# Why only Romanian and Polish?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [January 29, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695 "2013-01-29T05:42:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/1 "2013-01-29T05:42:38Z")
[Linky.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/904/why-the-weird-religious-ravings-on-dr-bronners-soap)
Scroll down to bottom of the Column.
Why not translate into Spanish,German etc? Any specific reason?
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### Author:  [@KayLovesPurple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KayLovesPurple)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/2 "2013-01-29T07:33:09Z")
I would guess that the reason is no one has provided the translation in other languages but Romanian and Polish.
This being said, the Romanian translation is atrocious and makes absolutely no sense. I am a native speaker and cannot understand most of it, so I imagine it’s been done via something like Google Translate anyway.
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### Author:  [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2013, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/3 "2013-01-29T08:15:49Z")
^ Why not offer your services then? 😛
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### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/4 "2013-01-29T13:25:06Z")
> [@KayLovesPurple](#):
>
> I would guess that the reason is no one has provided the translation in other languages but Romanian and Polish.
>
> This being said, the Romanian translation is atrocious and makes absolutely no sense. I am a native speaker and cannot understand most of it, so I imagine it’s been done via something like Google Translate anyway.
Now, just to be clear, before we blame the translator, have you tried understanding the English version? I’m just saying, well, incoherency, may not be due to a BAD translation..
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/5 "2013-01-29T15:48:05Z")
> [@Quercus](#):
>
> Now, just to be clear, before we blame the translator, have you tried understanding the English version? I’m just saying, well, incoherency, may not be due to a BAD translation..
have you read a Bronner soap label? why should a column about the label be any different?
the column, except for quotes of the label, reads understandable enough.
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### Author:  [@KayLovesPurple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KayLovesPurple)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/6 "2013-01-29T18:23:16Z")
> [@Quercus](#):
>
> Now, just to be clear, before we blame the translator, have you tried understanding the English version? I’m just saying, well, incoherency, may not be due to a BAD translation..
Yup, I did read the English one (well, not all of it, but enough to know it makes sense, whereas the Romanian one doesn’t).
As an example, the title in Romanian sounds something like “Why ravings strange religious on soap Dr. Bronner his?” 🙂
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### Author:  [@El\_Famous\_Burrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Famous_Burrito)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/7 "2013-01-29T19:22:47Z")
Regardless of translation, this line…
“Fittingly, he took to the soapbox to promote it.”
…is fantastic. Well done, Master.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/8 "2013-01-30T00:26:54Z")
Due to Canada’s language laws, all of Dr Bronner’s ravings are in both French and English on the products sold here. It makes for a _very_ compact labelling.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/9 "2013-01-30T01:26:43Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> Due to Canada’s language laws, all of Dr Bronner’s ravings are in both French and English on the products sold here. It makes for a _very_ compact labelling.
it would be to the store’s benefit to have a magnifying glass near this product.
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### Author:  [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/10 "2013-01-30T18:05:02Z")
So am I the only one who’s wondering why, of the millions and millions of columns Cecil has written, this one and this one alone has been chosen for translation?
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2013, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/11 "2013-01-31T05:44:32Z")
> [@johnpost](#):
>
> it would be to the store’s benefit to have a magnifying glass near this product.
Actually, I think better not. 🙂
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2013, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/12 "2013-01-31T11:12:31Z")
> [@Cayuga](#):
>
> So am I the only one who’s wondering why, of the millions and millions of columns Cecil has written, this one and this one alone has been chosen for translation?
Because the translators wrote Cecil and asked if he would permit these translations to be made.
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/13 "2013-01-31T12:10:01Z")
Wouldn’t it be incumbent upon Cecil or one of his minions to ensure that any translation makes sense before he permits a link to it?
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/14 "2013-01-31T21:20:39Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#):
>
> Because the translators wrote Cecil and asked if he would permit these translations to be made.
But why, oh why, did the translators want just this column?
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/15 "2013-02-04T01:02:10Z")
And why, oh why, did they ask for permission to translate if they couldn’t do it? I mean, why would people who don’t speak Romanian want a Romanian translation to be made?
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### Author:  [@falcotron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/falcotron)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/16 "2013-04-01T10:23:43Z")
> [@Nametag](#):
>
> And why, oh why, did they ask for permission to translate if they couldn’t do it? I mean, why would people who don’t speak Romanian want a Romanian translation to be made?
Most likely Bronner believed Romanian translation essential to end slavery of world-united action-harmony, and he or one of his followers submitted a translation, performed by Eternal Father through his agency, [babelfish.altavista.com](http://babelfish.altavista.com).
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### Author:  [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/17 "2013-04-01T11:47:33Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#):
>
> Because the translators wrote Cecil and asked if he would permit these translations to be made.
That does not mean that the Straight Dope website should link to translations that are incoherent and probably done by google translate or something. Just get rid of them. I mean, I admit that other than some passive skills, I don’t have a lot of Polish but I think that them translating “What’s the scoop, Poop?” as “Co poop, Scoop?” should probably serve as a strong indicator that this translation is computer generated. The same goes for the title of the Romanian translation, which reads “De ce _ravings_ ciudat religioase pe săpun Dr. Bronner lui?”
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/18 "2013-04-02T03:59:12Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#):
>
> That does not mean that the Straight Dope website should link to translations that are incoherent and probably done by google translate or something. Just get rid of them.
I’m afraid that you misunderstand the true mission of the Straight Dope. The “fighting ignorance” has, since 1973, been tossed aside frequently in favor of a snarky crack or bad joke, and half-assed translations are two-fers. This site attracts wiseasses, but following Cecil for as much as forty years has made wiseasses of many of us who only tended that way before we discovered him.
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### Author:  [@janeelissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeelissa)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2013, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/19 "2013-04-02T06:54:58Z")
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-romanian-and-polish/648695/20 "2013-04-02T14:15:57Z")
for some the SDMB brings out the little bit of Cecil in all of us.
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