Aah, the joys of internationalization – if translators only were cheaper and languages were easier to learn. The temptation to take shortcuts is very real…but can lead to funky mishaps like the one pictured on the left side.
The German text is gravely insulting – in this context, the word gefaelligst does not mean kindly but rather god-darn, you a$$hole. Thus, the translated text would be as follows:
Dear Guests,
we kindly request our guests to eat them fruit only god-darn in our restaurant to eat.
While you and I are likely to see the translation error and laugh about it (or, in my case, blog it); more sensitive people will feel gravely insulted. I am aware of at least one person in this hotel who was heavily insulted by the sign and terminated his stay early.
Cutting a long story short: don’t save money on translations…
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Excellent catch! The other two translations are full of mistakes too. I have just blogged about them as well. Linked the “3 Incorrect Translations from Hungarian” above to the blog post.
Geno Prussakov
Langbridge, Inc.
Hi Geno,
thank you so much for talking back…although I really would like to know how you found out about this blog
Tam