Lost in translation

I don’t know if you aware but in Wales all signage has to be in both English and Welsh. One local council needed a road sign which stopped truck drivers from using certain route to a supermarket. They sent an email to the translation department and when they received a reply they used the Welsh wording on the sign..

The English is clear enough to lorry drivers. Unfortunately the Welsh reads 'I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated'
Do you ever use an on-line translator? I do occasionally, but beware because what comes out isn’t necessarily what you put in!
This is an interesting exercise. Type in a line or two of text then request a translation. Then translate the result back into English.
For instance I took the first two lines of William Wordsworth's beautiful Daffodils poem and typed them into the Babel fish translator and this is what happened
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills
Translated to French it becomes
J'ai erré seul comme nuage
Ce flotte sur de hautes vallées et collines d'o'er
Then if you translate the French back to English you get
I wandered only like cloud
This fleet on high valleys and hills of o' er
That’s pretty close but if you then translate the result into German and back, it becomes
I walked only like cloud this fleet
on high valleys and hills from o äh,
Then translate the ‘new’ English version into Italian and back you get
I have only walked like cloud
this fleet on the high valleys and hills from the äh .
Portuguese and back ends up.
I only walked I eat the cloud this fleet
in I am valid and high mounts of äh
Put that through Spanish and back to English and it becomes
I crossed only I eat the cloud
this fleet inside that I am valid and high mounts of äh

When overseas it’s quite common to come across signs which are unintentionally amusing.
This is an extract from a restaurant menu in Poland. 'Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion.'
And in Thailand: an advert for donkey rides asked 'Would you like to ride on your own ass?'
How about this one from the window of a Swedish furrier: 'Fur coats made for ladies from their own skin.'

And finally this sign in a Tokyo bar 'Special cocktails for ladies with nuts.'