Saturday, June 13, 2009

Colloquial/literal translations

Literal translations are funny. A guy down by the soccer field selling tomatoes just slapped me on the shoulder as I walked by and yelled, "¿Qué pedo, chele?"

Colloquial translation: "Hey, what's up, whitie?"

Literal translation: "What a fart, light-skinned guy."

1 comment:

Daniel said...

Thats nothing!

Try:
"Que estufas que ya no te bistec"

which means:
"que tal ya dias no te miraba"
"whats up, havent seen you in a while"

but translates literally to:
"what stoves I dont Steak"

That phrase was used some ten years ago, i dont think its used anymore (thankfully)