Lost in Translation

[Danny Stephenson]

I watch a lot of TV with swedish subtitles and when i discovered the owners of the house I’m currently with had Netflix, I decided to pop Dwarf on. I have Google Translate open in case a word looks confusing. The translations are fairly hilarious though…

This basically translates “Listen, you dickhead…”

I lolled.

Topic

[Ben Paddon]

Okay, we need more of this. Now.

[Blisschick]

Yes, I agree. You may post them here, mainly since you started this.

[Joey TORDFC]

NEJ!

This is the best thing I’ve seen in the whole of today.

[Karnie]

I don’t think of it as being lost in translation so much as it is what I’m sure the writers would have written in the first place had they been allowed to.

[Connell]

Whilst dickhead is extremely entertaining by today’s standards, I’m sure the writers were at least trying to be a bit cleverer than just handing out puerile insults. Unfortunately, it would appear the wit of Rob and Doug isn’t very easily translated!

[Danny Stephenson]

It’s connotation more than anything. Subtlety and nuance can rarely be translated easily…

One thing I have learned is that Swedish have one word for lots of things, where English has lots of words for one thing…

[Karnie]

((I’m sure the writers were at least trying to be a bit cleverer than just handing out puerile insults. Unfortunately, it would appear the wit of Rob and Doug isn’t very easily translated!))

I disagree: It’s not a puerile insult, given his head actually LOOKS like a giant penis. It’s no different than calling him Novelty Condom-Head, except that insult can actually pass British censors. Had the movie ever been made, I’m sure a dickhead joke would have made it in somewhere… =)

[Ben Kirkham]

“One thing I have learned is that Swedish have one word for lots of things, where English has lots of words for one thing…”

English is the hardest language to learn for that very reason. So many different words that have the same meaning but also one word that can have many meanings.

American English has always fascinated me. I tend to find that the British describe something for what it is (pavement = paved cement), whilst the Americans describe something for what it does (sidewalk = a walk on the side). But certain things don’t translate to a foreign language well. As you said, Danny, nuances and subtleties and regional dialect and phrases can go through a translator and come out a bit mangled.

[Ben Paddon]

Isn’t the line in this particular sequence, “Listen, butter-pat head…”? So couldn’t it be a mis-translation?

[Danny Stephenson]

Butter-pat is a substance that the swedish doesn’t have a word for, and rather get bogged down in trying to get a concise translation as it’s not imperative for plot, exposition or premise, they just went with an insult. It just amused me they went with THAT insult.

[HelloMabel]

> Butter-pat is a substance that the swedish doesn’t have a word for

Until now, I never knew butter-pat was a different substance from butter. In American usage, a pat is the small, square piece of butter you get when you slice off the edge of a stick of butter, so I thought that’s what the line referred to.

[Author]

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