I’ve pointed out before how translating British English across the Atlantic isn’t always straightforward but I have to say this summary is “not bad at all”…





• In addition to multilingual translation, WorldAccent provides British English translation including localisation from American English.

(Click for professional American to British translator)

Even when two people apparently speak the same language, regional variations or a lack of local knowledge can lead to total misunderstanding.

The BBC recently reported that 1990s rap star Vanilla Ice will be appearing in a pantomime version of Peter Pan in Chatham on the north Kent coast.

In an age of globalisation, this news spread rapidly around the internet, especially in the United States. But you might expect that the US news reporters could have double checked what a pantomime in the UK actually involves.

For the benefit of non-British readers, pantomime is a raucous musical comedy, usually of traditional children’s stories, usually performed in the Christmas season. As wikipedia describes pantomime:

“a popular form of theatre, incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, cross-dressing, in-jokes, topical references, audience participation, and mild sexual innuendo.”

The audience is encouraged to join in, with cries such as “He’s behind you” or “Oh yes, it is!”. The lead roles in these slices of Christmas slapstick are often taken by household names who have been famous in other fields such as TV, singing or even boxing. For example Anthea Turner, David Hasselhoff, Leslie Grantham, Jane Asher and Nigel Havers have all taken a turn in this popular brand of theatre entertainment.

Unfortunately for transatlantic commentators, pantomime of this type is not common in the US – leading them to assume that Vanilla Ice will be performing a silent mime version of Peter Pan:

“As a pantomime, Ice can only use his bodily and facial contortions and moves in order to act out the role.”

“The musician has signed on to play a silent version of Captain Hook in a performance of ‘Peter Pan’ at the Kent Central Theatre in England.”

“Learning the art of being a mime is the only logical move after effectively slaughtering the rap game and reality television… If you’re not excited to see Vanilla Ice communicate the role of Captain Hook using only facial expressions and hand movements than you obviously don’t have good taste in theater.”

“Vanilla Ice is taking one old adage to heart: silence is golden!”

“Playing a mime villain definitely trumps Ice on Dancing On Ice”

While pantomime itself is often seen as a bit laughable, here at the office we can’t help finding the mental image created by this total misunderstanding even funnier… “Oh yes, it is!”





• In addition to multilingual translation, WorldAccent provides document localisations into American English, British English, etc.

The quote is Aristotle, meaning “All men by nature desire to know”. Unfortunately whoever was responsible for lettering the door did not know and didn’t consult anyone expert in Greek typesetting either. So the door ended up engraved with an English “s” instead of the Greek sigma. As Professor of Classics Mary Beard points out in her blog, the ‘S” of “Phusei” (by nature) is incorrect.

The correct version would read “ΦYΣEI”. So the really intriguing question is how did the mistake happen, given that some knowledge of Greek would be needed to know that “Σ” is an “S” when romanized? Personally I suspect the evil hand of font substitution may have been at work. No doubt with the benefit of hindsight a PDF template for the signwriter would have saved some red faces.

Amusingly the press haven’t been immune from the odd blunder in their reporting of this either. The Daily Mail originally headlined the story as a mistake in the Latin spelling. The Mail has found its mistake much easier to fix, although the sharp eyed will notice it lingers on in the web address.

As well as bringing back some delicious cake, he took a snap of this amusing sign from the door of his train compartment:

Yes, that English translation really does read:

No, we can’t work out how they managed that either. We’re just fairly sure it wasn’t a native Italian to English translation!

Incidentally, if you are intrigued by the idea of getting the train to mainland Europe (or even further), have a look at the informative and enthusiastic train information site, seat61.com. Travelling by train across Europe may not be the quickest way to get there, but it’s a lot less trying on your state of mind (not to mention being the low carbon option).