Languages in Translation

[jryson]

Joe spoke to the man in Russian. "The Red Cross is sending a..." He turned to Moe and switched to English. "What's Communist for 'truck?'"

"Say 'Studebaker.' He'll get the idea."

Joe turned back to the Russian man and went back to Russian. "The Red Cross is sending a Studebaker with supplies."

Comments

[norilana]

truck in Russian is gruzovik.

[jryson]

Right, these guys aren't too bright. Also, probably a bad example. Urban legend is that we sent Stalin some trucks under lend-lease. Some who had never seen a truck didn't know what to call it. It said "Studebaker" on the front, so that's what they called it.

I was trying to deal with switching languages in an all-English story.