Lost in Translation

It is funny how meanings of words can get lost in translation. There were two articles on the ‘net in the last couple of weeks that are great examples of how statements can be innocently mistranslated, or even intentionally used to mislead.

The first example is from an article posted on a Polish news website about purported statements made by Rick Santorum during his campaign in New Hampshire. I would not have known about the Polish article if a Polish friend had not pointed it out. So here’s how it went:

[Scene: Lunch room in typical American white-collar workplace. Polish friend runs in and plops down in front of me]

Me: Hello, Polish friend, what’s up?

Polish friend: So, who is this Santorum guy?

Me: He is running for the Republican Presidential nomination. Umm, why do you ask? [hoping to direct PF to Commentarama for a more in-depth discussion without breaking any politically correct workplace rules]

PF: I just heard from a friend of mine in Poland who said that it was reported by a Norwegian journalist that Rick Santorum said in New Hampshire that the greatest threats to the world right now are Iran, Islamic terrorists, and Poland!

Me: Poland?? Are you sure he said Poland? I can’t imagine anyone would think that Poland was a threat to anyone? I will do some research and get back to you.

End scene.

I went back to my desk to do a quick search. I figured that if Santorum had actual said that Poland was one of the greatest threats to the world that someone in the US press corps would pick it up and exploit it. (Yes, Huffington Post, I mean you!). Instead, I found nothing. I went back to my PF and asked her to show me the article. It was a 5-line article from a Polish language website which she kindly translated for me. Since I have no reason to doubt my friend's translation, I was surprised that a sitting Senator could make such a stupid blunder. But then I remembered that the then-Senator Obama stated during his 2008 campaign that there were at least 57 US states, so it could be true. But I still could not find any evidence in English.

Well, it took about 24 hours, but, to my surprise, I finally found an article on the New York Times blog reporting on Santorum's statement. Not a translation of the original statement as reported by the Norwegian journalist, but a clarification from Santorum. When asked by an unknown reporter if he really said that Poland was a threat, Santorum stated:

“I said the Obama administration stuck it to Poland by not putting a missile defense system there...I listed a bunch of countries that the Obama administration has messed up.

So, it was nothing against Poland?” the reporter asked.

Oh, I love Poland,” Mr. Santorum assured him. “Are you kidding me? It’s one of my favorite countries in the world.”

As my friend and I discussed, it is possible that someone heard "threat" and "Poland" in the same sentence and jumped to a mistranslated conclusion. Who knows, but it is safe to say that between my friend and I, we just save the world from of an international "whisper-down-the lane" game that went from English to Norwegian to Polish to possible war!

Now, I said there were two examples. The second was an article titled “GM to call back 8,000 Chevy Volts” published last week. You remember the Chevy Volt. It’s the General Motors electric car touted by the Obama Administration as the green solution to the American auto industry’s financial problems.

It was reported that The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration informed GM that, following extensive crash tests, they discovered that up to three weeks after a crash, the batteries in the Volt would catch fire. The following is a short performance art piece of how I perceive this conversation went:

[Scene: Telephone rings. Someone picks up receiver]

NHTSA: Hello, GM? Yeah, umm...did you know that up to three weeks after a crash, the Volt battery tends to catch on fire and explode?

GM: Umm, well, ummm...errr...yes, we did. Oops, did we forget to tell everyone that the Volt’s batteries needed to be drained after a crash? Sorry, my bad.

NHTSA: Not a problem. Just fix it and all will be forgotten...er forgiven.

GM: Do we need to issue a recall?

NHTSA: Heavens NO! Let's just say that you are "calling them back" and leave it at that. No reason to needlessly embarrass ourselves and you-know-who. You are going to voluntarily fix it anyway, right?

GM: Oh, yeah, riiiight.

End scene.

So GM issued a "call back" of their vehicle and as the article stresses, “GM’s move is considered a step below a recall, which would have been]issued by a car company and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration". It further reports that GM agreed to voluntarily fix the problem voluntarily. This is unlike, say, when Toyota was publicly pilloried and whose management was dragged before Congress to explain after their 2010 Prius "recall" which they had already agreed to voluntarily fix voluntarily too.

So in conclusion, to my Polish friends - beware of Norwegian reporters. From the bottom of my heart, both Santorum and I think that you are not a threat and, hopefully, you will never be a threat to the good people of Earth.

And to the taxpayers-slash-shareholders of the United States of America - beware the Obama Administration and a sympathetic press corps who will continue to mislead us about any of this Administration’s investments gone sour. They are mounting up, aren't they?

Addendum: I hereby revise my statement about the Polish after my "friend" made disparaging remarks about people over 40 being "that old?". They may be a real threat after all.