Reinhold Aman, editor of Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression has written an interesting article on how Don Imus’s infamous epithet has been translated into different languages by news organizations. One common error made by users of British English (or dictionaries) was interpreting “nappy” as “diaper”. (Another interpreter inexplicably translated “nappy-haired” as “lawn”.) As Aman explains, even without such blatant errors, translating pejorative slang can be challenging, if not impossible, causing foreign readers to misunderstand the incident.
Hello for abroad – Tooo true (Translating the language of misogyny). Well done article, I hope it gets picked up on the internet more and more. FYI, I found you quite by accident while searching on \’Foreign Language\’. I feel lucky to have found your Blog. Keep thinking and posting!