Lost in (Mis)translation Photo Contest

With the joyous month of Adar upon us, AQText is sponsoring a photo contest for the funniest or most blatant translation or writing mistake.

Here is your chance to win a $25 gift card from Amazon.com.

How to participate:

  1. Upload a photo or image illustrating a funny or wrong translation or writing to Twitpic.  (Make sure your image does not violate any copyrights). Provide a short explanation if the mistake, if not self-evident in English. Tag the image with hashtag #AQText.
  2. Leave a comment with a link to your Twitpic image under this post to enable our visitors to view and vote for it.
  3. Tweet your photo using hashtag #AQText. Ask your friends to comment on your image on twitpic.
  4. Be sure to follow us on Twitter at @leah_aharoni and join our Facebook Fan Page.
  5. The contestant receiving the greatest number of comments will win a $25 gift card from Amazon.com.
  6. Contest ends March 2 at 5 pm (GMT +2). Winners will be announced and contacted on March 4, 2010. No entry fee.

To get you into the mood, I have posted my favorite mistranslation that graces many a corner on the streets of Jerusalem.

13d71r Lost in (Mis)translation Photo Contest

Fine print


 

6 Responses to “Lost in (Mis)translation Photo Contest”

  1. Perry Zamek says:
    %A %B %e%q, %Y at 2:13 pm

    I’m sorry, but it’s not a mistranslation at all. What Americans and others call a parking ticket, i.e. a notice that a fine has been imposed for parking illegally (over the allocated time, not in a permitted area, etc.), is called a “Notice of Infringement” in some Australian jurisdictions, although the colloquial form “parking ticket” is also used. And, in Hebrew, it is a דו”ח חניה, or “Parking report.” So it’s a cultural thing, rather than a mistranslation.

  2. Leah says:
    %A %B %e%q, %Y at 2:48 pm

    Perry,

    Thank you for your well-informed comment. However, for a street sign, the translator had to choose a term that would be best understood by the target audience. In this case, I think the choice was less than successful.

  3. Yehoshua Paul says:
    %A %B %e%q, %Y at 7:26 pm

    http://www.twitpic.com/13s2nr
    I just uploaded the first of two photos I found on the web. I received permission from the owner of the photo to use it in this contest.
    I personally find it hilarious. I wonder what the real adjective was supposed to be?

  4. Yehoshua Paul says:
    %A %B %e%q, %Y at 7:36 pm

    http://twitpic.com/13s4bn
    And here is the second photo. Also received permission to use. Its amazing how you can forbid the same things in different ways in each language.
    Here is the site from where I took the photos.
    http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/42376
    There were more pictures, but they were not taken by the owner of the blog.

  5. Kati says:
    %A %B %e%q, %Y at 2:03 am

    I took this photo when I was in Cadiz, Spain at a museum it was the first stop on my trip to circumnavigate the world.

  6. Kati says:
    %A %B %e%q, %Y at 2:04 am

    http://www.twitpic.com/163qtc

    I took this photo when I was in Cadiz, Spain at the city museum; It was the first stop on my trip to circumnavigate the World.

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