Tuesday, April 01, 2003
Perils of Translation
The Washington Post reported yesterday ("Translation Mixed Success") that there is a small problem with our military's Arabic translations:
"ARE YOU WOUNDED"/"INTA MITAWAR" Fandy heard U.S. military personnel ask an Iraqi "Inta mitawar?" ("Are you wounded?") on Arab television, but says the dialect was distinctly Egyptian -- which does not sound like the dialects found in Baghdad, or the north and south of Iraq, or different languages of the Kurdish areas of the country. Fandy could see the Iraqi prisoner straining to understand.
I raise this issue not to carp at our brave men and women in uniform but rather because Clinton Executive Order 13166 requires every state, county, city, town and village to provide Arabic translations on demand. If the military can't get "are you wounded" right, how can the government expect everyone else to get much longer documents right?
|posted by Jim on 1:51 AM|
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