XI. Read the following Russian article about mistakes made by translators, analyze them and translate the article form Russian into English. Ошибки переводчиков поднимают мертвых из могил

На суд читателей предлагается коллекция наиболее парадоксальных ошибок, сделанных американскими компаниями из-за неточностей в переводах и непонимания реалий, существующих в других странах.

Известная компания General Motors потерпела фиаско, пытаясь вывести на рынки Латинской Америки свой новый автомобиль Chevrolet Nova. Как вскорости выяснилось, no va по-испански означает «не может двигаться».

В США при рекламе пива Coors использовался слоган Turn it loose! (примерное значение «Стань свободным!»). Буквальный перевод слогана на испанский привел к появлению шедевра «Страдай от поноса!»

Парфюмерная компания Clairol представила в Германии свои сухие дезодоранты, используя слоган Mist Stick (примерное значение «Туманный дезодорант»). В Германии выяснилось, что слово Mist («туман») на немецком сленге означает «навоз».

Компания Colgate-Palmolive вывела на французский рынок свою новую зубную пасту Cue. Чуть позже американцы узнали, что именно такое название носит популярный французский порножурнал.

Компания Pepsi дословно перевела на китайский язык свой главный рекламный девиз «Живи с поколением «Пепси»» Come alive with the pepsi generation. Китайцы были шокированы: слоган приобрел неожиданное звучание: ««Пепси» заставит ваших предков подняться из могил».

Компания Coca-Cola долгое время не могла подобрать свое название для продажи в Китае. Дело в том, что китайцы произносят название этого напитка как «Кекукела», что означает «Кусай воскового головастика». Компания была вынуждена перебрать 40 тыс. вариантов написания своей торговой марки, прежде чем было выбрано «Коку Коле», что означает «Счастье во рту».

Компания Frank Purdue, производящая курятину, в США использует слоган It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken (примерный перевод: «Чтобы приготовить нежного цыпленка требуется сильный мужчина»). В переводе на испанский эта фраза приобрела несколько иной смысл: «Нужен сексуально возбужденный мужчина, чтобы курица стала нежной».

Производитель канцелярских принадлежностей компания Parker также попыталась перевести свой слоган на испанский. Ее реклама ручки на английском звучит: It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you (примерный перевод: «Она никогда не протечет в вашем кармане и не причинит вам неудобств»). Переводчик ошибся и спутал два испанских слова. В результате рекламная кампания Parker в Мексике проходила под слоганом «Она никогда не протечет в вашем кармане и не сделает вас беременным».

Авиакомпания American Airlines установила в своих самолетах кожаные кресла и решила сообщить об этом мексиканским потребителям. На английском слоган звучал прекрасно: Fly in leather («Летай в коже!»). В буквальном переводе это выражение обрело иной смысл: «Летай голым!».

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XII. The following articles are devoted to the problems of language development and changes the languages undergo within the time and under the influence of other factors. Point out the factors of the changes in the languages. Speak of the peculiarities of the languages.

THE FUTURE AND THE LANGUAGES

It has always been my hobby to thumb through grammar books and check the differences in declinations, conjunctions, syntactic forms and orthographies.

After all, I have been more of a botanist of grammars than an expert of languages. There is here, an obscure problem of mine which is related, in a certain way, to my poetic nature. That is, going through these grammars I often have the pleasure of coming across particular flowers, marvelous blooms that can be compared with one another in all languages, blooms that can also be dangerous. This historical period, with all its impending problems, will make the coexistence of languages all that more difficult. Simply consider English, which weaves in and out of other languages like interlace. Yet, another danger exists. America, and no longer England, is the matrix of this immense energy, where the middle-class has a passive indifference towards other languages, which happened in Europe in the 18^th century. A passivity that regards only the mass population because the upper-class has always been able to manage. In the meantime, differences in pronunciation, orthography and intonation are taking place within the various classes, ethnic groups and zones. Spanish and the Iberian languages are exerting a certain pressure. In fact, in some American states a form of Spanish-English bilingualism is becoming widespread. It is extremely dangerous for a country to use a single language and not be familiar with any other because it can create something similar to an implosive phenomenon, a tendency to constantly “reduce”. I recall an article by Anthony Burgess where he claimed, with his brilliant paradoxes, that to learn English one needed only to know how to whine using a few tricks such as cut off vocal sounds and various nuances. And those who know how to use on, off, out, etc. with the verb to get have already learnt half the language. This … by the humorous Burgess has some very serious truth to it. Let us not forget that in ancient times things were very different. For example, at the court of Augustus both Greek and Latin were spoken. Latin was the official language of the Roman Empire because it was considered of high cultural prestige. The elite, on the other hand, could not afford to ignore Greek. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, wrote his extraordinary philosophical book, TO HIMSELF, in Greek. It was nit intended for publication (though it expresses one of the peak moments of human thought). It is extremely significant that the language of higher learning remained connected to the Greek matrix. The Romans actually made a considerable contribution, but not at a level comparable to the Greeks. Today, at the court of Washington would a language be commonly spoken simply for its cultural prestige? Augustus was a conservative, even linguistically speaking. I have spoken at length about this topic in order to emphasize how important it is for the leaders, in particular, those of countries that have international responsibilities, to be deeply involved in languages of high cultural value that are different from their own. This would obviously make the reciprocal understanding of problems much easier. There have been numerous conflicts and diplomatic failures caused by errors in the interpretation of messages and meetings. (In 1919, at the conference of Versailles, V:E Orlando had serious difficulties making decisions due to his poor knowledge of French).

