When working on mistranslation issues I encountered the following case: „During a trade fair in the 1990s,a company drafted a Romanian/German bilingual contract, stipulating the delivery of 3,000 cars, half black, half yellow. Obviously, the firm wanted 1,500 yellow cars and 1,500 black. What happened (as a result of mistranslation) was that all products had yellow hoods (half yellow) while the rest was black (the other approximate half). The contractor did not accept them and a new lot with the correct specifications had to be manufactured. The initial products were delivered to the domestic market and became taxis.” I was not able to find more detailed information about that case. Have any of you heard something more about that story and would be able to help?
