[Chat Log] April-May 2019

[Chase]

You'd have to understand the full nuances of both languages for something like that.

 

[Carmen]

I find literary translations somewhat easier.

 

[Chase]

I'm more of a conversational translator if I ever translate anything.

 

[Carmen]

Conversational is certainly more forgiving in informal situations.

 

[Carmen]

I once translated audio for an ambassador, during which he began to chuckle and I immediately realised that I had switched two words causing a drastic shift in meaning.

 

[Chase]

Was this somehow recorded?

 

[Carmen]

Thankfully, no. And before you ask what the words were, I'm going to decline the details. You'll have to settle for that vague context.

 

[Chase]

Heh, I'll take it.

 

[Chase]

Once I started having business meetings in the Gulf, I began pronouncing city names the way they do it. Dubai = Du-bae, Abu Dhabi = Abu Thabi. Then I started automatically switching it depending on where I was, had no idea I was doing it.

 

[Chase]

I'd say 'I'm going to Du-Bai' when I'm in Berlin, then once I land, I would say 'I'm in Du-Bae'.

 

[Carmen]

Mm... khalli walli.

 

[Chase]

Which, by the way, is pronounced halli-walli.