Wednesday, August 12, 2009

"Guarantees the nature time"

I am definitely a word-nerd. My obsession with words is a force for good (when I work editing translated materials) or evil (in conversations with friends when I get all....controlling....and get hung up on specific words). But the best part about being a word-nerd living in a foreign country is reading all the English (on signs, products, etc.) that is translated text from another language (Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Kyrgiz, etc.).

So...red miso. I was looking for red miso. Soy bean paste (as far as I know) that is yummy, healthy, etc. and you can add to soups, stir-fry, etc. Tracy and I were on a reconnaissance mission at this place that can only be called a Chinese Home Depot Complex. It is 3 huge buildings filled with furniture, home repair and remodel supplies, AND (the best part) chinese "stuff"... plastic storage things (baskets, boxes, etc.) dishes, teapots, etc. It's like Pic - N - Save on steroids (for those of you that remember that store).

So apparantly miso is Japanese, so the sellers here weren't really sure what I wanted, but assued me that this packet was close enough. I was glad to discover that the label on the back was actually in English! Or so I thought. Here are some of the highlights of what I read (and tried to understand):

  • "This product fine ferments take the degreasing soybean as the main rawmaterial becomes, luster red brown sauce fragrance thick, sticks thicklymoderate, flavor tasty, the nutrition is rich, is the family commonly used regulator taste high quality goods."
  • But my favorite is from the "Edible method" information. "Operates the bag to be direct edible, or adds the meat, the egg, theseafood expolodes the system, also may serve as the cooking, the coldfood in sauce. Guarantees the nature time: 12 months. Production date: Sees the seal."

So, the English is "good so not", but the homemade Chinese and Kyrgyz food that these girls were selling in the building supply section was excellent! Aaaahhhh, the unexpected joys for a word-nerd abroad. :)

4 comments:

benjamin morrison said...

ha! that is hilarious! i totally get you... guess that makes me a word-nerd, too (big surprise, right? :) we just bought a new mop for the church (chinese made) that had advertised on the packaging "no dirty the hands!" so much fun! :)

holly said...

Great adventure Cara! Glad to be reading your blog again. Take care.
xoxo

Cara Denney said...

Ben: I knew you would like this! :) Do you play "take 2"? If you're REALLY a word nerd you will love it! :) Take care and "no dirty the hands". :)

Holly: Yeah, I have been sort of lame at blogging for awhile! Good to hear from you! Take care!

daniel said...

If I were to wager a guess at why, I’d say that users don’t “browse” forms. The interaction style users engage in with forms is different, and requires its own study and design best practices.


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