Dubious sentiments from the world of travel phrasebooks
Mark Rosenfelder, founder of language-cum-variety website Zompist.com, has been fascinated with phrasebooks his entire life.
“Phrasebooks offer the seductive illusion of mastering a language at little cost– flip the pages and handle any situation, from booking a room to going on a date to setting a broken leg.”
More importantly, however, he has been collecting odd translations (from real phrasebooks, keep in mind) and compiling them on his website – “phrases you can hardly conceive of ever using, little tidbits of inexplicability in an otherwise ruthlessly disciplined little work.”
The collection is quite funny, and well worth a look. Some of my favorites include: Because I was out buying a pair of wooden shoes from a Vietnamese Phrasebook, and Let it be well rubbed with a rag from a 1979 Setswana-English phrasebook.
Check out the entire collection here.
July 18th, 2006 at 6:25 am
Love it! Here’s some I’ve come across, although my references are a bit shaky:
“I am a transvestite,” Italian, Lonely Planet;
“I need a plaster [for my chest],” Spanish;
“Do not step sideways on my penis,” Turkish…this one, a colloquialism, sent my Turkish guide into fits of laughter, followed by his entreaties “don’t ever say this! don’t ever say this!”
July 18th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
Previous post from “Just Enough Spanish” and “Lonely Planet/Turkish Phrase Book.”