A Somewhat Dodgy Chinese Translation!

Some time ago in the 1980s, when I was somewhat younger and shapelier, I decided to go to Sydney for a night out. The idea was to have some fun.

Nothing outrageous, just a laugh and a meal.

We all decided to meet up and go to a Chinese Restaurant in the Chinese Quarter. The meal was great, the whole evening relaxed and we were all having a great time. The product of the grape was flowing freely, the laughing was spontaneous and a little loud and we were all having fun.

On this occasion, I happened to be wearing black jeans and a black jumper. the jumper had some white Chinese calligraphic writing across the chest. Words the meaning of which, I did not have a clue.

I could have been for all I knew, promoting something nefarious or even of a dubious nature —sending out some unknown message to all and sundry. A walking billboard.

Quite probably my imagination was in high gear and none of this applied as clothing with writing on them would not be so freely available, and therefore I would not have been able to purchase my jumper. The authorities would have been putting the kibosh on all sales.

So, I decided that while I was at the restaurant, I would take the opportunity to ask the very nice, young Chinese waiter to translate for me.

He obligingly checked out my chest, taking a most prolonged and serious look; he then pronounced that the words translated to “Space between the Mountains”.

It wasn’t until I got back to Canberra a couple of days later that I realized that he had certainly played on my gullibility.

Space between the mountains indeed!

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But on the above note regarding the actual translation of names as they relate to products found on the open market I did hear some time ago about the name given to a very popular car. This car was/is manufactured in Japan, exported from there and then sold freely across the world. This four wheel drive car is known as the "Pajero" and is a very popular and comfortable vehicle here in Australia.

Unfortunately I find this vehicle name Japanese/Spanish/English translation to be a little off-putting. After all who wants to known to be driving a wank-mobile!

I sincerely hope that the translation of this vehicle name has not had a financial effect on the manufacturers!

“Pajero” is a Spanish word that could be seen to be possibly quite a vulgar joke played on the English speaking word. So a word that originates in Spain; is used by the Japanese and the sold on to the unsuspecting English speaking world. Please see below for the actual translation from the Collins Dictionary.

English translation of 'pajero'

Word Frequency

pajero

Word forms: pajero, pajera

MASCULINE NOUN/FEMININE NOUN

1. (vulgar) (en sentido sexual) tosser (vulgar) ⧫ wanker (vulgar)

2. (Central America) (informal) (= mentiroso) liar

3. (Central America) (= fontanero) plumber

ADJECTIVE (Central America) (informal)

(= mentiroso) fibbing (informal)

Copyright © by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/spanish-english/pajero

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I have just been trying to understand how the actual meaning of this vehicle name slipped by the translator and in doing so found this most interesting article. It would seem a lot of the naming issues comes down to basic language pronunciation in both the differences and understanding of Japanese and English.

So not a joke rather a misunderstanding of words rooted in the individual languages!

The article I am referring to is from Forbes.com and was written by one Peter Lyon. The link is below and it makes for interesting reading as to understanding how these misnomers can occur:

My only suggestion in this instance is that the car manufacturers when coming up with names with ”grunt” should ideally employ Japanese/English/Spanish speakers - translators who are familiar with the idioms and use of slang in all relevant languages.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterlyon/2017/12/28/car-names-that-raise-foreign-eyebrows-lost-in-translation-in-japan/?sh=e005ee6ad559

If the link does not open the article please put into your browser.