Something Got Lost In Translation

Cross posted by Bubblehead from Idaho from The Stupid Shall Be Punished:

I came across this "interesting" article in "The Journal of Turkish Weekly", titled "Turkey to Get Two Tomahawk-Lauching Submarines". This, I thought, was big news... until I read the article. See if you can spot the mistake:

"Two destroyers able to launch Tomahawks missiles are coming to Turkey from the US in the next two years. The first of the two Spruance-class submarines will be transferred to Turkey next year, with the other arriving the following year.
"Apart from the Tomahawk system, there are Asroc, Harpoon and Seasparrow missile systems also on the ships, the USS Cushing and the USS O'Bannon.
"Turkey is set to procure from the U.S. two destroyer submarines within the next two years, each equipped with a Tomahawk missile system, giving them the ability to hit hidden targets on land from sea.
"The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has reported that it approved the donation and sale of the 26-year-old destroyers. The last word on the transfer of the two submarines, one to be donated while the other is sold, belongs to U.S. President George W. Bush. The first of the two Spruance-class submarines will be transferred to Turkey next year, with the other arriving the following year. The subs, the USS Cushing and the USS O'Bannon, each weighs 8,000 tons. The cost of their maintenance is $30 million annually. Both ships are equipped with advanced weapons systems."

The only thing I can figure is that the Turkish words for "submarine" and "warship" are similar, and the author, trying not to use the word "destroyer" too frequently, put in "warship" instead, resulting in the mistranslation. Either that, or the Turks are going to be very surprised when Cushing and O'Bannon show up...

(While looking for the Turkish translations, I found that Bablefish doesn't translate to and from Turkish, and the Turkish word for ship is "fulk". I also found this good page of submarine links.)

For real submarine news, please go to The Sub Report...

posted by Bubblehead @ 8:46 AM