Gregory Warner, NPR's East Africa correspondent, tells the story of a brave Ethiopian reporter who asked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry one very serious question that was seriously misunderstood.
As you might know, the most recent version of Apple's Siri has a feature where if the phone is plugged in, it listens all the time and activates if you say "Hey Siri." I was listening in the car and this feature was activated by the audio at about 7:00 in. Just a machine translation error... ;-)
Hey Guys, What a great job covering something of this magnitude which means a lot to us Ethiopians in the struggle! My only disappointment, for a harsh word is that it due to the subject matter of translation, this feed may not get the attention it deserves. Im only hear because an American friend cited your feed. Thanks a bunch, none the less!
I am so enjoying your piece on translation. This is the theme of so many hysterical family stories. We're a family of English, French, and German speakers through a variety of fortunate circumstances. The best stories arose from my darling mom working so hard to speak German to our landlord and landlady. Her faux pas include inadvertently :
- telling the landlord that we were using the spare bedroom for "prostitutes" - explaining the the landlady she had purchases tombstones in which to plant the pansies - Happily smiling and saying "How good" when the landlord explained that the mayor the village had died of cancer (she thought the mayor was having a fundraiser for cancer).
I also had a number of missteps myself living in England, but those were not strictly translation issues, moreover differences in dialect. All make for good laughter around the dinner table many years later.
Comments [5]
As you might know, the most recent version of Apple's Siri has a feature where if the phone is plugged in, it listens all the time and activates if you say "Hey Siri." I was listening in the car and this feature was activated by the audio at about 7:00 in. Just a machine translation error... ;-)
Sloan - can't be sure or find it, but it sounds an awful lot like Vladimir Vysotsky. I'm by no means an expert though...
Hey Guys, What a great job covering something of this magnitude which means a lot to us Ethiopians in the struggle! My only disappointment, for a harsh word is that it due to the subject matter of translation, this feed may not get the attention it deserves. Im only hear because an American friend cited your feed. Thanks a bunch, none the less!
I am so enjoying your piece on translation. This is the theme of so many hysterical family stories. We're a family of English, French, and German speakers through a variety of fortunate circumstances. The best stories arose from my darling mom working so hard to speak German to our landlord and landlady. Her faux pas include inadvertently :
- telling the landlord that we were using the spare bedroom for "prostitutes"
- explaining the the landlady she had purchases tombstones in which to plant the pansies
- Happily smiling and saying "How good" when the landlord explained that the mayor the village had died of cancer (she thought the mayor was having a fundraiser for cancer).
I also had a number of missteps myself living in England, but those were not strictly translation issues, moreover differences in dialect. All make for good laughter around the dinner table many years later.
Love the show! Thank you.
What was the song that was at the end of the section? it sounded like "you are my sunshine" in a different language.
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