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FEMA’s help for Alaska Natives had mistranslations, nonsense
AP ^ | 13 Jan 2023 | MARK THIESSEN

Posted on 01/13/2023 5:00:51 AM PST by blueplum

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — After tidal surges and high winds from the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive damage to homes along Alaska’s western coast in September, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents — largely Alaska Natives — repair property damage.

Residents who opened Federal Emergency Management Agency paperwork expecting to find instructions on how to file for aid in Alaska Native languages like Yup’ik or Inupiaq instead were reading bizarre phrases.

“Tomorrow he will go hunting very early, and will (bring) nothing,” read one passage. The translator randomly added the word “Alaska” in the middle of the sentence.

“Your husband is a polar bear, skinny,” another said.

Yet another was written entirely in Inuktitut, an Indigenous language spoken in northern Canada, far from Alaska....

...It appears the words and phrases used in the translated documents were taken from Nikolai Vakhtin’s 2011 edition of “Yupik Eskimo Texts from the 1940s,” ...field notes collected on Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula....

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Weather; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: alaska; boobs; fema; government; incompetence; inupiaq; typhoon; wereheretohelp; yupik
with due respect to the Inupiaq and Yup'ik, I really don't know what category to put this article in it's so ...Berkeley crazy.
1 posted on 01/13/2023 5:00:51 AM PST by blueplum
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To: blueplum

As I often say to my wife, “There is incompetence everywhere.”


2 posted on 01/13/2023 5:06:08 AM PST by systemjim ( Lifetime Lover of Music)
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To: blueplum

My igloo is full of eels, bouncy bouncy


3 posted on 01/13/2023 5:06:53 AM PST by agere_contra
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To: systemjim

These days though the country reeks with incompetence. It is everywhere. There is also a hefty dose of IDGAF.


4 posted on 01/13/2023 5:13:32 AM PST by Sequoyah101 (Procrastination is just a form of defiance.)
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To: agere_contra

I will not buy this polar bear, it is scratched.


5 posted on 01/13/2023 5:22:27 AM PST by bwest
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To: systemjim

“There is incompetence everywhere.” Yes, and government agencies excel in it.


6 posted on 01/13/2023 5:25:11 AM PST by JesusIsLord
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To: agere_contra

Drop your panties, Nanook, I cannot wait ‘til lunchtime.


7 posted on 01/13/2023 5:29:10 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: agere_contra

Hahahaha...”Don’t come knocking’ if the igloo is rocking’!”


8 posted on 01/13/2023 5:30:50 AM PST by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
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To: blueplum; All
Finding people competent to translate a language spoken, and seldom written, by a population of 3,000 people, is not simple or easy.

But this is a funny story. The ability of the propaganda media to create crises out of trivial incidents, is amazing.

I wager a significant number of the people reading the pamphlets had a good laugh!

Crazy government! Ha Ha!

9 posted on 01/13/2023 5:55:59 AM PST by marktwain
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To: rlmorel

LMAO! I knew this’d be a funny thread!!


10 posted on 01/13/2023 5:56:22 AM PST by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: bwest
I will not buy this polar bear, it is scratched.

FR needs a 'like' button, LOL

11 posted on 01/13/2023 6:07:57 AM PST by agere_contra
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To: SgtHooper

“My dull harpoon will bring no children or whale blubber.”


12 posted on 01/13/2023 6:16:18 AM PST by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
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To: blueplum

WOW!
Something personally writen by the President!!!


13 posted on 01/13/2023 7:02:18 AM PST by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It ( )
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To: blueplum

IMHO, it has ‘ChatGPT’ smeared all over it.


14 posted on 01/13/2023 6:02:01 PM PST by Montana_Sam (Truth lives.)
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