My family likes to eat Oriental foods, so we visit Oriental grocery stores to look for new things to try as often as we can. Over the weekend, I bought some packages of upper-scale ramen, whose label says it is “Sichuan Spicy Noodle Chicken Flavored”. The label is primarily in Chinese, which is to be expected, but it is also in English and French. Most of the English is good, but whoever wrote the French knows WAY more English than French. In fact, it looks like the French translator just did a word-for-word translation of the English, with no reference at all to the original Chinese. (Note: I don’t read or speak Chinese at all, so I have no clue what the Chinese part actually says. However, English is my native language, and I am fluent in French.)
Some of the translations that caught my eye/tickle bone:
“Chicken Flavored Sichuan Spicy Noodle” = “à l’arôme de poulet Sichuan épicé nouilles”
“Chicken Soup Flavouring” = “poulet soupe poudre”
“pepper powder” = “poivre poudre”
And the clincher, which refers to a packet of chili hot oil that is added to the soup after it is cooked:
“chilly oil” = “froid huile”