Reference no: EM132252421
Seek out two (2) examples of each of the above categories illustrating either untranslatability or virtually impossible translations. Feel free to use the Internet, newspaper clippings, magazine texts, food packaging, etc. It is essential that you provide the source of your text i.e. webpage address, magazine name and issue number.
For each of the examples you provide, justify what, in your opinion, makes each one untranslatable. For instance, does the metaphor ‘to have a long face’ not have an equivalent in the target language? Or when referring to a food item, perhaps it does not exist in the target culture (i.e. Few Canadians may have heard of the fruit quince or the Ethiopian grain teff).
marketing slogans
Welcome to the Coke side of life (Coca Cola)
Blood. It’s in you to give (Red Cross)
Just do it (Nike)
regional slang and manners of expression
redneck, schnoz (nose), pogie (employment insurance), geek (an enthusiast or expert; someone who is odd), wannabe (slang for ‘want to be’, a person who aspires to become someone or something)
“He started looking right at me as if to say, 'Come ahead, square go.' You know me, I'm not looking for trouble. But at the end of the day, I'm the dude with the pool cue and I'm game for a swedge.”
culturally specific notions (eg. names of food items and cultural dishes)
Tonight’s menu will include pakoras (vegetable dumplings), aloo gobi (cauliflower and potato), naan (flatbread), bhuna (curry with fruit), paneer korma (Indian cheese in a spiced gravy) and saffron rice.
Quebec is well known for its tourtiere (traditional meat pie), poutine (french fries with gravy and cheese curds) and tarte au sucre (sugar pie).
All types of berries are delicious: blueberry (bluet, myrtille, airelle noire) and cranberry (airelle rouge, canneberge, atoca).
humour and marketing
A horse walks into a bar and the bartender asks, “Why the long face?”
Milk, it’s udderly delicious.