I'm collecting awful examples of translations from Spanish to English, from the menus and signs around Madrid and Spain itself. Of course, I am grateful for the effort people put in to make fellow English speakers welcome in this country, but their attempts can be pretty funny sometimes.
Please put them on this page or email me (via my site) if you have any you'd like to share. I will eventually want to put them on my website, so please tell me if you give me permission to reproduce your pics. Camera phone pics are fine, so snap any you see! I'll keep working on this for as long as I find new examples, so please email me no matter when.
I'll start off with this menu from the buffet libre on c/Atocha:
Really funny! I wonder if the owners of the restaurant have any idea of how off the mark some of these translations are. When I see things like this, it's hard for me not to correct the more egregiously incorrect translations with my trusty proofreader's pencil.
Posts: 78 | Location: Back in the States, in a boring suburb near Philadelphia | Registered: 08 July 2006
My mistake, I posted the wrong pic. I've corrected it now, with all its glory - there's a few more!
My favourite is "fried language".
The only other pic I have so far (I've only just started this quest) is the Renfe trolleys, which tell you to "liberate the brake" in nice French revolution style. But I know there are loads of great ones out there. I'd love to see them. I seem to remember there being a restaurant in Plaza Mayor that is a bit funny.
Damian
P.S. gold star for using "egregiously" in context.
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