NOTE: My Correct Address is in my signature (just remove the spaces).
On Fri, 6 Feb 2004 02:28:08 -0700, Eric Jorgensen >
wrote:

>On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 10:17:47 +0200
>Davida Chazan - The Chocolate Lady > wrote:
>
>> (Please NOTE: My correct e-mail address is in my Signature) On Wed, 4
>> Feb 2004 03:08:33 -0700, during the rec.food.baking Community News
>> Flash Eric Jorgensen > reported:
>>
>> >On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 08:55:55 +0200
>> >Davida Chazan - The Chocolate Lady > wrote:
>> >
>> >> NOTE: My Correct Address is in my signature (just remove the
>> >spaces).> On Tue, 03 Feb 2004 21:41:15 GMT,
>> (Seppo> Sipil?) wrote:
>> >>
>> >> >Hi all, I'm translating Roald Dahl's memoirs and got stuck with
>> >> >"currant cake". As "currant" has two meanings (berries and
>> >raisins),> >I don't know which one is correct.
>> >> >
>> >> I'd go with the raisins, since it makes sense that they would be in
>> >a> cake that needed to travel well.
>> >
>> >
>> > The currants i know and love
>>
>> While this was fascinating (it really, really was, actually), let's
>> not forget that the person just needed to know what is close for him
>> to use when translating the word.
>>
>> (I was speaking as a writer, not a baker in this sense!)
>
>
> Oh, I agree. I sorta hoped to address that, but without knowing what
>language it's being translated into (I'm presuming it was originally
>written in english) it's tough to make a specific suggestion, because
>even nouns vary in their meaning from culture to culture and from era
>to era.
>
> Translators ultimately end up making judgment calls. Sometimes
>they're weird.
>
> Example: at the beginning of a particular japanese movie,
>if you watch the original subtitled japanese release from the early
>90's, the subtitle says "Give me three red bennies" - but if you watch
>the special edition re-release from 2000, it reads "give me three
>peanuts". This was really confusing, since the character speaking is a
>member of a biker gang called the 'red bennies', and he wears a
>red jacket with an enlarged image of a red and white capsule on the
>back.
>
> It turned out that when the movie was originally made,'red benny'
>was common slang for a methamphetamine pill. But in 2000, the common
>slang for a methamphetamine in japan was 'peanut'. Somehow the
>translators decided that what they were translating was "popular street
>name for speed" rather than "The name of Kaneida's biker gang, in order
>for us to properly foreshadow the ensuing chase scene."
>
> So, anyway, now that the etymology in english is clear, one can then
>compare that to the etymology in the target language, whatever that may
>be. Like i said, "pimento" is allspice berries in some cases, bell
>peppers in others, occasionally black pepper, and additionally whatever
>that is they stuff in olives and make pimento spread out of, which
>doesn't look or taste like like any of the above to me. We have the
>spanish to thank for that conundrum.
>
Didn't have the heart to snip any of this. I like you! You should
visit a usenet writing group. Mind you, the one I'm on is more about
politics and philosophy and fighting (misc.writing), but still...

(... it was a fun read.)

--
Davida Chazan (The Chocolate Lady)
<davida @ jdc . org . il>
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of
chocolate."
--Katharine Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003)
~*~*~*~*~*~