Translation Errors

[zerocoolcat]

guess what the original was..

Mai se fors bi wis yu!

 

[Eskapismus]

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

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

so they call birds motherfuckers?


Morning has broken, like the first morning
BlackMotherfucker has spoken, like the first Motherfucker

 

[Sedge]

@zerocoolcat: that's right

@eskapismus: didn't get it...

 

[Mr. Anderson]

@sedge:

Morning has broken
Like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing
Fresh from the world

Sweet the rains new fall
Sunlit from heaven
Like the first dew fall
On the first grass
Praise for the sweetness
Of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness
Where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight
Mine is the morning
Born of the one light
Eden so play
Praise with elation
Praise every morning
God' s recreation
Of the new day

Morning has broken
Like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing
Fresh from the world

 

[agentP]

"We all shared birds - that´s what friends are for"
Judge Dread - When we were Skins

 

[Sedge]

ok, i understand that catstevens-connection.

but what's the deal with birds and motherfuckers

 

[Aphorismus]

'bird' means 'girl' in British English slang, "the streets" is a rap-group from England, and American rappers often refer to girls as 'bitches', which is why the guy from "the streets" - who isn't from the US but from England - says: "around here we say birds not bitches". got it?

by the way - i think Eskapismus got that a lil' twisted. neither bitch nor bird are automatically bad terms if you're using slang. if an American rapper talks about "the meanest bitch" he is referring to the best looking lady in the place.

 

[Eskapismus]

but what's the deal with birds and motherfuckers

again. There is this Ghetto movie directed by Dennis Hopper. At some point a guy takes some woman as hostage. So the policeguy yells "let the women go motherfucker" and they translated it into german as "lass die Frau gehen du Vogel"

and since this is a english forum i translated the word "Vogel" into english "bird" so people who dont speak german would understand it as well.


got it?

 

[Sedge]

thanks aphorismus and eskapismus,

now i understand what your talking 'bout!

 

[Sedge]

"blade runner"

one guy gets questioned if he was followed by "men? - policemen?"

this was translated as "männer? polizeimänner?"

it should have been translated as "männer? polizisten?", i think...

 

[Sedge]

"band of brothers", i think the last episode "points".

a german general is talking to his soldiers and a american gi is translating.
the german is talking about the evil they have seen, that they have bocome brothers, that it was an honor to fight with the soldiers.

the americans realize that this is exactly the same what they have gone through.

in the german synchronization the translator speaks disparagingly like "deutscher schweinehund", "scheiss nazi"...

 

[Aphorismus]

I just read a short story by the dude who wrote Russendisko a couple of days ago, in which he tells the story of some news he heard on the Russian version of the Deutsche Welle radio program.

The Russian reporter told the story of a ship, that was - among tourists - transporting a group of blind people. He said, that there had been a mutiny on the ship and that the blind folks had now taken over and were steering the incredibly huge ship.

Of course that makes you wonder how someone, who cannot use his eyesight, could possibly navigate such a large ship. The answer is simple: A translation error occured.

The Russian reporter - obviously unfamiliar with the German term blinder Passagier - translated the German news literally and by doing so gave it a completely different twist.