Moreover, the populations of ancient civilizations such as, the Chinese, Indians and others, with their immense political and cultural weight are once again rising. This is contributing to the present state of agitation in the world today and consequently, in the linguistic field. Difficult mediation is necessary to understand the complex backgrounds of these powerful giants. And what can be said of the Arab world, with its world ambitions and its problem of bilingualism between modern Arabic and the different dialects used across vast areas? For Italians, there is the urgent need to have good translation from English to Italian and vice versa. Otherwise, we would be left without a voice and echo because our language is not used outside of Italy. For instance, the distinguished magazine of physics, founded in Galileo’s time, conserves only its title in Italian; Il Nuovo Cimento, the text is in English. However, it is a well known fact that when dealing with common practical problems it is convenient to use a language understood by all. There is also the question of foreign words that are now part of our common language which are often unnecessary and rather grotesque. Not to mention that, in the long run, they could damage the identity of a language. Nevertheless, it is not feasible to use legal impositions such as the Toubon law passed in France to block this linguistic contamination. The defense against this should be established according to each case and language, on the basis of the historical differences of the various countries. (French supercentralism and Italian pulverization). In Italy’s case we must not forget that our national language developed alongside powerful dialectal structures, which are parallel languages, and Latin, an authoritative language used in the academic and scientific communities of Europe. Therefore, a “flexible” defense is the only one we can sustain in our case. Keeping in mind that both Latin and the dialects continue to nourish our national language. This, can also be said of other languages.

In these chaotic and magmatic times many oddities are taking place. At present, it is the television that lays down the rules. It imposes models and expression copied from “Americanoid” situations. The Italian spoken today is often incorrect. When the pronunciation is not heavily marked by regional accents, it is influenced by the Italian spoken by the cultural elite (actors, judges, etc.) of northern Italy. This causes a vacantly silly admixture, reminiscent of soap operas, which is the epitomy of bad taste. Just think of the first names, borrowed from English, that are given to children by “naive parents” who have been influenced by soaps such as, Beautiful and similar programmes. It is one thing to use commonly accepted foreign names as Sabrina, Samantha or Deborah, but to impose English versions of Italian names like Alex, Thomas, Christian or even Anthony is another. When these names are accompanied by surnames from the Veneto region, which often end with a consonant and then given an American accent. It would almost seem that the Morgan family (rather than Morgan) have proliferated in the Veneto thanks to the removal of an accent. As a final example there is the well known Benetton (Benetton in Rome) that has become the worldwide trademark, Benetton. This base habit of giving pointlessly foreign names obviously regards other semantic areas as well. Similar marvels can be often seen in the captions of business signs, in which, at times, the use of foreign words is justified by the type of business, but not when it produces minotaurs, even if amusing, such as SNACK BAR AL CANTON and many other similar examples. It is useful to have a universal language, but we must not forget the danger it poses to ethnic and linguistic identities. Taking Italy’s shaky situation as an example, we could venture to say that in two or three decades a new sort of linguistic proletariat will be created. In fact, those who will not know, at least, some form of broken English will be excluded from the management of all forms of power. Despite having been introduced to English at an early age, not many can afford the expensive trips necessary for a full immersion. Thus, they will be discriminated against, in the same way, as those who, just two or three decades ago, knew only the dialect of their region and barely spoke Italian. Then again, all these snags and terrors may be overcome, sooner than we think, by the omnipresent technology and its magical gadgets that instantly translate a conversation. This type of research has been in the works for years and sooner or later Sony, or some other company, will reach this goal. On the other hand, isn’t the Numen Internet, from which we can expect all kinds of surprises, already functioning?

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