Beppe Severgnini's Italians today published a letter by Mauro Luglio ("Le traduzioni dei manuali d’istruzione") about translation errors, especially in instruction manuals.
Among the bloopers quoted: "Attenzione! Noi vogliamo farvi godere!" (on the user's manual of an electric shaver)
"Attenzione! L'orologio non deve mai essere messo sulla testa!" (from the instructions of a cuckoo clock)
My favourite is this: "Attenzione! Sul viadotto non c'è via di scampo!" :-)
ReplyDelete"lasciate ogni speranza, o voi ch'entrate"
ReplyDeleteAnother blooper, but from Japanese to English, in a hotel room leaflet: "You may take advantage of the maid"
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me what those mean in English? I must admit I didn't pay much attention in my Italian course at high school.