What’s the difference between an interpreter and a translator? Both work with language, but the interpreter works with the spoken word (think Nicole Kidman in “The Interpreter”) and the translator works with the written word. I am a full-time, self-employed translator, and over the past 9 years I’ve learned to say that I translate documents into English from Dutch and French, otherwise people will assume that I interpret spoken Spanish and English. It’s a pet peeve of mine.
I’m a trained professional, and it usually grieves me to see stupid translation mistakes, but today I was translating a challenging legal text and needed to see other people’s mistakes to make myself feel competent. I’m not ashamed to admit it. Heehee!
Are you wondering about the wax tadpole? Rumor has it that when Coca Cola had its name translated into Chinese, the result was a mistranslation that meant "Bite the Wax Tadpole." Actually, that's an urban myth you can read about by clicking here. Then click here to see a list of crazy translations.
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