Lost in Translation - You wouldn't believe how many blog articles have this (or a variation of it) in the title. Sift through posts about the movie, the fan-pages dedicated to Scarlett Johansson and everything about the 1974 narrative poem by James Merrill and you’re left with what’s arguably the most cliché and overused phrase on the Internet for translation, language-related and “cross-cultural” articles. The good news is that if you can manage to keep from getting lost in a sea of all look the same, you’ll find it’s still possible to stumble across articles that are interesting, humorous and actually worth a read.
Below are 7 articles, all of which use the phrase “Lost in Translation” in one way or another. Let’s begin by examining a couple that fall into the “lazy blog journalism” category. Essentially, these are the ones with “Lost in Translation” carelessly thrown into their title (we'll explain what we mean). Next, we'll also look at a handful of examples using the phrase in ways that work, as in they actually make sense. Sound good? By the way, if you can’t wait to keep on reading the remainder of this post then we have a feeling you’re going to like this other bit of news…
Lost in Translation Tumblr Blog
At myGengo HQ, we’ve determined the world needs a space solely dedicated to showcasing examples of "Lost in Translation" journalism - both good and bad. Why? Well, in the spirit of good clean fun, it’s finally time for someone to speak up and say something about the overuse and misuse of blog articles that have "Lost in Translation" in their titles.
Our plan is to scour the depths of the Internet, collate our findings and share the results with readers via our brand new Tumblr Blog: translation-lost.tumblr.com. Feel free to check out what we’ve already started, but promise you won’t get lost on your way back. We still have much more to talk about!
The Ground Rules
Before we begin, it's only fair that we set a few ground rules. Besides, if we’re going to be poking fun at lazy examples of blog journalism, we should at least have the decency to provide an explanation for what it is we think constitutes as lazy. In our book, any of the following usages of "Lost in Translation" qualify:
- A title that ONLY uses the words lost+in+translation = a red flag for lazy
- A title that uses the phrase because the text in the article mentions two different cultures
- A title that uses the phrase in an irrelevant, stupid or shameful way
So, now that we've plugged our new Tumblr blog and explained the ground rules for today's post, it looks like all we have left on our things to do list is get started. Enjoy!
- Lost in Translation...
- Lost in Translation
- Magazine Translation Ironically “Lost in Translation”
- Not Lost In Translation
- A Speech Lost in Digital Translation
- Space Age Fish Tale Gets Lost in Translation
- Found in Translation
1. Lost in Translation...
This example comes from Curbed National, an interior, design, decoration and real estate blog where guest author Molly Erdman of Catalog Living writes a post using the title Lost in Translation.... If you aren’t familiar with Catalog Living, it’s a fantastic piece of work filled with make-believe stories about the exciting lives of the people who live in catalog photos. It’s actually really funny stuff, not to mention the blog has nearly 27,000 likes on Facebook.
In her post, Erdman tells the story about Martin, a character who lives in House Beautiful Magazine. She writes, “Martin decided this was the last straw with their local Chinese takeout restaurant; yet again, they ordered Lo Mein and got giraffes.”
Now, let’s talk about the title of the blog post. If you ask us, this is a classic example of the “clashing cultures” usage of "Lost in Translation". Sure, we get that Martin expected to receive his favorite Cashew Chicken Lo Mein dish and ended up with an order of chewy and overcooked giraffe, but why does that equate to something being lost in translation? Maybe the Chinese chef who was hard at work in the back kitchen of The Peaking Hose mistakenly heard Martin say “give me something unusual” instead of what he really said which was “give me the usual.” It was mealy a miscommunication....that’s all.
2. Lost in Translation
This next one, taken from The Times of India, is a fantastic example of a Lost in Translation title so irrelevant to the content of the article, it’s sure to make you go huh?! Essentially, it’s about how the author became a translator and an interpreter. If you can’t be bothered to actually read it on your own, we understand. Here are the highlights:
- The author learned Spanish
- The author learned German
- The author became a translator and an interpreter
So, here’s the deal. We get that the article mentions words like “translation”, “freelance” and “interpretation” and we're totally cool with that. What we don’t get is why using these words makes it acceptable to name the post Lost in Translation. Is there something we're missing? For what it’s worth, here is our two cents on all of this. At one point, the author writes “the sky is the limit when a person is fluent in foreign languages.” If you ask us, the correct title of this article has been hiding in that sentence the entire time! Honestly, why not go with something equally cliché and much more relevant to the article and slap "The Sky is the Limit" on the title of this post...objections anyone?
3. Magazine Translation Article Ironically “Lost in Translation”
While machine translation services certainly have their place in the world, using them as a tool for last-minute editing probably isn't that place. The irony behind this article is that even though its purpose was to emphasize the shortcomings of automated translations, an error caused by Google Translate still manages to finds its way into the final publication. In big red letters the words "Lost in Translation" appear as “Lost Tokyo” when translated into Chinese. Oops! The timing of this little slip-up simply couldn’t have been more inappropriate - or appropriate, depending on whom you ask.
