It’s All Greek To Us
Since I’m a bit of a numbers / statistics nerd, one of the more fascinating parts of blogging to me has always been watching where our incoming visitor traffic comes from (bonus: it also helps us discover new blogs to follow).
Unfortunately we won’t be following a couple of the latest sites that linked to us. Why? Because they’re written entirely in Greek. While I can read the Greek alphabet (a requirement of the fraternity I was in), reading a blog in that language is a bit of a stretch. But thanks to some suggestions from our friends on Twitter, we plugged the URLs into Google Translate to see what these sites were saying about us. Would they be kind? Would they be snarky? Turns out they were downright HILARIOUS.
The good news is that we immediately understood that they were intended to be kind (thanks guys!), but Google’s robotic translation of the language was also quite entertaining. In some cases it was just plain inaccurate- but we were laughing so hard that it didn’t matter.
For instance, this site (according to Google Translate) noted that “the Sherry and John loved passionately, and went and found an old house amid nature.” So despite trying to keep things PG around here, Google Translate clearly sees us as more of a romance novel.
Then Google decided we must be some kind of incomprehensible medical drama: “The spitoskylo apologize for diabetic shock may be caused by Glykeria this spectacle.” Hopefully our site isn’t really causing diabetic shock over in the Mediterranean. Someone would tell us if it were, right? Either way, the spitoskylo does sincerely apologize.
A day after that interesting first post, a second Greek site also mentioned us. Again, Google took some liberties when it came to translating. It starts off very complimentary: “When a couple has humor, fun, style and love of decoration…” but doesn’t end so well “…then the result can not be positive.” NOT be positive?! Where could humor, fun, style and love not end well? On our site apparently.
Maybe it has something to do with our “Terrible Do It Yourself” that they mention. We tried to double-check this one with Yahoo’s Babelfish site to see what was really said, but it just swapped “terrible” for “horribly.” Yowza! At least they went on to say our posts are “intelligent, entertaining and comprehensive” and even called us a “blog-haven for Do it yourself’ers!” Whew. It doesn’t really sound like they hate us after all.
So we’re chalking it up to a prime example of things being lost in translation and we couldn’t help but share the amusing interpretation. We’re sure you guys have some entertaining stories about times when a language barrier provided some comic relief. Do tell. Just make sure it’s in English or we might have to leave it up to Google Translate to fill us in…
PS: If you want to read the full original posts in Greek go here and here, or check out the Google translated versions here and here. And of course we sincerely thank both blogs for their amazing write-ups! We’re sorry Google didn’t do them justice but we appreciate them none the less (and even got a few laughs out of the whole thing).
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Comments
Being Greek I can translate everything, but I don’t want to spoil a good laugh! All I can say is that Goutsos Goutsos couple is totally wrong because it uses an expression, used to declare something very sweet and adorable, as a person’s name apparently. It was hilarious to read for me, too! Terrific would be a more appropriate word than terrible and diabetic shock is surprisingly correct!
What a fun post! Haha, now I need to go see if I can find funny translations of my site! Thanks for the post!
xo
lana
http://www.joeyandlana.com
The title made me very excited: As a classical archaeology major, I can read ancient Greek and do so for hours every week. I could only catch a few words of the modern Greek here and there but I need to brush up since I may be excavating in Athens this summer! Perhaps this post can inspire some Greek key decorating? ;)
HAHAHAHAHA. That’s funny. I think things definitely got lost in translation.
I was excited to see the title, because being first generation Greek in the U.S. I can read, write and speak it! It seems the second site (reading the original Greek) mistakenly states that you’ve just had your baby…but everything else is very complimentary and a pretty accurate translation (from English to Greek). I lived there as a kid until the mid-80s (after which we moved back here) and it has come such a long way in terms of home decor, fashion etc. (won’t comment on the debt ratings, etc that made the news recently!) Despite the country’s various issues, to me it’s still the most beautiful place in the world. Congrats on the exciting international recognition.
I love reading funny translation errors. My husband and I speak two different native languages and we poke fun at each other for our translation errors.
John
We loved your post. We had the Google Translator widget on our blog for a while and it was hilarious to read the german and polish version (we understand both). It’s funny how the translator says that you went and found a house…almost sounds like you guys got the house for free. Good for you :)
:)
Cheers!
http://www.blueloom.com
HA HA! that is hilarious! I have a friend who’s Greek, and I sent this post to her. Maybe she will weigh in. I’m not sure if she can READ Greek though.
I’ve got a story for you from over here in (usually, but certainly not now) sunny California:
We had a foreign exchange student from France a few years ago. He was 17 or so and, though he knew English from 4 years of English classes in his French school, he certainly wasn’t used to speaking it.
We first met him, as is the usual with exchange students, by picking him up at the airport when he flew in.
Now if anyone from the west coast has ever been to France, you’ll remember how freakin’ long the flight is to California; 11 hours, ugh.
11 hours on a plane leaves you tired, crazy and hating planes. All you want to do is take a shower and sleep. Well, our new friend was thinking the same thing, only his over-traveled, sleep-deprived brain could not come up with the word for “shower”, so of course he told us in French:
“All I need is a…um…le douche?”.
Poor kid, we tried really hard not to laugh, and then promptly told him the first word he probably shouldn’t say to English-speakers!
oh my god! I thought that I were the only greek reading your blog! So glad, I’m not! Btw, I’ve never heard of Spitoskylo.gr before, I’ll be sure to checking it out!
Ah! Spitoskylo means dog house and the title to your article means” 2 lovebirds, 1 house, 1 blog” and yes it is very funny written even in greek. The “goutsos-goutsos” thing (still laughing here) is….hmmmm….trying to find a way to explain…is a baby word that adults use when a) want to show affection/cuddle a baby (warning:DO NOT use this word to baby Petersik, she may end up marrying a greek across the world) b) 2 lovebirds (like u two!) want to show their love in a really really really really silly way!
