You said what?!? |
Ok, your reward is coming...
Soon...
Oh yeah...
Almost there...
Here it comes....
Yes....
Yes....
Yes!!!
Ok, here's the list...
1) "Las tres hotas.."
One day when our friend Jesse was visiting, Jen & Jesse & I (Jay) wandered down to Coco Bongo in the Hotel Zone. We soon found ourselves chatting with a gregarious waiter named Hermano. After exchanging names, we noted that we were "like the three J's", which in Spanish, translates to "3 jotas" (pronounced "hotas"). Hermano laughed & told us to be careful with our pronunciation: "Las tres hotos," he explained, means the three homosexuals!
2) "Estoy caliente!"
Learning Spanish in Cancun, calor & caliente (hot) are among the first words you learn. So, it wasn't long before I was telling lots & lots of people how hot it was, & how hot I was: "Estoy caliente... Estoy caliente... Estoy caliente..."
Now you may be getting ahead of me & thinking that I was telling everyone how great I looked & coming across as a vain idiot gringo. Well, vain idiot gringo I may be, but that isn't why I was embarrassed. See, I wasn't telling everyone how great I looked. I was telling them... "God, I am horny!"
3) "Where should I put it?"
One day, I used google to translate "Where should I put it?" into Spanish. I know that sounds dirty, but that's not why this incident was funny. I was actually planning to innocently ask our housekeeper where to put our garbage. Turns out the Spanish translation is: "Donde lo puse.." I know it's silly, & I know I'm mixing languages, but I just couldn't bring myself to ask her where that thing might be!
4) "Are you hungry?"
One day while I was wondering about dinner plans, I asked someone at the hostel if he was hungry. At least I thought I did. The correct Spanish translation is: "Tiene hambre?" The incorrect Spanish translation, I learned, is "Tiene hombre" -- "Do you have men?" Ooops.
5) ....
That's all for now, but don't worry. As you can see, I'm an idiot, so more bloopers will surely be coming soon!
Last Update: June 2012
Nice post.The importance of a technical translation being accurate and efficient can indeed not be overstated. Especially in the ever faster moving world of globalized business, successful information and technology transfer within multinational businesses can make the difference between win or lose.
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Thanks for the SPAM. And thanks, Blogger, for giving me no way to delete this comment.
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