Lost in translation!

What does the phrase "lost in translation" mean? It's when the original meaning of a word/phrase is lost due to translation. Sometimes it's because of literal/inefficient translation and sometimes because the word/phrase does not exist in the other language. Either way, language barriers lead to some hilarious conversations.

According to People's Linguistic Survey of India, 780+ languages are currently spoken in India (How many of these do you know? Doesn't matter, shame on you!). I don't even talk about the number of languages spoken around the world. It's 6900+, by the way. Anyhoo, getting to the point I was trying to make....there are just too many freaking languages spoken all around us!  I have had the privilege of being a part of/ being around some funny conversations.

Last month one of my South Indian colleagues was having a phone conversation with a North Indian client. Like most South Indians (myself included - the South Indian curse!), he struggles a little with Hindi. When the client asked "Kaun?" (Who?), he blurted out "Mein Bangalore se bula raha hoon?".  It left the lady on the other end of the call VERY confused. In my colleague's defense, it does translate to "I'm calling from Bangalore". Little did he know that literal translations DO NOT always work.

Speaking of literal translations, learning or trying to speak in a foreign language in a definitely a challenge for us Indians. When I say 'foreign languages', it does not include English. English is Indian, man! Anyway, this one day during my French class (beginners) the professor asked us frame some of our own sentences. One of my classmates decided to use an online translator to translate "Anna, do you wanna have fun?" to French. The professor burst out laughing when he heard the sentence in French. He said, "You just asked Anna if she wants to climax!".

The issue, I believe, is the fact that the world is mingling. Well, it's not really an issue - if you don't consider the linguistic barriers. In fact, it's a good thing.  We are being exposed to different cultures and languages everyday. While some xenophobes might disagree, it's making us more open minded and making the world a better place.

What's the funniest "lost in translation" conversation you've had? Leave a comment.

See ya on Sunday! I'm just gonna much on some "climax-mic" desi potato crisps my room mate cooked. Yum.

Losing my blog virginity......

For those of you who were expecting this to be a blog about losing my virginity, I'm sorry to disappoint you. This is about losing my 'blog virginity'. As most of you must have figured it out by now - yes, this is my first blog EVER! After hours of tiring research on the internet I've finally figured out (at least I hope I have) how to blog. Yay!

Little bit about me....

I'm a 23 year old woman/girl (haven't figured it out yet) living and working in the beautiful city of Bangalore. I'm a typical young frustrated Indian who is confused with what to do with her life and concerned about the direction in which our country is headed. And when I'm not worrying so much, I take some time out to love Batman, sports, Djokovic, pasta, cartoons, Walter White, jazz, Kohli, Coldplay, more Batman, cats, cat videos, my friends, German football team, movies, JLaw, Gru, Bangalore, dosa, my mum, my mum's dosa,  *sigh* et cetera.


Little bit about my blog....

Although I have made up my mind to strictly "blog" (I don't know if it's the right usage. Is it?) about a certain things/issues, I know for a fact that I'll end up writing/blogging (still no clue!) about everything under the sun. Which, if you think about it, is a good thing since I'll get so much to write (I give up!) about. Also, I've decided to write at least twice a week - Wednesdays and Sundays. I'll try my best to stick to my schedule but being a natural procrastinator...I'll give you no such guarantees.


See ya tomorrow!