More than lost in translation

Continuing with the theme, while translations are often hilarious, sometimes, they are not funny at all. When people who transfer words across cultures lose not just the meanings but also the nuances and other underlying associations of those words, the end result can be horrible.

Some examples:

I heard this Japanese pop song which went 'Merry Christmas, blah, blah, blah...' and in the background was, distinctly, the tune of 'Abide With Me', more commonly heard during Lent and at funerals.

The show with Joo Ji-hoon, which I mentioned in the last post, is called Mawang, or 'Devil King'. Its other English title is 'Lucifer'. I'm not sure if the people producing the show really understand the implications of the title. Anyhow, his character isn't actually one of those evil to the core types. He's psychologically troubled because he never got over his brother's untimely death and the fact that the killer got away with it because of his connections.

The one that gets to me most is 'Ave Maria', from 200 Pounds Beauty (not my grammatical error; this is the actual title), 'Ave Maria' being 'Hail Mary', the start of the prayer derived from 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women' (Luke 1:28), the angel Gabriel's greeting at the Annunciation. I have no idea what the song is about but it can't possibly be about Mary and what has she to do with this cosmetic surgery-being a pop star story anyway? I guess Mary would be forgiving about this and I should learn to be more understanding myself...

The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci
(from here)

Comments

True train school

‘Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire. These are the things to fear, said the headmaster.’ How would you like to have such a headmaster? I finally re-read (read it first as a teenager) Totto-chan, The Little Girl at the Window , a ‘school story’ by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, translated by Dorothy Britton. Totto-chan is the name Tesuko Kuroyanagi called herself, and the book is about her life during her school days at Tomoe Gakuen. Totto-chan was expelled from her first elementary school because of her ‘disruptive’ behaviour, which included constantly opening and closing her desk top (because she was so thrilled by it), ‘vandalising’ her desk (because there wasn’t enough space on the piece of paper to draw) and standing by the classroom window waiting for street musicians to pass by or talking to swallows. Her mother, although probably alarmed about the ...

No wonder

According to a poll of about 300 people, reported in yesterday's Sunday Times, (how come nobody ever asks me these things?) , the Seven Wonders of Singapore are (in order of merit): 1. The Esplanade (a whopping 82 votes) 2. Changi Airport (53 votes) 3. Sentosa 4. The Merlion 5. The Singapore River 6. Food 7. Mount Faber and LKY (tie - 10 votes each) Some 'offbeat choices' which didn't make it to the top 7: aunties selling tissue paper at coffee shops, Singlish, kiasuism, 4D-Toto outlets and Newater (said someone of Newater: 'We are probably the only country with branded recycled sewage.' Well said, ha ha.). Maybe it's a personal bias but I feel that a 'Wonder' must also have strong historical and cultural/social value (so I'm rather miffed that Angkor Wat didn't make it to the 7 Wonders of the World; in fact it was never in the running for the top 7). Therefore, these choices are a little too modern for me. The Esplanade, for example, is a...

He like dat say one meh?

Apparently, that 'English as it is broken' book has been topping the charts at our local bookstores. Actually, I'm not too interested in that book but this other one may be worth getting my hands on. The article about it, as published in Saturday's (1 Sept) ST: In the world of international diplomacy, the best-chosen words or phrases can leave an audience laughing, bewildered or simply lost in translation, an insider has revealed. Undiplomatic Activities, a yet-to-be-launched book by Mr Richard Woolcott, who ran Australia's foreign service for four years, points to the pitfalls of translating thoughts into different languages. Take the Australian diplomat in France who tried to tell his audience that as he looked back on his career, it was divided in two parts, with dull postings before life in Paris. 'When I look at my backside, I find it is divided into two parts,' Mr Woolcott quoted the diplomat as telling his highly amused audience. Ex-Australian prime m...

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