Watch Out Amateurs

Language translation gaffs are amusing for most of us because we assume that translating a phrase or text into another language can be done by using a bilingual dictionary, a little knowledge and a bowl of hope.

This is not an assumption which should be done when trying to communicate correctly in another language. One Miami company printed several thousand T-shirts which were supposedly translated into Spanish "I saw the Pope". Whoever translated it used the above mentioned recipe. A class of Spanish or two, a dictionary and a brave pen. The result was "Vi la Papa" which really translates as "I saw the potato".