Is this really the worlds worst translation? I found this on Flickr and thought someone who is a Spanish speaker might get a kick out of it.
Our mission is to be a useful resource for the city of Smyrna, TN and surrounding areas.
Our mission is to be a useful resource for the city of Smyrna, TN and surrounding areas.
3 comments:
Any bilingual person would just have to stand in head-scratching amazement comparing these two signs. My Spanish isn't particularly strong, but I can see some things that are pretty disturbing here. Smyrna, hire someone bilingual if you are going to put up signs in Spanish!
Personally, I'm fine with not putting them up at all and letting Spanish speakers translate for themselves. But, if we are going to do it, let's make the effort to do something close to the correct translation. This kind of thing just makes us look ignorant.
A better title for this sign would be:
Las Reglas de La Cancha Tenis
Roller blades are better translated as:
Los patines en línea (in-line skates.)
Please switch/turn off the lights before leaving would be better translated as:
Por favor, apagar las luces antes de salir.
If you are going to try machine translations, at least get someone with a rudimentary understanding of the Spanish language to check them over before ordering signs. I'd also recommend spanishdict.com for translations. You will get free translations from three leading machine translators. If there is significant disagreement, you can always post a question in the forum. Native and advanced Spanish speakers can help you make more appropriate translations when there is disagreement in the machine translators.
The most disturbing part to me, though, is why on earth are we publishing more rules for Spanish speaking residents than English speakers? There is nothing about "stolen shoes" on the English language sign! (I'm assuming that we're assuming that Spanish speakers need to be told to wear appropriate shoes and English speakers don't?) Why is alcohol the first prohibition on the Spanish sign and not the English one? This is kind of embarrassing, even if it is unintentional. Even worse, it could easily be interpreted as rude.
Oh, and skateboards are los monopatínes.
alcohol is first? Ha. I did not notice that.
I might take a quick trip over there and see if the sign is still up. Smyrna has to have some Spanish speakers working for the city...I would hope.
Thanks much for the translating efforts. Well I need to go and steal some 'shoes'.
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