Rubbia al Colle
I'm often amazed at how poor the English translations provided by wineries can be. This is understandable if it is a small winery run by one or two people but completely crazy when it is a big fancy winery where money appears to be not a concern.
My favourite mis-translation is 'defecate' when they really meant let the juice settle following pressing. This rather bizarre error appears to come from a mis-translation of 'decantation' and it is one that I have come across more than once.
Of course it is easy to poke fun at mistakes but ridicule undermines a company's image and makes them look unprofessional. It is a completely false economy not to pay for a good translation.
On Saturday afternoon the FIJEV group visted Rubbia al Colle, which is one of the four wine states that makes up the Archipelago Muratori.
The explanatory sheets handed out for the tasting come from their website. I was very taken by the notion of sane and, presumably, insane vines and assume that any insane would benefit from a careful cure. To be fair cure may just be a typo that hasn't been picked up. Overall the English on the site is quite clunky and doesn't seem to have been done by a native English speaker.
Money spent on mongrammed corporate logos but presumably not on translation
'Their presence is essential for the sanity of the vines and for the production of grapes that are the purest possibile expression of the land. Such careful cure of the quality of the grapes allows yeasts and lactic bacteria to be controlled without the use of chemical products in complete respect of the wine's naturalness.'
My thanks to Justin Roberts for this site for duff translations from Spanish to English.
This happens in Spain too, not just at wineries.
ReplyDeleteSomeone has even gone to the length of setting up a blog about it:
http://fuckedtranslation.blogspot.com/
One of my best friends is involved in marketing activities for some large pharmaceutical companies. Yet, he still is a very good friend.
ReplyDeleteNot that long ago, he attended a meeting in the US, at which a Frenchman of high hierarchic ranking had to give a lecture. The fellow wanted to say he had watched “une bougrement bonne émission de télévision” the day before. Therefore, he told his audience: “I gazed at a fucking good emission on the tele”. I’m not sure the senior executives were enthusiastic about his presentation!
I myself love the so-called “faux-amis”. What about a rather litteral French translation of:
- “How exciting!”, the Duke ejaculated.
Thanks Justin. Impressively speedy Luc hope you are not neglecting your 2010s!
ReplyDeleteWell, as a matter of fact, Jim, I just finished my “déclaration de récolte”, sent a memo to the INAO and tasting panel people, made a summary of the few chemicals and packaging items still in stock, took samples from all the tanks undergoing malo-lactic fermentation and filled the analysis forms, finished adding up all invoices and bill till october 2010 (accountancy-end of the actual business year in many French wineries) .... This explains why I’m sitting for quite a long time in front of a PC-screen and get the opportunity to read contributions and send some posts.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, it’chilly outside, at least by local standards (around freezing point early morning and not above 7-8° C in the afternoon).
And, finally, it constitutes a golden opportunity to say hello to you!
Thanks Luc. Alaways look forward to your comments. Would be happy to swop the temperature here for 7-8 C.
ReplyDeleteBeing a translator myself, I find I need to stop reading some of this stuff, or I would go crazy. Museum brochures are also serial offenders in this respect.
ReplyDeleteI guess this is often caused by the combination of trying to save money and not quite realising the challenges involved. However, I'm sure it isn't always easy to find the right person for the job. Wine sites into English, maybe, but there are countless combinations of languages and subjects, and I wouldn't always know where to look myself.
Jan-Tore, how right you are.
ReplyDeleteI used to be an “amateur-translator” myself while attending medical school, to earn myself some pocket-money (sorry for attacking your bread and butter at that time) and the “people with the headphone” (mostly medical congress-goers) used to tell me my sentences were not always grammatically correct, up there in the dark cabin, but at least I, for one, conveyed the scientific message alright.
I spent a fortnight in Vienna, when a teenager, with a family whose “Pater familias” was a Professor at the Interpreters and Translators School of the local university. He was involved in the translation of a French handbook about ... modern fencing! As it happened, this was just my favorite sport and I could immensely help him.Where would he have found the expertise otherwise ?
Still, translations in commercial (or otherwise) booklets are part of the image and should be considered with more care, you are absolutely correct.