Hope I’ve helped!
Hey Calliope! Thanks for the Greek translation. It’s so funny to learn what goutsos-goutsos means. And we always wondered what the title of the blog meant!
xo,
s
Hi Youngsters,
When germans learn english, they usually encounter quite funny “false friends”.
One example: The german word “prägnant” does not mean “pregnant” in english, but “concise” – Imagine someone saying “He described it in a very short and pregnant way” :)
Also, the german “Flur” does not mean “floor”, but “hallway” and a german “Igel” is not an eagle, but a hedgehog :D
I use Google translate to read house blogs from Sweden and Norway. The translations are hard to get sometimes, but I get the gist of it. Mostly I look at the lovely pictures.
hahhaha! This totally made my morning..lost in translation. Wow..Thanks so much for sharing and humoring us!
My Favorite: John making a “full calendar” of your marriage in the front yard with $4000 and a video broadcast! Too funny. Thanks for the laugh this morning, guys!
“Ah! Spitoskylo means dog house”
Actually spitoskylo means “house dog” it derives from the greek expression spitogato which means “house cat” and is used to describe a person that likes/prefers to stay at home instead of going to clubs and bars etc.
But skylospito means dog house.
And Goutsou Goutsou is not a word, it’s a sound you make when you see a kitten or a puppy or a baby or anything cute.
It is usually accompanied with the rubbing of the subject’s nose with a finger.
Oh, and about that “the result cannot be positive” the correct translation would be “the result cannot be anything but positive”. The Google translations are hilarious.
Ha, ha! Too funny. When we first got the internet I used to translate English sites into French all the time so my mom (who’s more Francophone than Anglophone) and I could have a good laugh – literal translations never fail to be hilarious.
But seriously, who wouldn’t love you blog? You’re wonderful in any language :)
Too funny! I’m reading this from Israel, so let me know if you ever find Hebrew links… :)
Haha, that’s awesome!
Man, I wish I could just go out into nature and “find” a nice house too!
Sherry and John greetings from Cyprus!!! :)
your page is great!!!
me and my fiance are going to built a house and i found your page when searching for ideas etc etc….. and i’d like to thank you because you helped me a lot!!!!!!!! :)
anyway i can explain some things about spitoskylo’s comments!!
… about the goutsou-goutsou part… that means that you are a couple veeeeery in love, and .. actually when we say goutsou-goutsou it’s all about kisses and hugs and all that “in love” stuff!! :) which it’s cute!! :)
and about the “to change the fuel to make new, more or less with their own hands” comment… ok… the translation is a bit .. difficult… it means you changed it (you didn’t leave anything as it was before) on your own…
so…. that’s it i think…. any other questions?? :)
Thanks so much for the translations Yiota! And boy are we jealous that you’re writing from Cyprus. Amazing!
xo,
s
Just had to let you guys know that the Nate Berkus Lamp you have on your {We’re Digging} list is available at Home Goods! Well, at ours at least. Thought you might want to check it out :)
Cool! Thanks so much for the tip, Natalie! We’ll have to keep an eye out.
-John
I keep coming back to read this again and again, its so funny! I can’t believe you guys are to blame for all the diabetic shock over there….maybe they meant sweet surprise?
Hi John and Sherry, the famous goutsou-goutsou couple!
Being a greek myself, but also too lazy to go through all the comments to see if someone else pointed out, I would like to contribute my translation on the ‘diabetic shock’ part. It’s more acurate translation is:
‘The housedog (the blog’s name) is sorry for any diabetic shocks, this sweet spectacle my have caused.’
But then again google knows best, right? :)
I actually found out about your blog from that exact post of the ‘housedog’ and since then I have read all of your posts. I must say that it makes me feel like ripping apart my kitchen and start painting cabinets :)
Keep up the good (DIY) work!
PS: Congrats on your newly acquired baby!
Hi all!
Ok, this is yet another post from a greek trying to explain the unexplainable…
In the “back yard wedding-gutter” incident the “he” actually goes for the ceremony itself! In greek (as in french, german and many other languages) all words have a gender, so for example a window is neutral but a curtain is female! In the same way, a wedding is male (even though a ceremony is female, confused yet?)…
Soooo, “he did it in the yard” is an inaccurate translation of “he (the wedding) took place in the yard”. They’re not pinning it all on John, or Burger for that matter… Slightly better, isn’t it?
Oh, and: terrible/horrible DIY is not so much a mistake in translation, as is it a matter of context – the word “fovero” which I’m guessing was used, does indeed mean “scary” but it’s used positively more often than not. Kind of like awesome can be awe-inspiring or just plain lovely. [on that note, think how Google-translate would translate "mind-blowing DIY" in any language other than English...]
Hope this helps (and sorry it’s so long) – I have to say, being able to understand how this got so messed up doesn’t take any of the fun out of it!!! I can only hope you guys get ridiculously famous and get loads of international mentions we can all read translated…
Haha! So glad to hear they weren’t suggesting John did it in the yard with Burger watching! Whew. Thanks for shedding even more light on those hilarious translations!
xo,
s
This is hilarious!
I’m an NYC-based writer for the National Geographic Channel and recently discovered your blog.
http://www.jodikendall.blogspot.com
http://www.jodikendall.com
So true! We need to put that dog to work. In his defense he’s working really hard barking at a squirrel right now. Seriously, it’s incessant. And he’s probably burned at least 500 calories jumping around and generally going nuts. Oh to be in his head for just a moment in time…
xo,
s