Are You Multi-lingual:Have You Ever Made a Huge Slip in Translation? ?

I know un poco Spanish, even less French. But, I consider myself relatively fluent in American Sign Language (for deaf).

I was interpreting a church service where the pastor asked all the men to come to the altar and pray. I interpreted "all men come to the casket and pray".

My friend was interpretting something like "Everyone needs a touch from Jesus" and she signed "Everyone needs Jesus' drugs"....cracked me up!

Another friend was supposed to tell the deaf lady in our church that Saundra was sick, so, she was going to try to interpret for her. Instead, she said she was going to interpret because "the rock is stupid".

I met another interpreter who was supposed to be signing "Church was wonderful. We had 3 people baptized today." Instead, she signed, "Church was wonderful. We had 3 people die today."

I went to eat in a Chinese restaurant with an Indonesian friend who speaks some Chinese. When we left, I thought I was saying "Thank you" in Chinese, but, I said "I kill you" in Chinese. Something like Sha-Sha ne or Shee Shee (xie xie) ne....something like that.

I just read this: "When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label orf what's inside since many people can't read."

Any slip ups in translation that you've ever heard or said?

Tagged as: american sign language, indonesian friend, sha sha, slip ups, smiling baby