The Croatian Times (croatiantimes.com) recently published an article about a big misunderstanding due to language barriers that spread across the borders in the midst of the tourist season.
Here is the story:
“Croatian border control agents have not demanded oral sex from Slovakian tourists, the investigation has shown.
The sex-scandal at the Slovenian-Croatian border that shook the country at the height of the tourist season was really just a misunderstanding.
It became clear that something was lost in translation, when the police questioned four Slovakian citizens involved in the incident. Slovakian policemen that served this time as translators cleared up the confusion.
It turned out that Croatian guards had asked whether the girls had any drugs ("Ima li droge kod cura?"). The last part of the sentence "kod cura" sounds like Slovakian slang word "kocura," a vulgar term for "penis."
The police explained that one of the passengers in the car, a man, looked suspicious as though he could be consuming drugs. They asked the two young men whether they had any drugs, and when they responded negatively, the question that could have been a culprit of an international scandal, was asked. "A kod cura?" The policeman in question pointed to girls’ groin as this is a common place where drugs are often smuggled through border crossings.
"The young man translated that to the girls the way he understood it. Afterwards the girl told her mother over the phone and she informed the Croatian embassy in Bratislava."
The incident, authorities believe, has damaged Croatia’s reputation as a safe tourist destination.
"It would be good if the Slovakian media were to apologize because they published a lot of untrue information" the police have said.”
The sex-scandal at the Slovenian-Croatian border that shook the country at the height of the tourist season was really just a misunderstanding.
It became clear that something was lost in translation, when the police questioned four Slovakian citizens involved in the incident. Slovakian policemen that served this time as translators cleared up the confusion.
It turned out that Croatian guards had asked whether the girls had any drugs ("Ima li droge kod cura?"). The last part of the sentence "kod cura" sounds like Slovakian slang word "kocura," a vulgar term for "penis."
The police explained that one of the passengers in the car, a man, looked suspicious as though he could be consuming drugs. They asked the two young men whether they had any drugs, and when they responded negatively, the question that could have been a culprit of an international scandal, was asked. "A kod cura?" The policeman in question pointed to girls’ groin as this is a common place where drugs are often smuggled through border crossings.
"The young man translated that to the girls the way he understood it. Afterwards the girl told her mother over the phone and she informed the Croatian embassy in Bratislava."
The incident, authorities believe, has damaged Croatia’s reputation as a safe tourist destination.
"It would be good if the Slovakian media were to apologize because they published a lot of untrue information" the police have said.”
In order to avoid being lost in translation or interpretation and connected with such an unnecessary scandal, policemen and other public servants dealing with tourists from all over the world on a daily basis could write down the most frequently asked questions and statements in their mother tongue and give them to an expert to translate them into proper English. The next step could be to make a list of countries most tourists come from and translate the same questions and statements to other languages, in case somebody does not understand English (e.g. translations to German, Italian, French, Slovakian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, etc.). It could be useful to print materials with pictures and a translation right next to them, for people who remember things better when they are presented visually. There are plenty of things that one can do using the correct translation to avoid scandals and trouble, but also to be nice and polite and closer to our tourists who feel better when they are asked a question in a language they understand; it’s like a welcome drink, greeting them in their own language. The next season is coming soon so be prepared; what is done well this year can be used the following as a part of the development process.
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