Seen in a lovely inn
Very gaucheâŠ
Thatâs so terrible it gives me gooseflesh
I reckon they did it word by word
reminds me of a visit to Le Touquet some years ago - stayed in an hotel across the square from the undercover market (never used this one before - and probably never again!).
Some time in the early hours, we were woken by a faint bell noise and went to investigate in the corridor outside the room - seemed that it was the fire alarm!
So, like the other residents, we assembled outside the building in the car park/outdoor market place whilst the pompiers and Gendarme assembled with much activity at the first floor front window. After a brief period, a man emerged through the window under the guidance of the pompiers and was promptly arrested and handcuffed at the base of the ladder.
Seems he was the manager, somewhat inebriated and had set fire to his room over a dispute with the owners!
We left next morning and were not required to pay for the room.
In Japan 2011
I recall mention of the department : âDormouse and expensiveâ⊠Loir et Cher.
Youbikitas ichi ido junro ?
DeepL
Fire instructions
In case of a fire on the premises, please follow the instructions below.
- leave the building by the shortest route.
There are fire escapes at the end of the corridor above, and at the front and back of the building below.
-
If the alarm is not already sounded, operate one of the break lights located next to each exit.
-
Assemble on the car park at the front of the building so that we check if any people are left inside
-
Not return into the building until you are told ez is safe to do so. For the Safety & Comfort of others we do not allow Smoking in the bedrooms.
Being serious, one can understand the intent, just about, but even my level of French is sufficient to recognise that it is not quite right - it must be very painful for a native speaker like VĂ©ro.
But it illustrates the difficulties that one faces translating into a non-native tongue. When is âincendieâ right vs âfeuâ - both mean fire (I think Iâd go with âEn cas dâincendieâ and not faff about with the âin the buildingâ bit, but Iâve seen a good few of these notices in hotels and thatâs how they always start).
Is âpartirâ the best verb in the imperative - would quitter or sortir be better (Google and Deepl go for quitter, which I think Iâd have used as well). Is the infinitive vs 2nd person best for forming the imperative
Etc, etc and Iâve only considered the first sentence.
I often use Google (and Deepl) to translate my French back to check that it is roughly what I want - but as we can see here they are really too forgiving. I also use a French grammar checker, I suspect that it would struggle here though as the French is just too awkward (for simple mistakes the Reverso checker is quite good but I usually know when Iâve got sentences badly wrong, or too complex, because it starts giving âoddâ corrections).
Yubikitasugaido!
Another sign I loved but cannot find my photo was
âBeware of your handbag!â
As though it may at any given moment attack.
Instead of
âBe aware of your belongingsâ
Bless!
One I spotted in a lift in Korea read âNO RUNNING IN THE LIFTâ
wouldnât it just be easier to say âin the event of fire, get the fuck out!â
Put that in to any language you likeâŠ
And years ago, menus from restaurants in Greece always had some howlers.
I particularly remember enjoying a âsmall eggplant stuffed bootâ and spending a long time studying a section between âmezzeâ and âmainâ offering several varieties of âIntercourseâ.
At one of the bars at university there was a fire hose reel installed on the wall bore the legend âIn case of fire, run out tubingâ.
This was very quickly modified to âIn case of fire, run out screamingâ.
They didnât use Deepl or the current incarnation of Google translate, thatâs for sure - both of which produce much better French, this from Deepl
And this from Google
I corrected it into decent English first, of course.
Lifts are excellent because you are a captive audience
This too in Tokyo
This in the block where I lived in HK