Bilingual Homophonic Translations

November 11, 2007 11:05 AM

Bilingual homophonic translations
posted by fermezporte (33 comments total)

Where do I go for bilingual homophobic translations?
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:06 AM on November 11, 2007

Fun. But I still prefer the monolingual homophonic translations.
posted by googly at 11:11 AM on November 11, 2007

For what it's worth, the actual words to "Fart in the Duck".
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:25 AM on November 11, 2007

I was searching for a Japanese song done in this style that has always cracked me up, but I couldn't find it. Instead, I learned that Japan has or had an entire show dedicated to this concept.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:25 AM on November 11, 2007

Adam Buxton makes a bunch of wonderful things (vaguely) in this style.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:29 AM on November 11, 2007 [6 favorites]

There are some practical applications here: During the post WW2 occupation of Japan, US soldiers were taught to say "Don't touch my moustache" as a close approximation of "do itashimashite", or, "you're welcome".
posted by deadmessenger at 11:42 AM on November 11, 2007

Bookhouse : Is this the Japanese song that used to crack you up?
posted by newfers at 11:45 AM on November 11, 2007

Goodnews, that "wonderful" clip is great. The rest are nearly as good.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:48 AM on November 11, 2007

newfers: that's not it. The one I remember had something about Mario in it. I'm only sorta certain it was Japanese. That one was funny, though.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:50 AM on November 11, 2007

OMG, GNFTI, that sign language translation is hysterical! My sister is Deaf and I took sign language classes and this is particularly funny because many signs in sign language actually are supposed to resemble real people, objects or motions, but most do not.
posted by PigAlien at 11:56 AM on November 11, 2007

Well, in any case, I love these - nothing makes me laugh more than silly language play!
posted by newfers at 12:20 PM on November 11, 2007

This is the best Metafilter thread in history. Awesome.
posted by JDHarper at 12:28 PM on November 11, 2007

Disgusting. this is why we need DOMA.
posted by orthogonality at 12:37 PM on November 11, 2007

A classic in the genre.
posted by dontoine at 12:44 PM on November 11, 2007 [2 favorites]

Cool post, fermezporte. I have a few clips to add to the fun:
Florecilla sings Breakfast in America and Catherine Tate plays a translator - the last is slightly off point, but hilarious.
posted by madamjujujive at 12:55 PM on November 11, 2007

Benny Lava: Have you been high today?
Perfection.
posted by podwarrior at 12:56 PM on November 11, 2007

Argh! I remember a (I think) Japanese one too, from the early days of the interweb. The video featured Mr. Bean, Thomas the Tank Engine and Colin Mochrie.
posted by arcticwoman at 12:57 PM on November 11, 2007

That would be this one. But no translation, though.
posted by empath at 1:05 PM on November 11, 2007

You're right, empath. Although last time I saw it I swear there was a translation. One of the lines was something about "found a hobo in my room."
posted by arcticwoman at 1:06 PM on November 11, 2007

God, those were funny. The sign language one from GNFTI really cracked me up. I also LOVED the Bollywood subtitles.

Going the other way, I have an Arabic-speaking student who cracks up every time I say the word "judge" in class. He told me it sounds like I'm saying "chicken" in Arabic.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:23 PM on November 11, 2007

arcticwoman: "Argh! I remember a (I think) Japanese one too, from the early days of the interweb. The video featured Mr. Bean, Thomas the Tank Engine and Colin Mochrie."

There are actually quite a lot of them; they're called animutations^ or fanimutations, and even have their own wiki. My personal faves are "French Erotic Film" (sorta sfw) and "Untitled" (original lyrics in German; for a native speaker it's very strange to imagine how one could mis-hear or rather misconstrue the things being sung).
posted by PontifexPrimus at 1:26 PM on November 11, 2007

Wow, what's the obsession with Colin Mochrie in those fanimutations? Strange. French Erotic Film was rather well done (the translation of it anyway).
That Bollywood one is so hilarious. Must stop laughing.
posted by arcticwoman at 1:33 PM on November 11, 2007

Howdy, youse have a pablum logorrhea?
posted by rob511 at 2:00 PM on November 11, 2007

Another internet classic: Hatten ar din (translation)
posted by H-Bar at 2:12 PM on November 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

Wow, what's the obsession with Colin Mochrie in those fanimutations?

Neil Cicierega used Colin Mochrie in his original animutations as one of the running gags. The copycats copied.
posted by zennie at 2:29 PM on November 11, 2007

Q: Did Herr Beethoven write ten symphonies?
A: Nein.

Cute. Nice post. Although a NSFW wouldn't have gone astray on the second link (I'll wait 'til I'm at home before finding out about the third link).
posted by kisch mokusch at 2:37 PM on November 11, 2007

And I've been haunted by Sears! (personal favorite)
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:50 PM on November 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

The motherlode: type "misheard lyrics" into YouTube. Most of them are awful, but once in a while there's something gold.
posted by arcticwoman at 5:52 PM on November 11, 2007

One of the sketches on the Russian sketch-comedy show KVN did this once. Unfortunately, I only have a screenshot of it, but it does give you the flavour.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:08 PM on November 11, 2007

No discussion of animutations is complete without a link to We Drink Ritalin. It works particularly well because the song's original lyrics consist of English words strung together in an almost incomprehensible way.

arcticwoman, Hyakugojyuuichi!!! does in fact have a translation. The subtitles appear about half way in.
posted by Asymptote at 9:50 PM on November 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

You're right, Asymptote. Thanks, I thought I was going crazy. I could find all these references on the web to the "lyrics" to the song, but couldn't find a copy of the animation that had them!
posted by arcticwoman at 7:21 AM on November 12, 2007

the video is cool and the "translation" hilarious, but after watching it several times i was hooked, i really was, to my surprise. the dancing is good, too.

(all this from a real snob)
posted by Substrata at 2:54 PM on November 12, 2007

When I first came to Austria, I had a little experience with a bilingual homophone that caused me a good deal of confusion.

The German word for "heard" is "Gehört". It sounds extremely similar to my first name when pronounced with an Austrian accent.

For the first year or so, I'd hear my coworkers whispering "Gehört" conspiratorially (as in, "have you heard?"), and I always thought they were talking about me.
posted by syzygy at 1:51 AM on November 13, 2007