duck let loose

Status
Not open for further replies.

undertakerTR

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Hello everyone,

I've came across a mistranslation recently.
I am studying translation and interpretation in college and couldn't find the correct translation of the sentence below. It's became an obsession for me, please help.

"Roasted duck let loose, beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion"
There is a mistake with the let loose but what should have been used instead of that? And can we take the "beaten up" idiom as a second mistake?


I'd like to thank everyone in advance
 
Last edited:

RonBee

Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I don't know what a correct translation would look like, but how would you let a roasted duck loose? (Wouldn't a roasted duck be dead?) And why would beef rashers be beaten up?

:roll:
 

undertakerTR

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
I don't know what a correct translation would look like, but how would you let a roasted duck loose? (Wouldn't a roasted duck be dead?) And why would beef rashers be beaten up?

:roll:

well, it is a quotation from a polish restaurant menu. People share it to have a laughter. Probably the translator didn't realize and translated an idiom in polish cuisine without thinking over it. The part that troubles me is what is the right equivalance in English :lol:
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
We talk about "free-range" chickens, allowed to wander about and not kept in little crates. Do you think that's what "let loose" is supposed to mean? Referring to its state prior to being dinner?
 

undertakerTR

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
We talk about "free-range" chickens, allowed to wander about and not kept in little crates. Do you think that's what "let loose" is supposed to mean? Referring to its state prior to being dinner?

I think it is a mistranslation of a term used for explaining a process of cooking. It looks like we need someone experienced in cooking as well as in idioms :lol:
 
Last edited:

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
I think it is a mistranslation of a term used for explaining a process of cooking. It looks like we need someone experience in cooking as well as in idioms :lol:

I think you're right - though Barb's idea sounds good. Another possibility is that the chicken's cooked while trussed up http://foodiereflections.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/img_3132.jpg and then undone before serving, or perhaps it's undone before cooking - birdeen's call might know... :?:

'Beaten' meat of any kind might be what is known here as 'tenderized' - hammered with something big and heavy before cooking. (Once, when I was on holiday in Greece, I saw a fisherman tenderizing a squid by beating it against the quay.)

b
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I think you're right - though Barb's idea sounds good. Another possibility is that the chicken's cooked while trussed up http://foodiereflections.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/img_3132.jpg and then undone before serving, or perhaps it's undone before cooking - birdeen's call might know... :?:

'Beaten' meat of any kind might be what is known here as 'tenderized' - hammered with something big and heavy before cooking. (Once, when I was on holiday in Greece, I saw a fisherman tenderizing a squid by beating it against the quay.)

b

I was thinking ground beef for that former -- and when I was in Greece, I saw a guy beating the crap out of dead octopus with a 2x4! Maybe it was a squid. I didn't have calamari that night, anyway. It was on Rhodes. Great vacation.
 

undertakerTR

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
I was thinking ground beef for that former -- and when I was in Greece, I saw a guy beating the crap out of dead octopus with a 2x4! Maybe it was a squid. I didn't have calamari that night, anyway. It was on Rhodes. Great vacation.

Thank you both. I believe tenderized must be the correct equivalence. Is there a possibility that let loose may have been used for the term marinate?
 

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
:?: P-o-ssibly. In English people anthropomorphize joints of meat in the expression 'let it rest' (after cooking and before carving), or bottles of wine in the expression 'let it breathe' (after taking the cork out). So I suppose Polish might use 'let it loose' for leaving in a marinade...

b
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
It's became an obsession for me, please help.
You've got me obsessed too. I have no idea what "let loose" is about. Yet!

PS: I've gooooooooooot it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Uff!

"Luzować" is a Polish culinary term which means "to remove the bones from (a bird)". For example, "luzować kaczkę" means "to remove the bones from a duck". Now, "luzować" is the infinitive. It must have been mistakenly translated to "to let loose". The adjectival participle is "luzowana" which gave "let loose", the English adjectival participle. The mistake is understandable. "Luzować" is etymologically akin to "loose", its general meaning (outside the kitchen) is "make loose". It has also other meanings. It can mean "relieve" as in "our shift will relieve yours", whence it's not far to "let loose".

PPS: Here's a photo tutorial to "let a chicken loose". ;-)

PPPS: I'm very proud of myself! :-D
 
Last edited:

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
I thought you'd get it! (In English it's just 'boned' [ bones removed]. When the meat is cut off the carcase of the animal, it's a fillet: the animal is 'filleted'. So a boned animal is still vaguely animal-shaped and a filleted animal has flat slices of flesh cut off it. Fish are often filleted, but land animals can be.)

b
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
I thought you'd get it! (In English it's just 'boned' [ bones removed]. When the meat is cut off the carcase of the animal, it's a fillet: the animal is 'filleted'. So a boned animal is still vaguely animal-shaped and a filleted animal has flat slices of flesh cut off it. Fish are often filleted, but land animals can be.)

b
I was wondering what the English word would be!

It was a very tough one all the way, anyway.
 

undertakerTR

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
You've got me obsessed too. I have no idea what "let loose" is about. Yet!

PS: I've gooooooooooot it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Uff!

"Luzować" is a Polish culinary term which means "to remove the bones from (a bird)". For example, "luzować kaczkę" means "to remove the bones from a duck". Now, "luzować" is the infinitive. It must have been mistakenly translated to "to let loose". The adjectival participle is "luzowana" which gave "let loose", the English adjectival participle. The mistake is understandable. "Luzować" is etymologically akin to "loose", its general meaning (outside the kitchen) is "make loose". It has also other meanings. It can mean "relieve" as in "our shift will relieve yours", whence it's not far to "let loose".


PPPS: I'm very proud of myself! :-D

Gosh! You are the man!:up:
Thank you birdeen's call. I can't explain how I'm relieved. Now I am truly satisfied with the answer. God bless you :lol:
After such a trouble I think I should find or at least try cooking that "Duck Let Loose" on my own :lol:
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Oh, nice job.

Since I can't even adequately carve the Thanksgiving turkey, the idea of letting loose any sort of fowl is more than I'm ready for!
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
It's seems like a tough job. I never did that!
 
Last edited:

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
well, it is a quotation from a polish restaurant menu.

I think menus should be translated only by experienced chefs who speak both languages well, though badly translated menus are a delight to me. I remember once wondering what I would be eating if I ordered the scarified eggs I saw on a menu in China.

Although my home is in the Czech Republic, my knowledge of Czech is very poor:oops:. However, when I eat in a restaurant, I always order from the Czech menu, not the English translation. I have learnt from pleasant experience what 'svickova' is, and this word means far more to me than 'candle steak', the normal English translation.

I don't think that translating literally such English delights as 'toad in the hole' or 'bubble and squeak' would be very helpful to Polish diners.
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
That's rather anti-climactic, don't you think? :-?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5jj

riquecohen

VIP Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
Brazil
I think menus should be translated only by experienced chefs who speak both languages well, though badly translated menus are a delight to me.

I don't think that translating literally such English delights as 'toad in the hole' or 'bubble and squeak' would be very helpful to Polish diners.
One of my favorites, seen on Brazilian menus, is translated for tourists as steak on a horse or beef on horseback. (Two fried eggs on top of a grilled steak.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5jj
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top