Have you ever read a book in translation and found that some passages sounded funny, somehow wrong?
Recently, I read "84 Charing Cross Road" by Helene Hanff, a simple little book that can make people laugh and cry at the same time. I had the English original, a friend of mine read the German translation. She said there were a few passages she could not understand. Here are two examples:
The original says, "I don't add too well in plain American, I haven't a prayer of ever mastering bilingual arithmetic", meaning she didn't have a chance of doing sums in British pounds. The translator says, she cannot pray any more.
Original: (A woman is looking for someone at a book store) "But it was one-ish when I went in, I gather they were all out to lunch and I couldn't stay any longer." The translation says, "But I was all alone when I went in ...", which doesn't make any sense at all.
Have you ever had similar problems with translations?