Resisting the pull of cynicism since 1969.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

So THAT'S what they mean by a 'distinct society.'

The English directions read:
No need to defrost. Steam for 10 minutes and serve.

The French directions read:
Ne pas besoin de décongeler. Cuire à la vapeur pour 15 minutes et servir.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beside the hillarious number problem, there are two other bad wording in the French version which makes me think of an automatic translation. But how can a computer translate 10 to 15 is beyond me.

Q. Pheevr said...

I always thought it was supposed to be the English who overcooked everything....

Québécoise ambulante said...

Poor translation indeed, as MF pointed out... Like this one: around Christmas, Zeller's retailed a shovel that was brand-named "snow pusher". Translation? "Revendeur de drogues de neige." I'm not kidding.

Honestly, as hilarious as they may be from a linguistic standpoint, translations like this make me wonder... when will this country really take bilingualism seriously? Hence pointing, indeed, to the distinct character of La belle province.

Idealistic Pragmatist said...

michel and QA,

Actually, it was a Chinese product, so we can hardly fault them for their poor French. Not being able to count, however, is another story...

Anonymous said...

Hey Pragmatist, have you thought about sending this to Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" for his "Headlines" segment? I think he'd have a field day with this one.