Foxfyre wrote:McTag wrote:
Quote:I read through the last four pages. We've all learned a lot. Principally, a "lookalike" word in another language can be easily mistranslated, and mistranslations can cause misunderstandings and further troubles.
Hell, right here on A2K, members who manage to get by with one language can read the same sentence/word in that language and come up with completely different conclusions re the writer's intent. Unfortunately, few bother to give the writer the benefit of the doubt and ask for clarification.
No doubt the problem is magnified many times over when you're dealing with languages different from those you speak. I wonder how many diplomatic bru ha ha's have occurred just from this one thing?
I can tell you one!
Our Prime Minister - Paul Keating, at the time - once called Malaysia's then leader, Mahathir (a man who loved to bait Australia, and who kept us out of a number of Asian fora during his presidency - Keating was very oriented to Australia's future being as an Asian country, so this irked him mightily) "recalcitrant" (he'd kept us out of ASEAN, or some damn thing, again).
Well - apparently that word, when translated into Malay, (though Mahathir spoke very good English) took on tones of extreme pigheadedness - and was very unflattering.
Mahathir had a fabulous time pretending to be mortally offended, and the dramatics and such went on forever - as he demanded a humble apology, and general crawlings. He had himself the BEST time. Keating took it all with several pinches of salt.
I forget how they eventually kissed and made up - I think Keating said he was sorry Mahathir had taken offence, or something - a two-edged sort of comment.
Recalcitrant is still a word we make jokes with in Oz - if we have good political memories.
