Friday, April 20, 2007

Lost In Translation

Thanks to the Thanet Bloglist Recent Feeds page, I've become an avid reader of the adventures of our Spanish chum who's here in Ramsgate to learn English. He runs a blog called Mi Vida en RAMSGATE and recently went on a trip to the New Inn in Sandwich (Emparedado).

I left a comment to make him feel at home:

What ho old bean! Welcome to the Millionaires' Playground. Hope you have a splendid stay!

And as his blog's in Spanish, I translated it using the old Alta Vista Babel Fish thus:

¡Qué vieja haba del ho! Dé la bienvenida a los millonarios al patio. ¡Esperanza usted tiene una estancia espléndida!

Strangely, though, he hasn't responded. As I read his blog using the aforementioned Babel Fish, and have occasionally become alarmed at sentences like Every morning I get up and ignite the television, I thought it best to check what I'd said by translating my welcoming message back into English:

How old haba of ho! Give the welcome to the millionaires to the patio. Hope you have a splendid stay!

No wonder the poor lad hasn't got back to me, he probably thinks I'm a nutter. Still, at least we now know how the writers of Doctor Who manage to come up with all those other-wordly names week in, week out.

4 comments:

Tony Flaig said...

Viértase una GINEBRA y un TÓNICO VIEJO MUCHACHO

Tony Flaig said...

apologías por no incluyendo usted entre los bloggers más grandes de Thanet

Richard Eastcliff said...

Viértase a GENEVA and an OLD TONIC BOY?????

Richard Eastcliff said...

vindications by not including you between bloggers greater of Thanet????