The Barrow Journal article on Oct. 17, about the fall subsistence whale hunt in Barrow, Alaska, misstated a greeting exchanged between the captain of a crew that killed a whale and a crowd onshore. They shouted ”aarigaa” at each other — an Inupiaq word meaning ”very good.” The captain did not shout, and the crowd [...]
Tom Wolfe: A July 10 article about an exhibition of author Tom Wolfe’s illustrations referred to one of his books as “The Painted Bird.” The correct title is “The Painted Word.” Link And: Mexican actors: A July 10 article about Mexican actors working in Hollywood translated the film title “No Eres Tu, Soy Yo” as [...]
Because of an editing error, we seemed to translate the following phrase – "On me prete la reputation d'etre un auteur d'apparance legere" – as, "I'm reputed to be a lightly apparelled author". French speakers will be relieved to hear that the phrase in the translator's copy was, "I'm said to be an apparently 'light' [...]
Our attempt to expose the decline of opportunities to learn a foreign language in Britain was marred by errors in a foreign language, as well as one in English. Willy Brandt, the former West German chancellor, was quoted as having once said: “If I’m selling I’m happy to speak to you in English. But if [...]
Sublime With Rome: An article in Thursday’s Calendar about ska-punk band Sublime With Rome identified Eric Wilson as the group’s drummer and Bud Gaugh as the bassist. Wilson is the bassist and Gaugh is the drummer. In addition, a Spanish lyric in the song “Caress Me Down,” “Mucho gusto me llamo Bradley,” was translated as [...]
On November 5 we translated the name of Ed and Nancy Kienholz’s artwork at the National Gallery, The Hoerengracht, as ‘Gentlemen’s Canal’. This should have read ‘Whore’s Canal’. We apologise for the error. Report an error
Welcome to Wales, a headline attempted to say in yesterday’s piece about the Ashes series opening in Cardiff (Croeso y Cymru: a top catch for Cardiff, page 9). That should have been Croeso i Gymru. What our version meant was Welcome the Wales. Link Report an error
A news agency item (Volcano begins to erupt on Galapagos island, 13 April, page 20) reported that flowing lava could affect “iguanas, wolves and other fauna” on Fernandina island. The surprising reference to wolves probably stemmed from a mistranslation of one of the South American terms for sea lion, lobo marino (sea wolf). Link Report [...]
A letter to the editor, which touched lightly on English ignorance of Welsh matters, was attributed in an early edition to Hwyl Fawry. It should have been attributed to Gill Caldwell. She signed off her letter with hwyl fawr, which translates roughly as “all the best” (March frogs, 6 March, page 35). Link Report an [...]
In our account of an interview, conducted in English and in Japanese through a translator, with members of the Yellow Magic Orchestra (Back to the future, Film and Music, page 13, July 4), keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto was quoted in a way which may have implied that he found the presence of black people at a [...]
A Russian Revolution-era banner pictured in a photo gallery and timeline published on WSJ.com read “Freedom! Equality! Brotherhood!” An earlier version of the gallery incorrectly translated the text as “Freedom and Industry 1st!” The gallery has been corrected. Link Report an error
Mexican wrestling: An article in Sunday’s California section about a Mexican-style wrestling match held to raise money for recently arrested immigrants referred to Spanish epithets hurled by the crowd as groceros. The correct word is groserias. Link Report an error
Translations: An illustration accompanying the article on learning languages overseas in the Jan. 6 Travel section included the German phrase “Ich bin verloren” as a translation of “I’m lost.” That is a more metaphorical translation of the phrase, indicating a state of distress. “Ich weiss nicht wo ich bin” is the correct phrase for not [...]
A PAGE-ONE ARTICLE Tuesday about the Basque language, Euskera, in some editions contained several translation errors. The word for donkey herder is astazain, not ahuntzain; the word for pig herder is urdain, not artzain; and a cowboy is a behizain, not an urdain. Link Report an error
