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Many people assume that if others can speak a language, they can translate it. If you are talking about simple sentences such as, \u201cI would like some beer,\u201d the answer is probably correct. If you are talking about business, technical or political issues, incorrect translations have led to extremely serious consequences.<\/p>\n
Vietnam<\/strong><\/p>\n On August 2, 1964, North Vietnamese (DRV) torpedo boats attacked the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin off the North Vietnamese coast. During a chase, the US damaged all three of the attacking boats. On August 4th, the US National Security Agency intercepted a DRV communication that said, \u201cwe sacrificed two comrades,\u201d announcing two casualties. The phrase was translated instead as \u201cwe sacrificed two ships,\u201d which led the US to think that a second attack had occurred. By coincidence, shortly after intercepting the communication, the Maddox and the USS Turner Joy fired on what they believed was another DRV attack. It was determined two decades later that the incident was actually a misreading of sonar signals and no attack had occurred, but the mistranslation gave the impression of an escalation by DRV forces.<\/p>\n It remains unclear whether the mistranslation was deliberate or unintended. Nevertheless, President Johnson used that misinformation and the second “phantom” DRV attack to ask Congress to authorize military escalation against Vietnam resulting in losses of almost 60,000 Americans and over 2 million civilians.<\/p>\n World War II<\/strong><\/p>\n In July 1945, the Allies presented Imperial Japan with an ultimatum for total surrender or face \u201cprompt and utter destruction.\u201d The Japanese responded with the word \u201cmokusatsu\u201d whose meaning is ambiguous and includes the character for \u201cto become silent.\u201d In essence, Japan\u2019s intention was to withhold comment while considering the ultimatum. The translation broadcast to the world said instead that it was \u201cnot worthy of comment.\u201d And that apparent rejection led around two weeks later to the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in 200,000 direct deaths.<\/p>\n Braniff Airlines<\/strong><\/p>\n On a lighter note, Braniff, a US airline, in 1987 launched an ad campaign called \u201cFly in Leather\u201d to promote its luxury seats. This slogan was translated for flights to Mexico as \u201cvuela en cuero,\u201d which sounds like Spanish slang for \u201cfly naked,\u201d not exactly the enticement the airline intended.<\/p>\n Not a mistranslation, but a sign for the times outside a bar<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBeer is now cheaper than gas. Drink. Don\u2019t drive.\u201d<\/p>\n Translations are a serious matter. Whether they are older or recent, critical mistakes can occur when companies seek a cheap and quick solution or governments use cheap or inexperienced linguists. And yes, similar mistakes still do happen for the same reasons.<\/p>\n When quality is essential, come to Auerbach International<\/a>, the one US agency that has over 30 years\u2019 experience processing over 2 billion words with A+ accuracy in Law, IT, Manufacturing, HR, Healthcare\/Medical or any other subject from Aerospace to Zoology. Please click<\/a> here to request a quote for documents, videos, websites, apps, conferences, meetings and more.<\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n Philip Auerbach \u201c3 Decades. 2 Billion Words. A+\u00a0Accuracy. Superior Translation\u00a0Services.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Check out our funny and insightful podcast series,\u00a0Global Gurus: Stories of International Business<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0Great advice to make your ventures more successful.<\/p>\n Many people assume that if others can speak a language, they can translate it. If you are talking about simple sentences such as, \u201cI would like some beer,\u201d the answer is probably correct. If you are talking about business, technical or political issues, incorrect translations have led to extremely serious consequences. Vietnam On August 2,… Continue reading How wrong translations led to wars and bloopers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-newsletter","entry"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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