6 ms·

I would be very curious to know exactly what the English sentence was. I've found that, unless you use perfect English (assuming the source language is English)

• tantalor 8y ago
  The article implies the original phrase: Can I search the car? Google translates: puedo buscar el auto This translates back to English: I can get the car?
  • shkkmo 8y ago
    Using google translate well is a skill in itself, you have to be explicit, use simpler words / grammar and avoid implicit, figurative or ambigous meanings. "Can I search the inside of your car?" translates quite well back and forth because the implicit meanings have been made explicit.
    • kiallmacinnes 8y ago
      Right, this is what I was getting at, but you explained it better :)
• lazzlazzlazz 8y ago
  "Can I search the car?" in Google Translate yields "¿Puedo buscar el auto?", which is the phrase specified in the article. It's a case of bad translation, although as a bilingual speaker of English and Spanish, I think it's clear what the officer meant. (Better verbs would've been "registrar" or even "examinar".) I agree that "¿Puedo buscar el auto?" sounds like "Can I find the car?"
  • posterboy 8y ago
    It's a case of weird input language, alright. When I'm searching my phone, I'm looking for it. When I find my phone, then that's the moment I found it. When I am finding my phone, then that's a very optimistic way of phrasing that I will find it. Whereas, when I browse my phone, I am looking, or searching for something else through the use of my phone. Hence German "durchsuchen" -- search through. English can be an analytic language, so there's a difference, but you might as well say the situation could be analyzed to find the intent of the policemen at the latest when they actually started rifling through the car. At which point I wonder whether there was any protest against the examination. As an aside, ironically, google with search being their main claim to fame could not translate this any differently. Also, I got a punny answer when asking someone to look at my stuff, as I wanted to leave it at the bus stop while going into a shop: "Yes, it looks nice".
• dontreact 8y ago
  As a bilingual speaker who grew up speaking Spanish, I would perfectly well understand “puedo buscar el auto” in that context, and myself would be extremely unlikely to interpret it as anything else. Im not sure I would myself translate t any differently.
  • tantalor 8y ago
    But you are bilingual; the person in the article was not.
    • flattone 8y ago
      2nd are you bilingual native Spanish speaker
    • dontreact 8y ago
      My point is that even a bilingual police officer (if I was in their place) could have said the same thing thing.
      • dragonwriter 8y ago
        No, a bilingual police officer (or other bilingual listener) would likely understand the intended meaning if someone else made this error (because they would know English and Spanish both well enough to see the likely translation-from-English error), but they would not be likely to make the error.
  • TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
    But if you were transporting quite a stash of meth and cocaine I'm sure you'd want to find a lawyer who could convincingly argue confusion.
    • daveFNbuck 8y ago
      If you were transporting quite a stash of meth and weren't confused about what the police were asking or about your right to refuse, wouldn't you just say no?
• TomK32 8y ago
  One simple trick is to be more verbose when using an automatic translator. "Do you allow me to search for things your car?" gives you "¿Me permites buscar cosas para tu auto?" which might be better? (I had Latin in school, none of that modern stuff).
  • copperx 8y ago
    That phrase means "can I look for things for your car?" which a Spanish speaker would only use to say "Can I shop around for decorations for your car?". I would laugh at an officer if he said that to me.