Wednesday, September 5, 2012

A bitter translation

They didn't need to translate it all weird. Chocolate in Spanish is chocolate.

-Photo and post courtesy of Isai Rocha. Rocha is a contributor to both Foodbeast.com and Dodgernation.com blogs. He also served as sports editor on Mt. San Antonio College's award winning newspaper The Mountaineer.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Recuerdo,Recuero,same thing.


Many of us grew up with discos piratas, bootlegs, etc. We've had 'em sold to us discreetly anywhere from a restaurant in Los Angeles to on the street in broad daylight. But to have a misprint on the actual cover sleeve of the CD case and not be consistently incorrect on the side title? Esto si quedara en mi meoria por siempre!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Un clavo saca otra palabra: TACKall must tackle their translation issues

TACKall, a flooring supply distributer, has a few linguistic screws loose. 
TACKall manufactures and distributes the best commercial grade flooring and carpet installation supplies...TACKall is committed to provide the best quality products at the most economical way. Quality and service will be the main goals TACKall strieve to reach and maintain. We take care of our people, value our relationships and fight to better the environment."
Their mission statement may seem locked tight, (unlike the rest of their bio which is filled with misspelling and punctuation errors,) but my bilingual hermanos who read the translation will see como metieron la pata /how the company put their foot in their mouth and did not live up to their statement. 
The City of Industry folks transformed a nail, as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, is a slender usually pointed and headed fastener designed to be pounded, into a nail that is attached to the ends of your fingers. 
The correct word for nail in Spanish clavo. 
By no means am I crucifying the company but I am sure some Spanish speakers would want to show them what a middle finger nail looks like.  Maybe the company should hire day laborers who actually utilize these supplies as language consultants before they put their "best quality products" out.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Beben y beben...


Balthazar, ready to take a holy sip at Vineland swapmeet in La Puente.
The swapmeet:
Where anything can be found on one high school/drive-in theater blacktop,
 including a unique item to sugar coat your otherwise bland nativity scene.
The three wiseman
 must have built up quite a thirst delivering frankincense and myrr to el niño Jesus because at
 Vineland Swapmeet in La Puente, CA, among dollar blouses from Forever 21 from two seasons ago and rusty herramientas, was on full display.