School Bus vs Ferrari Metaphor

[Perknose]

And how it played differently in China! 😱

Such culturally based differences in perception are fascinating to me.

On a related note, I'm always amazed at how treaties and other crucially important agreements are drawn up between countries who speak and use different languages. No translation can ever be simply word for word, so how do they (finally) get the treaty to say EXACTLY the same thing in both languages?

Answer: Imho, they don't, not really, not 100%. 😱

 

[Rebel_L]

I believe you have linked to the wrong article. While interesting I don't see a mention of a school bus vs Ferrari metaphor or any mention of china.

 

[Perknose]

I believe you have linked to the wrong article. While interesting I don't see a mention of a school bus vs Ferrari metaphor or any mention of china.

Link changed in OP, thanks. Here it is, also: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/08/26/china_US_J11_P8_hainan_ferrari_school_bus

 

[sm625]

That article is a good example of why a treaty could take 1000 words to clarify a single statement. The best thing to do is simply not use language like that at all. If one plane is more agile than another, then simply say so.

 

[Subyman]

You'd have to always be looking for the dark-side of a comment to get anything out of a Ferrari vs a school bus. Sounds like the communist party was trying to find something to spin out of the comments and it was not an innocent misunderstanding.

 

[Perknose]

You'd have to always be looking for the dark-side of a comment to get anything out of a Ferrari vs a school bus. Sounds like the communist party was trying to find something to spin out of the comments and it was not an innocent misunderstanding.

That's always possible, and may well have been part of it, but please don't underestimate the depths of different cultural framing for how people view things.

 

[Craig234]

As much as their is to appreciate about the unintentional differences in language, don't forget the incentive to intentionally introduce language to take advantage of the language gap. It's happened, getting a treaty to say something with the other side not realizing it until after it's signed.

I guess this is why diplomacy settled on one language, French, for a long time.