January 12, 2018

How do you translate shithole?

Quarz - Donald Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries” during a meeting yesterday  ...Media around the world soon picked up on the remark, but not always in English. In Asia, outlets struggled to translate “shithole countries.” Some of their attempts follow (links in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese):
  • Haiwainet, a news portal of China’s state newspaper People’s Daily, used lan guo, or 烂国, which means “countries that suck.”
  • Taiwan’s Central News Agency tried niao bu sheng dan de guo jia, or 鳥不生蛋的國家, meaning “countries where birds don’t lay eggs.”
  • South Korean news portal joins.com went with 거지소굴, pronounced “go-ji-so-gul,” meaning “beggars’ haunts.”
  • The Japanese daily Sankei opted for 便所のように汚い国, or “Benjo no yō ni kitanai kuni,” meaning “countries that are dirty like toilets.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just when you thought you have heard the nastiness things he could say, he proves you wrong.

Bill Hicks said...

"America"

Anonymous said...

The Japanese pegged it.