Funny Language Translation?
Anybody heard of the terms Chinglish, Spanglish, and Singlish? I am sure there are more. This what I learned to call languages spoken that involves more than one language. So Chinglish would be Chinese and English mixed together. But another definition for that is when you say something in English that actually makes sense in Chinese (eg. words that are translated literally from Chinese to English).
Here is one:
三麻塊買麻糬(Taiwanese: sa ko mei mua ji; English: Thank you very much) - in Chinese this means “to buy a 3 kuai rice cake”
啊不鎖了(Taiwanese: ah mm so li; English: I’m sorry) - in Chinese this means “don’t lock the door?”
Anyone with interesting and fun language stuff? 
[Edited to add Chinese definitions]
Cynthia Yang
Born in Taiwan and grew up in Indonesia, Thailand and China. Went to the US for college and have been working between Shanghai and Connecticut ever since. Fluent in Mandarin and English and can understand basic conversation of Thai.Related Posts
6 Comments to “Funny Language Translation?”
November 26th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Cynthia, hahaha literal translations are quite funny!
Here are some in French:
OH LA VACHE!
Oh, my Cow! (Good God!)
AVOIR LE GUEULE DE BOIS.
To have a wooden face. (Have a hangover)
BOIRE COMME UN TROU.
Drink like a hole. (Get smashed.)
J’EN AI RAS-LE-BOL.
My bowl is overflowing. (I can’t take it any more.)
CIEL, MON MARI!
Sky, my husband! (Caught in the act!)
But the best English, is Engrish… I love it when Japanese use English in their marketing or in their signs. Take a look at this picture.
I don’t smork. Do you smork? …
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November 26th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Haha!
I love Engrish.com XD In China, we get a lot of those and you just have no clue what they are trying to tell you….
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November 26th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Some more:
Horse horse tiger tiger (马马虎虎 meaning so-so)
Can’t think of anything else right now LOL
(Oh I can edit posts! I just discovered it! Could’ve saved me from over-posting XD)
I like the “drink like a hole” one XD It just sounds really funny…
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November 27th, 2007 at 7:55 am
ooh, cynthia, we have a LOT of these in Twenglish (setswana-english) let me try pull pull out a few…
phonetic ones…
tonkie e rwele mashwe - English: thank you very much
Setswana: the donkey is wearing milk
apola jese - english: apologise
setswana: take off your jersey
then there are the literal translations
go tshwara ka ditsebe - setswana: to kiss
english: to hold by the ears
utlwa in setswana means to hear. it also means to feel and to taste so often folks who don’t speak english well say stuff like:
“this food is nice, you want to hear it?” or “hear this sweater, its so soft.”
we also only have one word for he, she, you and it. so often you hear stuff like:
“where did you buy that TV, she is very nice”
and then there are the songs…
like micheal jackson’s “keep on, with the force, don’t stop til you get enough” in setswana we sing that part like this
:ke ba, ka dibotsotso, chelete e fedile!” which literally means, “there they are, in their bell bottoms, the money is finished” but it REALLY sounds like that!
then remember that Snap song “oops upside your head, oops upside your head, everybody say oompala!”
well the twenglish version went:
“dihips tsa, mosadi yo, di hips tsa mosadi yo, everybody ere wamplolaya!” which means “the hips of that woman there, the hips of that woman there, everybody say ‘you’re hurting me!’”
yeah, i’m pretty sure i can come up with many more. but that is a sampling. and don’t get me started on the signs! check this out, its pretty hilarious http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2457621868
do you guys also have weird names? we have some literally translated to english names that just don’t work! but that’s a whole other thread!
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November 27th, 2007 at 8:06 am
LOL Warona, “this food is nice, you want to hear it?” I love that one!
I apologize = take off your jersey?… that literal translation sounds a bit naughty. lol
Ohh, weird names. I know someone who’s named bbukyou, and it’s pronounced phuckyou in Korean. He obviously had to change his name. lol
But yeah, that’s a whole other thread haha - someone should name one!
Until then, “beware of safety”.
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November 27th, 2007 at 8:44 am
apola jese means take off your sweater in setswana, but it SOUNDS like apologise in a setswana accent. get it? its not that “take of your jersey” means apologise in setswana. that is why i labeled thoise first two as “phonetically”. like the first few cynthia wrote…
i knew a japanese guy names “takashita” sounded to much like “take a shit”
but in setswana…let me start another thread
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