Comical Translation
When Rule of Funny is used with foreign languages and Translation Tropes, it often results in one or more of the following:
Tactful Translation: Perhaps Alice wants to ask Bob out on a date, but there's a language barrier. She asks Carol to translate, and asks Bob out. He responds rudely, but Carol translates his response into something more polite, perhaps to spare Alice's feelings or because she doesn't use profanity herself. The exchange might go something like this:
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Carol (Translating for Alice): Bob, would you like to go on a date with Alice? |
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Translation: "Yes": Often overlapping with Tactful Translation, this is when an incredibly long word or phrase translates to a much shorter one, usually a single word. Also covers the inverse, when a single word translates into whole sentences or paragraphs. Sometimes used with Fun with Subtitles.
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David: Mashakatara vazookary bashabasha nook, vazoopti kanazook tri, flabbalabba dingdong dooda, sizzabizzaborp. |
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Pragmatic Translation: There are certain phrases that are common in the English language, but derived from other languages. Often, their literal translation is only loosely related to their common usage. Sometimes, it's easier to just tell someone what a phrase means in context, rather than translate it. It's also commonly used condescendingly by Insufferable Geniuses.
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Eric: I'd like a refund. This toy you sold my son broke after five minutes. |
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Gag Dub: Inaccurately dubbing a show from one language to another for laughs.
Obviously False Translation: When someone says something, which may or may not even be a real language, and then offers his own translation, usually as a bad comeback.
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George::*says something insulting in French* |
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Completely Unnecessary Translator: A character is introduced speaking a foreign language and has someone translate for him. The English-speaking characters may mutter something insulting under their breaths or casually discuss something meant to be a secret, but find out that the foreign character does, in fact, understand what they're saying.
Conveniently Precise Translation: When a word or name in a foreign language translates into something incredibly specific to the situation. Happens often with Meaningful Names. May overlap with Translation: "Yes" if a name actually tells a whole story.
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Tour Guide: This place is called Drom by the locals, which loosely translates to "Ancient forest protected by mystic spirits where legendary heroes will one day find a magical sword." |
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Who's on First? Translation: When a translation causes confusion because of the wording.
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Tommy: What does "je ne sais quoi" mean? |
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Prank Translation: Someone asks a friend how to say something, perhaps to impress someone. Instead of giving him a real translation, the second character gives the first an insult or rude remark. Hilarity Ensues.
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Bob: How do you say "You're beautiful" in Spanish? |
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False Cognate Translation: When someone translates something, either seriously or sarcastically, as whatever it sounds like in his language regardless of the real meaning.
"El Niño" Is Spanish for "The Nino": Someone is asked to translate a certain foreign word, and they answer that it means a foreign word.
Film
- In Phenomenon, there's an inverted Prank Translation. Nate has a crush on a Portuguese housekeeper but does not speak Portuguese, so he asks George, who does, to teach him some phrases related to asking her to clean his house. The ones George teaches him are polite, but very romantic phrases having nothing to do with housekeeping.
- In Despicable Me, Gru uses a Prank Translation to insult orphanage manager Miss Hattie, telling her that her face is "como un burro" (like a donkey) while claiming it means she is beautiful. Unfortunately for him, she gets her hands on a Spanish-English dictionary before the end of the film
Live-Action TV
- Prank Translation in the Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch in which John Cleese remarks, "My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels!" after buying an intentionally misleading translation book.
- Played with in the Friends episode when Phoebe dates an Eastern European diplomat.
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The Diplomat kisses Phoebe |
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- Later in the episode, when the translator is Distracted by the Sexy:
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Phoebe: "Can you please tell him I was impressed by what Bouthros Bouthros Ghali said to the National Assembly earlier today." |
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- Scrubs: Dominican nurse Carla provides The Todd with a few prank translations when he asks for Spanish pickup lines, resulting in him telling women he has a "tiny penis" or "genital herpes, for you!"
- In another episode Eliot is mad at Doctor Cox when he asks her how to tell a German patient he has fluid in his lungs. She tells him how to say "Your wife has nice cans", which he repeats while miming a pair of lungs.
- On an episode of House, where House gives us this quote:
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"Idiopathic, from the Latin 'idiot', meaning we're idiots because this kid's lungs are turning into Swiss cheese and we don't know why." |
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Clarkson [reading from the car's manual, trying to figure out why the fuel filler cap won't open]: Consola centrali con intoratori aperturi sportello rifornimento. We are useless Italians and we haven't built this properly. |
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Other Media
- A joke with various permutations, whose gist is a white boss thinks that "Tu madre" is Spanish for "Yes, sir."
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