In an increasingly interconnected world, the need for high-quality translation services often speaks for itself, but there also happens to be countless examples and cautionary tales of what happens when this translation is missing.
Much like how the expression “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” highlights the importance of punctuation and how a simple small symbol can completely change a sentence’s meaning, the “name” Prawo Jadzy has been wryly noted by translators working in Ireland for its effect not only on the field but also how it may have changed an entire set of documents.
The story of “Mr” Prawo Jadzy started with over 50 traffic offences reported on the Irish Garda’s PULSE computer system, each with a different address and taking place across the length and breadth of the country.
The Gardaí believed “he” was the worst traffic criminal in the country and started an intense investigation to find out who this mysterious “Mr” Jadzy was and whether “he” could be brought to justice.
What any Polish speaker knows already and what the Garda found out in June 2007 was that Prawo Jadzy is Polish for “Driving License” and appeared on the top right of any driving licence issued in Poland from 1998 onwards. The name and personal details of the driver are in a smaller font.
This won the Irish police an ironic “Ig Nobel Prize”, accepted by Karolina Lewestam, a Polish citizen who had received a traffic fine in Ireland, but it had a much broader effect beyond being an embarrassing translation mistake on the part of the Garda.
The result of the error led to a lot of discussions as to how it could have possibly happened so often and why it took so long to fix; according to a book on policing in Ireland, the translation error was allegedly discovered after a police officer called an employer of one of the “Prawo Jadzys” only to be told what it actually meant.
This was eventually rectified through the implementation of a universal EU-wide driving licence format, which meant that the name and personal details were always in a consistent location.
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