Translation And Immigration

 

Lost In Translation

Lost in translation is the title of one of my favourite films but this is not about films, it’s about translation; specifically, why do the French not get translations into English checked by an English native-language speaker? I and English friends have encountered many examples of mistranslations, from the gor blimey to the hilarious to the potentially dangerous. Here are some examples.

A friend visited a restaurant that had its menu translated into English. The menu listed the usual entrées, plats, desserts and the problem was with plat, flat or dish in English. Flat in English means on the same level or apartment. So the translator had some choices to make. He or she got it wrong. The result was a flat of the day and flats to take away. Hilarious but not too difficult to fix.

Some years ago I used Avignon airport frequently to visit England. Inscribed on a very large plate glass wall in the waiting area are the words Bienvenu en Avignon, le coeur de Provence. The English translation beneath it reads Welcome in (sic) Avignon, the hearth of Provence. Avignon residents might be surprised to know they are living in a cheminée. No harm done but very expensive to fix.

The other airport local to Mollans is at Nimes. On the wall inside the airport building is a large security notice, in French and English, with the English translation garbled. OK, it’s a security notice so much of the content can be inferred but the potential for misunderstandings is large. Isn’t airport security important enough to ensure an accurate translation?

Finally I sometimes visit wine websites to look at their English translations. One such was the Chateau Du Clos, in the Bordeaux area. It claimed that one of its wines was the colour of rubies, translated as “rubish”. I emailed the owners to point out that this was suspiciously close to rubbish and asked if they really wanted to claim their wine was that colour. The result was a good bottle of wine for me and a return email stating that the owners were thinking of suing the company that had created the site and the translation. Could be expensive for someone.

In all these cases what would it have cost to ensure an accurate translation from a native English speaker? Now whenever I encounter a mistranslation into English I offer the correction as a gift.

But before we English start smugly smiling it works the other way too. When the French new wave films hit Britain in the late 1950s one of the star films was Truffaut’s Quatre Cents Coups. The English translation was literal: The 400 Blows. But the film has nothing t do with 400 blows; faire les Quatre cents coups means to make mischief. So making mischief would have been a correct if not the sexiest of titles. I’ve no idea what the distributors paid for the right to distribute the film but it will certainly have dwarfed the cost of an accurate translation.

Immigration

I got an insight into the immigration issue in a dinner party at my house the other day with friends who are not racist or particularly politically active. It was to do with the safety net. The insight was that to defuse the issue countries need to ensure that they offer their existing citizens at least as much as they do to asylum seekers and would-be immigrants. This particularly concerns housing. Asylum seekers and would be immigrants are confined, which isn’t great for them, but they are housed. In the outside world (too) many people are sleeping on the streets. Finland has avoided this discrepancy by ensuring housing for all but I know of no other country that has done this. I haven’t yet had time to think this point through but intend to do so in the coming weeks.