Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Lost in interpretation

How could I forget this one? It's from Flynnie.
Dr (to nurse): You know, we really shouldn't take drug samples.
Rep: Why??
Dr: There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Rep: I'll bring some next time!
Dr: That's not what I...sigh. *takes drugs anyway*
There was more lost in translation at the conference I was just at. I died several times in lectures when Vietnamese audience-members would ask questions in heavily accented English, and the Australian or American lecturers would be totally "wtf?" but gamely give a detailed answer about a completely different topic and then say "did I answer your question?" and everyone ended up completely confused. I was tempted to offer my services as a Vietglish to English interpreter, but it was more fun silently cracking up. Heh. Bilingualness is so worth it for those moments. And then there was the hilarity of the simultaneous interpretation, with two waves of reaction to every joke, one delayed by half a minute, like an in-person satellite delay. The UN must be a barrel of laughs.

1 comment:

Dragonfly said...

Ah the drug rep interactions....