Horns of Moses, "Pepsi" for the dead and other incidents of translators that have gone down in history

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

History records many conflicts and misunderstandings in the diplomatic world caused by banal translation errors. Some of them lasted for tens of years, causing confusion in the international relations of entire states. And even today, in the age of globalization, the language barrier continues to generate situations that often go far beyond the curiosity.

How Khrushchev promised to "bury the West"

Nikita Khrushchev's famous promise to bury the West was made in 1956 at the Polish embassy in Moscow. The Secretary General's speech at the reception was translated by Viktor Sukhodrev. The literally translated phrase impressed the addressees very much. In fact, in Russian it sounded differently: Nikita Sergeevich tried to say that history is on the side of the USSR. "We will bury you" - this was the phrase taken out of the general context, which meant that socialism would outlive capitalism, being a more effective state system. Apparently, this idea was borrowed from Marx, who argued that the proletariat would become the gravedigger of capitalism. Due to the inaccurate translation, Khrushchev was credited with the statement "we will bury you." Due to the wide resonance, he even had to explain himself later, during a speech in Yugoslavia.

Horns of Moses due to misinterpretation of the Bible

During the Gothic period and the entire first half of the Renaissance, the Old Testament prophet Moses was portrayed by Christian sculptors and painters with horns on his head. The reason for this image is the incorrect translation of some lines of the book "Exodus" into Latin. The Hebrew phrase "the shining face of Moses" was mistakenly reborn into the "horns of Moses." This miscalculation is associated with the ambiguous interpretation of the word "karnayim", which has two meanings in Hebrew. It can be translated as "horns", but the text still meant "rays". This translation of the Holy Scriptures was made by Saint Jerome, the patron saint of translators. This version of the Vulgate has been official for one and a half thousand years.

Waitangi's ambiguous pact

Most often, mistakes in translation are made unintentionally, but it also happens that such a step is taken deliberately to distort the true essence. This was the case in 1840 in New Zealand during the signing of an important document. The agreement between Britain and the Maori tribes, which went down in history as the Waitangi Treaty, was fraught with errors and inaccuracies. The New Zealanders and the British prepared two copies of the treaty, in English and in Maori. Both documents were identical with the exception of one paragraph, which was allegedly mistranslated.

The Maori text stated that the local tribes agreed to the presence of the British on the island, subject to constant protection from the face of the British Empire. At the same time, the English copy of the agreement interpreted this condition differently: the Maori go into absolute submission in exchange for security guarantees from Britain. It turned out that, in fact, the Waitangi Treaty turned the island into a new British colony.

Life on Mars comes from free translation

In 1877, Giovanni Schiaparelli, a renowned Italian astronomer, compiled one of the first detailed maps of the Martian surface. The head of the Milanese observatory, Brera, suggested that the seas and canals on the planet Mars can be seen.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the results of the work of Giovanni Schiaparelli were revised by his American colleague Percival Lowell. Based on the observations of the Italian, he came to the conclusion that the mentioned canals could be built by some living creatures to move water from the polar regions of the planet to desert areas. Such a bold statement predictably gave rise to countless myths and guesses about the existence of the Martians.

But this assumption was only a consequence of a banal translation error. The fact is that Schiaparelli did not mean at all that the Martian channels could be the result of human activity, speaking only of the difference in the landscape. The Italian astronomer used the word canali in his work, which means a pass and a gorge, that is, an exclusively natural and not an artificial object. By shaking up the scientific environment, the theory of life on Mars failed. And only the world of fantastic literature perpetuated Schiaparelli's assumptions.

Chinese advertising to the departed

After a long period of harsh Maoist restrictions, Pepsi still infiltrated China. It was decided to launch a successful promotional campaign there, which was recognized as a real hit in the advertising environment. It sounded like “Come alive! You're in the Pepsi generation!”, Which in Russian meant“Come alive! You are the Pepsi generation!"

The executive Chinese, accustomed to clearly fulfill the tasks assigned to them, made a literal translation of the slogan, reproduced it in a million copies and, according to the agreements, adorned the free walls of Chinese buildings with advertising. "Pepsi will make the ashes of your ancestors rise from the graves" - this is what the astonished Chinese read on the advertisement of the popular drink. This is exactly the meaning of the hieroglyphs in this slogan.

They are of no less interest today and 6 historical typos that became a joke for some and bad luck for others.