G.I. Joe, King of Mistranslations

I was researching the new G.I. Joe film for a potential post (I commented on the original film over 2 years ago and also said it was Bleh) and came across the "goofs" section on its IMDB page.


2 goofs I would like to highlight:
"In the nuclear launch scene when all the nations are retaliating with their own nuclear weapons, China is pictured and then presses their "launch" button which is actually written in Korean. North Korea is then pictured and presses their "launch" button which is written in Chinese."


The second is even worse:
"In the bunker, when the various world leader's each open their respective "nuclear football" control cases, on the French president's case, the right-hand-most button, which would be labeled "Arm" in English, is labeled "Bras". While this does indeed mean "Arm", it is the noun, referring to the limb between your wrist and your shoulder. It's dubious whether such a device actually exists in France, but were it to, the correct label would probably be "Armer", or (better) "Préparer".

I would personally go with "armer".

It also lead to this conversation:

Me: "Is it bad that i want to see the new gi joe because of 1 actor?"
My friend: "yes"



I have had this song stuck in my head since this morning, so I am sharing. If you have never seen Arrested Development, I have one question for you: what is wrong with you?



Update: Found another goof!
The prison, set in the former East Germany, is called "Einsargen". While this, translated to English, basically means "coffin" and fits in the context, the word is a verb ("to coffin somebody") and not a proper noun.

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