lampe hier rüber!" *scene change* "hast du noch ne kippe?" "nein, hab keine mehr"


some time later willis knocks one of the bad guys down, who screamed something like "nädälie" on the german audio but on the english audio stream he said "Nikt schiessen".

and I remember another scene in which 2 bad guys talk about their need for bratwurst "hach erstmal ne BRATWURST essen" (strongly emphasized)

Moreover, there are various instances in the TV series ALIAS (but I really do not want to take the efforts of rewatching 4 seasons) in which I had to read the english subtitles of what a German badass said, simply because his German was so amazingly bad that even a native speaker didn't understand ^ ^

addition: schwarzeneggers accent is indeed hilarious ^^, but difficult to imitate

and I'll look out for more examples (which is not so easy because German movies tend to annoy the living hell out of me. Especially in occasions where German speakers try to imitate American cockiness. One of the reasons why German "gangsta"-rap sucks )

 

[Sedge]

team america

we're dicks!
=> wir sind hart!


and i'm sure i'll remember more...

 

[Sedge]

so here we go:

the matrix
trinity: "dodge this!"
=> "nur ein agent!"

pulp fiction
the ketchup-joke odesn't make sense in german...
the purse that says "bad motherfucker" says "böser schwarzer mann" in german...

austin powers
"sex?" - "yes, please!"
=> "geschlecht?" - "ja bitte!"

last boy scout
"i could nail you for obstruction."
"you couldn't nail a two-dollar-whore."
=> ich könnt sie wegen behinderung einsperren."
"sie verhaften nicht mal ne zwei-dollar-nutte."


and last but not least:
on n24 (?) the synchronous translator tranlslating george lucas:
"am 4. mai sind wir bei ihnen."

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Star Trek (in general)
"live long and prosper" => lebe lang und in Frieden

Star Trek - The Next Generation: The Final Mission
"sublight" => subleicht

Final Destination 2:
"I gotta call bullshit" => Ich muss mal was sagen: Blödsinn.

 

[zerocoolcat]

James Bond: The man with the golden gun.
-> "Der Mann mit dem goldenen Colt."

 

[Sedge]

ali g

i'm sure this so called movie is full of translation errors,
but this one will blow your socks off:

"keep it real" becomes "wir bleiben klar"
[/i]

 

[zerocoolcat]

I just realized: my problem with this thread is: since I have a DVD-player, I don´t watch movies in german no more...

 

[Tortenhuber]

and you started using double negation, which is an absolute no-no for writers of formal english

but I share you problem. I sometimes don't even remember whether I movie I have seen was German or English ^^. unfortunately, german synchro usually is a pain in the ass (as are german movies), which is really discouraging in case you plan on watching a movie in a local cinema.

 

[Aphorismus]

Somehow I still haven't figured the real advantages of having this English-speaking lounge... I know we could attract people who surf the web from all across the world, but did that in fact ever happen? No? Well, didn`t think so.

Anyway, I once received a wonderfull letter written by a pen-friend from Spokane, Washington. Unfortunately he tried writing in German and - as he didn't know any - used a dictionary throughout most parts. My favourite part are the two last lines:

"Brunnen, ich habe zu gehen. Schreibe Rücken ob du die Büchse bitte danke. Deine, Matt Johnson"

If you translate that back into English, you get what he was actually trying to say."Brunnen" = "well"; "Schreibe Rücken" = "Write back"; "ob du die Büchse" = "if you can".

So what he was trying to say must have been something like this: "Well, I have to go. Write back if you can, please. Thank you, Matt Johnson."

By the way: I wrote back, but the poor guy got kicked out of high school because his grades sucked.

 

[Tortenhuber]

Somehow I still haven't figured the real advantages of having this English-speaking lounge... I know we could attract people who surf the web from all across the world, but did that in fact ever happen? No? Well, didn`t think so.

It did in fact happen, remember hunble?

concerning your story: I seriously doubt that this happened to you, since I've heard a similiar story before.

 

[Aphorismus]

I still have the letter... Possibly I posted the same story as dimbo or Otto? :gruebel:

And hey - I still prefer a sceptic like you to all those douchbags who "want to believe".

By the way, didn't hunble just enter the forum because he was one of the boardies host-daddy in a year of foreign exchange?

 

[saschay2k]

quotation from the movie "Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure"

Duke: "Put them in the iron maiden."
Bill & Ted: "Iron Maiden? Excellent!"
Duke: "Execute them!"
Bill & Ted: "Bogus!"

I guess there's neet to give you the german translation to get the joke ...

 

[zerocoolcat]

and you started using double negation, which is an absolute no-no for writers of formal english

I use double negation since my teacher first told me it was "wrong"...
I´m just reading "Be Cool" by Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, The Big Bounce etc.) and he uses double negation a lot.
But EL is more of a dialogue-writer than anything else...

but I share you problem. I sometimes don't even remember whether I movie I have seen was German or English

...me neither...not any more at least...

But I know for sure that I saw "Sin City" in English: because of Bruce Willis' and Mickey Rourke's deep, manly voices, but most of all because of Clive Owen's great accent.

By the way, I thought it was a great idea in "The Island" to have Ewan McGregor's "clone" speak "Standard-English", but the Original in his native Scottish accent.
Also, when Scarlett Johansson orders a whiskey and the bartender says "Straight up", she looks at the ceiling.

 

[Giacomo_S]

Sometimes you'll find so called "Falsche Freunde" (wrong (?), bad (?) friends) in translations. It means words which are similar, but have a different meaning. I.e.:

Word Translation Falscher Freund

Curiosity Neugier Kuriosität
oddity Kuriosität

"Curiosity kills the cat." means "Die Neugier ist der Tod der Katze" und nicht "Die Kuriosität tötet die Katze."

Some weeks we could read such a bad translation in a newspaper here. A journalist sad in an american newspaper about Hillary Clinton: "She's really a professional." In the German translation we have read: "Sie ist wirklich eine Professionelle." Before, I didn't knew that Ms. Clinton is working in the red light district, for this is what "eine Professionelle" in German means: a whore.
A better translation would have been "Sie ist ein Profi" or "Sie macht das sehr professionell."

 

[Eskapismus]

i guess i allready posted this one somewhere here.

Do you guys know that old ghetto movie called Colors?

let the women go motherfucker.

German: lass die Frau los du Vogel. – let the woman go you bird (calling somebody bird in german is NOT a course word )

Anyone ever noticed that the French have to call president Vladimir Putin – poutine since putin in French means whore?

There once was a list somewhere with a bunch of brand- and product names that mean funny things in other languages. Here in Russia they sell detergent for clothes called “Mif” which means stench in German. Or once I’ve seen this underwear brand for obese people in central asia called FAT.



PS: But before you guys start bitching about bad translations in movies, try watching porn dubbed into Russian with just one guy doing all the voices.

 

[Sedge]

so whats the deal with this "bird"-thing?

i recall a line in lyrics from "the streets":
"'round here we say birds, not bitches"


and one more i yet posted, but i think noone recognized:

the synchronous translator on n24 translating george lucas:
"am 4. mai sind wir bei ihnen"

guess what the original was...