Being bilingual has its advantages September 16, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Translation.trackback
Friend and fellow translator, Kimme, posted this news article on Facebook this morning. Apparently the pilots on a recent Aer Lingus flight broadcast the wrong announcement in French warning to prepare for an emergency landing, causing the French passengers on board to panic. The English version simply asked passengers to return to their seats because of turbulence. Oops! I would imagine those passengers who were bilingual were extremely confused.
Musings from an overworked translator 
Not language related, but on my recent trip to the US, during a patch of turbulence an alarm suddenly went off, and the video screens started showing instructions for heading to an emergency exit and getting in the rafts. We were at 30,000 feet and near the Aleutian Islands at the time, so I wasn’t terribly optimistic about this. But then a few seconds later, the alarm and video were shut off, with no explanation. I could imagine the cockpit conversation:
“Put on the duty free commercial”
(a couple of seconds later)
“What the heck was that?”
“Whoops.”
Confused is right! Do you warn the English speakers or reassure the French speakers?