Aargh.

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Joined 15 days ago
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Cake day: March 16th, 2026

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  • I don’t mind too much those translation errors that come from things like slang or figure of speech types of things, like “cook it” etc. But when theres a technical word that you could easily look up, its insane to me that the translator decides to just guess what it might be.

    My favorite silly translation “error” was when the “The Song Remains The Same” Led Zeppelin film was translated to “Laulu Jää Pystyyn” - “the song stays standing up.” Like why would you even translate that? Its literally a song name, just keep it in the original English. But even further, why would you translate it that way? Why not use “laulu pysyy samana” which would be a direct translation of the song title. I would guess that who ever translated it was old and unfamiliar with Led Zeppelin songs, or something like that. But at least it gave us something to laugh at. And a Finnish band Eppu Normaali did release their own concert film with the title “Laulu Jää Pystyyn.” So that was something.


  • Depends. I’d say most of them are fine but the issues come when there’s something niche, like technical stuff, local slang words or dialect etc.

    I’m a (ex) car mechanic, my dad likes to watch Wheeler Dealers. Quite often I’m visiting when that show is on and so many of the technical terms used are translated completely stupidly. “Brake horsepower” has been translated to “bruttohevosvoima” which means “gross (as in economics) horsepower.” Alternator has been translated to “vaihtaja” which means “changer/switcher.”

    There was a Top Gear episode where Clarkson said “a bit squirrely under braking” I understand that as “a bit restless when braking hard” but that was translated to “orava jarrutus” which means “squirrel braking.”

    I have more such examples but I’ve forgotten most of them, its been a long while since I’ve watched traditional TV, I mostly download stuff and if I use subtitles (because of audio these days is messed up on purpose), I use English subtitles.



  • That reminds me of a time I was in a small party. I said something to my friend and a girl suddenly excitedly said “YAY! You speak as well!” That shut me up for the rest of the evening lol. I didn’t know how to respond to that, I didn’t even finish saying what I was saying to my friend.

    I’ve always been the quiet one. I’ve always been fine with being the quiet one, I kind of like to listen to people. But when she said that, I got very confused and it sort of bothered me for a bit. Not for long though, I decided that she was the weird one.