Before getting a tattoo in an unknown language, it is best to check its meaning or be prepared for disastrous results
What’s better than a tattoo? One in a foreign language, of course. If trend meters are to be believed, then tattooing phrases, quotes, words in a foreign language has caught the fancy of celebrities. Hollywood celebrities have often gone with Indian languages — Jessica Alba’s wrist is inked with “Padma and Brittany Snow’s right ankle says “Abhay.” Angelina Jolie has a verse in Pali emblazoned on her left shoulder. Closer home, our very own Sushmita Sen has a tattoo in Latin which reads Aut Viam inveniam aut faciam which translates as “I shall either find a way or make my own.”
A tattoo definitely looks more attractive in another language form and can be a great conversation starter. It also adds a hint of mystery, according to Vikas Malani, founder of BodyCanvas Tattoos. But sometimes the results are not so desirable as was seen with the Victoria tattoo on David Beckham’s arm which was spelt incorrectly or Gillian Anderson’s unknown Hindi word. Recently, pop singer Ariana Grande planned to get the title of her latest hit single, 7 Rings, tattooed on her palm in Japanese, but after sharing a photo of the new ink on Instagram she got trolled and learned that it was misspelled and meant, ‘7 bbq grill’ instead. When she attempted to get it fixed, it turned out to be an even bigger faux pas, as the tattoo now means ‘7 bbq fingers’.
“If celebrities can wake up to the nightmares of a tattoo gone wrong, what are mere mortals like us? The countless instances of tattoos gone wrong with disastrous errors and weird translations happen because people fail to do their homework,” says Malani.
His words of advice? “Never trust the Internet /Google. Try translating two languages that you know with its help and you know it can have errors — big ones. So, if you don’t write/speak the language that your tattoo is written in, find a qualified translator or native speaker to translate it for you. Then verify/cross check with one more person who knows that language too. We know the difference between you’re and your but someone who doesn’t know English might just end up getting a tattoo with a wrong meaning altogether.”
Malani feels that websites may give us the words but the meaning can go out of context. The word “free” can denote freedom or something that has no cost. In English, we use the same word for both meanings, but in another language, it may be two different words. So do a thorough research beforehand to avoid any blunders and make your tattoo rock.