We know you’re dying to ask if it’s possible to have Google to reproduce the same results for you and the answer is yes! Here is what needs to happen:
- Go to Google Translate
- Type they magic words "lost in translation" into the box
- Chose to translate the phrase from “English” into “Chinese (traditional)”
- Click “translate” and you’ll get this: 迷失東京
- Translate the characters back into English like this: (迷失) and this: (東京)
- Now try it again like this: 迷失東京
4. Not Lost In Translation
Adding the word “not” to the beginning of this blog title changes its meaning entirely, and that’s precisely what kept us reading for more. This article written about award-winning novelist Eitenne van Heerden’s 30 nights in Amsterdam, translated by Michiel Heyns, gives an interesting perspective on why translation is “tricky business.” Specifically, the book review touches on the challenges that come with translating things like compound nouns. As the review explains, “the translator does more than seek equivalents for words; he transposes the novel from one literary culture to another.” It was translating the voice of the female protagonist Susan (also known as Zan) and her “Zanspeak” seemed nearly impossible at times, says Heerden. Bottom line: An interesting review and a novel that sounds like an intriguing read.
5. A Speech Lost in Digital Translation
This New York Times article reminds us that it doesn’t matter how smart technology has become, computers and robots aren’t ready to take over the world just yet. When the newspaper began archiving historical publications a few years ago, it learned first-hand that optical character recognition software (O.C.R.) doesn’t always know what it’s seeing. The example described had to do with the November 2, 1859 trial of John Brown, an abolitionist accused of slaughtering pro-slavery settlers and an attempt to start a slave uprising. When he was sentenced to death by hanging, his every last word was recorded and printed in the Times the next day. It wasn’t until 140 years later that technology would botch it up completely.
Robert Larson, Vice President of the New York Times said the O.C.R. version of Brown’s speech looked like “somebody swearing in a cartoon.” Why? Because the O.C.R. technology used had a hell of a time identifying things like smears, wobbles and unevenness in the pen inking.
An insert taken from Brown’s speech:
I hear it has been stated by some of them that I have induced them to join me. But the contrary is true. I do not say this to injure them, but as regretting their weakness. There is not one of them but joined me of his own accord, and the greater part of them at their own expense. A number of them I never saw, and never had a word of conversation with till the day they came to me; and that was for the purpose I have stated. Now I have done.
The same O.C.R. version:
I fear it lhas becn stated by Of 1 bave to join nIO, but tlhe is true I do not say this to them, but as regretting their -.. Notone but joined me of his on, 1tc* ord, and the greater part at expense. Number of them I never saw, and never hld a ot conversation with till the c *lay they C:IIII to me, and that for the I halve stated. Novw I have done.
6. Space Age Fish Tale Gets Lost in Translation
The first thing that comes to mind when reading this post is the classic “my fish was THIS big” story that we’ve all heard a thousand times. The one where each time the story gets retold, the size and splendor of the fish that no one actually saw continues to grow bigger and bigger. In this case, it all started a few months back when Japan’s Asahi Shimbun ran a short, local article in the newspaper to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of Nitto Seimo, a Japanese company that makes fishing nets. In the article, it was written that the company “still has a knack for innovation” and is “working on a tether that might be used to collect space debris.”
Later, when the same article was published in the English edition of Asahi, details were mixed up and the story became “Nitto Seimo aims to complete the system in 2 years.” From there, other news sources and Internet blogs picked up the story and it continued to escalate. As Eisuke Aizawa, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) spokesperson explained, it was only a matter of time before “the story quickly walked off on its own." if you find this story amusing, check out the article. It’s full of hyperlinks so you can see exactly who said what and where. The truth: Nitto Seimo has only made a few samples to test the idea and JAXA has no plans to implement the technology.
7. Found in Translation
It’s refreshing to read a translation-related article that isn’t about something else being "lost in translation." There are more than enough found in translation victories to go around which is precisely why we believe translators worldwide deserve another round of applause for all their outstanding work!
This article tells the story of Ms. Zhao Yiran, a young translator who volunteers her time to add subtitles to English Internet content that isn’t readily available in Chinese. As Zhao explains, it’s not the movie or TV drama translations that she finds meaningful. Instead, it’s adding subtitles to Ivy League course lectures from universities like Yale, Harvard and Cambridge that are available for free on the Internet. Zhos says she enjoys helping people “open their eyes” so that if they haven’t had a chance to study abroad, they can still experience what it’s like to attend class in America.
When checking out YYeTs.net, the translation website mentioned in the article, the first thing we noticed was it re-routed us to another website with long lists of torrents for Hollywood movies and American TV shows. A bit disheartened at first, we thought that maybe the feel-good story about translating online lectures for the betterment of society was too good to be true. Then, sure enough, a quick search on the website for “Yale” took us to just what we were looking for: Introduction to Ancient Greek History.
A Few Final Thoughts
That’s all for now, but don’t worry because we’ll be back with more. In the meantime, quit watching re-runs of Lost in Translation and check out our Tumblr Project already. Have comments or suggestions? We'd love to hear them all. Let us know in the comments section of the blog. We'll see you soon, so don't be a stranger!
