Lost in translation (otherwise known as “The Trouble with Asian Takeout” Part Two)
We recently spent our Christmas at an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic. All six of us (Ryan’s mother, father, Lynsey, Roger, Ryan and me) crammed into a commuter plane with the most eclectic bunch of Minnesotans and Wisconsinites we’ve ever seen and headed to warmer climates to soak up the sun, rather than the rain. But more on those specific details later.

Although it’s been years since I’ used fluent Spanish, I still know enough to get by and make simple conversation. What we did notice, however, is that sometimes, Spanish speaking or not, some things just don’t translate from one language to another, no matter how hard you try. This may be in part because an item doesn’t literally translate or accents are so thick that people don’t pronounce things correctly. Whatever the case, it usually ends up in one of the conversationalists dropping the pursuit of the item and surrendering to a compromise.

Take for example, alcoholic drinks. Since it was my first travel to southern areas since my travel in Thailand, and seeing the numerous amounts of drinks the bar was ready to prepare for us, I thought I’d try foregoing the traditional margarita or daiquiri and see if the bartender could make me a Mai Thai.

"You want drink? Banana Royale? Tropical Princess? Mar-gar-ee-ta or Mud-sly? You want Mud sly?"

"Can you make a Mai Thai?"

"Yes, Mud-sly."

"No. Mai Thai."

(slower and more emphasis) "Mud-sly."

"Mai. Thai."

"MUD. SLY."

"I’ll take a strawberry daiquiri."



The good news is, I’m not the only one who’s been in this predicament.

posted by paula 11:42 AM