We then make fun of their broken English, as though speaking English fluently means that you're more intelligent than someone else who might speak two languages, but cannot speak perfect English.
I briefly hang my head in shame. I then remember I'm English and I can't help it.
So in traditional English spirit, there are some accidentally humourous signs around Riyadh that I’d like to share with you.
Would you use the services of the following company?
guess what man? i know a lady who used their service. their work is an absolute mess!! they should not be allowed to work as translators at alllll
ReplyDeleteI live across the street from this sign. I used to see it every day since 15 years now. One day, I walked in there to see what they can offer. I found a bunch of very old employees, mostly from Sudan, buried under dozens of very thick dictionaries. The place was so smoky and their response towered me, a customer!, walking into their office was like: “Please don’t interrupt our Yoga!”
ReplyDeleteWell at least it's honest advertising then :-)
ReplyDeleteI saw one here in bangkok at a bus station that read: Toilet is back (meaning of course that the toilet is at the back of the building). And on a menu I once saw: French fried and cheese bugger.
ReplyDeleteThe mind boggles.
This is one of my favourite things about living in KSA. Every time you go out, there is something to make you smile. My favourite is all the barber shops in town proudly sporting signs saying "saloon". They obviously mean salon, although that is usually a female hairdresser, which you don't find in the downtown streets. So they probably should say barber but have SALOON in huge letters on their shopfronts, the word for the old wild-west drinking spots. You wonder why the Religious Police haven't made the connection!!! It conjures up visions of bar-room style brawls over bad haircuts with someone being thrown out the door and into the street!
ReplyDeleteI still don't get it
ReplyDeleteDoes Lufta mean something funny?
Would you pay a company for translation services if their advertising spelled "translation" as "translatoin"?
ReplyDeleteI still don't get it
ReplyDeleteDoes Lufta mean something funny?
No, it's not. Lufta is the name of their shop. An Arabic name, although I really don't know what does it mean, but it's a name and it cannot be translated to English.
What is ironic, that they offer various sorts of translating, and they spelled translation incorrectly in the sign of their shop.
i guess "lafta" means something like "hint" or "mention" or something else probably i don't know :)
ReplyDeleteand they used the wrong way to spell it in english :)
i think it's an honest misspelling mistake. i think you'll find better "Lost in translation" pictures. i mean i barely speak the language and i'm always finding funny stuff.
- Hosam
Lufta (or more usually Laffta or Lafta)is an Arabic male name and is most probably the name of the shopowner.
ReplyDeleteI also took a picture of it. But I shall be honest and also say that advertising have a twin one facing Olaya street. This second advertising seem to be made just at the same time... but translation is correctly written there. Could be a problem of not checking the advertisings before they were installed...
ReplyDeleteYesss... I have a picture of this one too, taken in 2009. Hilarious! Does the agency even exist nowadays?
ReplyDelete