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Showing posts with label Lost in Translation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lost in Translation. Show all posts

April 25, 2024

Telugu Translation Goof ups - Wolfa, Telugu Gibberish from Om Raut, Habi, Bli KCR and Chill Avvu

1.  Wolf Became Wolfa in  Telugu 

Nowadays it is trendy to release the same movie in different languages. But most producers don’t take enough care and make silly mistakes. Prabhu Deva acted in the movie “Wolf”. In Telugu, it was translated as “Wolfa”. Wolfa in Telugu means a useless fellow or a good-for-nothing person.

2. Adipurush’s does not care a hoot for the Telugu Language

What a sad state of affairs. Telugu film industry is known for making the best mythological movies which are still a great draw. Thus it is a pity to note that Om Raut takes Prabhas the Telugu superstar and makes him a caricature of a Ram. 

Rubbing salt into the wound, the tweet put out by the director himself has some gibberish touting to be the Telugu language.  It was written as

The above is not Telugu at all! The line should be శక్తివంతులం.. భక్తివంతులం. 

The Bollywood promotion designer team couldn’t read the Telugu lines, so they ignored the mistakes and posted it as it was.

The makers of the movies have spent nearly 500 crores to make the movie, but cant they spend a few hundred rupees to get the Telugu lines properly written in their promotional material? No, they used  google translate’.

3. Goof up at the World Telugu Conference:

One of the posters put up at the prestigious world Telugu conference held at Hyderabad in Dec 2017 had become a butt of jokes and anguished the lovers of the Telugu language.

The poster welcomes the Chief Minister of Telangana. In English, it would have been “The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Telangana”. There is no equivalent word for Hon’ble, and the word “Guaravaneeyulu” meaning respected is used. 

But the poster went one step ahead and asked, “Google to translate” and the result was ‘Habi, Bli’ (Google remembered Habibi Habibi the famous song of AR Rehman) which does not exist in the Telugu language. The pity was this was the poster put up at a conference that celebrates the rich legacy of the Telugu language.

The booklet distributed detailing the schedule of the conference has more  “gems”.

The word “Prasangalu” became “Pasangalu” (luckily it did not become Pessarattu or Punugulu. Google does not like these breakfast items!!). Cinematography became “Cine Autograph” and taking the cake “Telangana” became “telagana”.  


4. Sprite Telugu Ad

The Snap-on the left says Thand Rakho (meaning keep Cool). The right one says "Chill Avvu" which means hanging out or partying. The word on the right should have been Cool or శాంతగా ఉండు.

But common sense is not common. Chill sounds very much like Chali (cold). Maybe Challi was better than Chill. No Telugu person says Chill Avvu. They might say Chill but not Chill Avvu. Sounds very funny. No one talks like in the ad. They might say Scan, Joke vinandi, and Chill. !

April 22, 2024

Lost in Translation - Hindi to Telugu ads and one great Tamil to Hindi - Paying back in the same Coin!!


1. Po Ra Pu, Surf Excel: Sometimes I feel very annoyed that I seem to be the only person who critically analyzes the way advertisement campaigns are made and executed. Take for instance Surf Excel’s “Po Rub Pu” campaign. 

The campaign (yawn) takes the usual tack of dirty clothes becoming sparkling clean with Surf Excel. But what makes the ad annoying is the language (Hinglish). Everyone in the ad mouths the words Po Rub Pu which is the short form of the phrase “Pour Rub Pour” or saying that a a little Surf Excel is enough to make the toughest stains disappear. 

But an issue crops up when a Telugu-speaking person sees the advertisements. It sounds like Po Ra Po (పో రా పో). Po Ra Po is slang, it means “you!! Get lost”. children can never say Po Ra Po to their elders. It is quite jarring to see young kids saying Po Ra Po to elderly women. No one has even protested and it is business as usual. 

2. Na Cheez Anta - Amul Cheese Telugu Advertisement - Lost in Translation - Translation blunder!:  This advertisement was really funny, I want Hindi readers to comment (Clue the key word's meaning in Urdu), of course, Hyderabad being quite Urdu dominant many Telugu-speaking Hyderabad friends too might get it. As they say, the devil is in detail! 

Nacheez is an Urdu word that means - 'nothing'. But it is often used to describe oneself. E.g. Nacheez ko Maneesha kehte hain - I am known as Maneesha. It is used to convey or denote a sense of humility about oneself.


3. Parimatch Sports’s ఆమె ఆడుతుంది, మీరు జరుపుకోండి:  The above advertisements were on the metro pillars in Hyderabad during the WPL tournament in March. This became a talking point on social media. It means, “She plays, you celebrate” in Telugu.

I had many doubts racing in my mind. Celebrate? How should I celebrate? Why should I celebrate if she is playing? (don’t even know the person). Not my wife, daughter and I don’t even know her remotely?

The mystery was solved when I googled to find the original English version. The English version was “She plays, you win”. This app is a game and we can bet as the game progresses. The more we interact the more is the chance to win.  


4. The dosa ballebaaz (batsman): Idly/Dosa batters are the saviours in many houses. The cumbersome process of making the batter is taken out of hand with the onset of ready-made idly/Dosa batters. Very convenient and reasonably priced they are hugely popular. Wanting to take advantage of ready-made Idly/Dosa batters a Tamil company foraged into the Hindi markets ( north Indian markets). 

So far so good. The package said Idly/dosa batter in English and Tamil. Trying to attract the Hindi buyers they translated idly/Dosa batter into Hindi. Google translate feature nicely kicked the company in the rear side. 

Idly/Dosa batter became Idly/”Dosa Ballebaaz”, Literally idly/dosa batsman. The buyers would have scratched their heads in bewilderment. They must have thought that this Idly/Dosa mix was only for CSK batsmen. Jokes apart never trust Google Translate when your life, brand, and career are on the line.

May 02, 2022

Lost in translation - Miscommunications - Cross communication!

24-05-2020 

Overheard at More Supermarket 

Customer "A/C chalu hai?"    (Is the A/C switched on)

More Employee's response "Chaala hai" (Very much). 

Case of yet so close and yet so far. The customer was asking if the A/C was on in Hindi and the Telugu-speaking employee did not understand and said chaala hai meaning very much. 

The customer walked away thinking chaal raha hai, meaning that the A/C was on. One of the few cases where mis-comunication was understood perfectly. 

Incidentally the A/C was off and we were sweltering!

May 22, 2021

Na Cheez Anta - Amul Cheese Telugu Advertisement - Lost in Translation - Translation blunder!

 First published on Facebook on 20th March 2021

This advertisement was really funny, I want Hindi readers to comment (Clue the key word's meaning in Urdu), of course, Hyderabad being quite urdu dominant many Telugu speaking Hyderabad friends too might get it. As they say devil is in detail!

Comments: 

Kartik Godavarthi: Is it “Idi naachee(z)se anta” sir?

Anil Ramesh: Yes, Kartik Godavarthi. Idi naa cheese sounds like Naacheez in Urdu meaning worthless! Goodone.

Vasundhara Nanjappa: Before posting an advertisement, lots of homework has to be done as India is a country of many languages. Your view is correct.