Monday January 15, 2018
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump was reported to have used the term "sh**hole countries" when referring to Haiti, El Salvador and parts of Africa.
The comments are believed to have happened during a meeting on Thursday with senators at the White House, where they were discussing whether they should accept more immigrants from said nations.
Trump has since denied that he used the words in a Twitter post but did say that:
His comments sparked a strong backlash around the globe with people condemning Trump is a variety of ways.
However, reporting on the story has proved a little difficult for news outlets everywhere.
For starters is it OK to swear or not in coverage? The BBC even had to swear at 8 am in the morning.
Spare a thought for the foreign media, where the word "sh**hole", isn't part of their vocabulary.
These are how foreign outlets interpreted the word.
JAPAN:
The wire service in Japan, Kyodo News opted for "kusottare" which graphically translates as "dripping with excrement."
Elsewhere in Japan, their national broadcaster NHK used "filthy," whereas the newspaper Asahi Shimbun went for a word meaning "outdoor toilets."
Quite Interesting reports that some organisations in Japan stated that the term translated as "countries that are dirty like toilets."
CHINA:
Chinese media is heavily controlled and monitored by the state meaning that any swearing or elaborate translations are a big no-no.
However, the Xinhua News Agency along with other networks chose to use "fenkeng" which means cesspit.
The Guardian report that in addition to this, the People's Daily felt that the phrase meant "countries that suck."
VIETNAM:
The Vietnamese Youth newspaper, based in Ho Chi Minh City used a word meaning "rubbish states."
TAIWAN:
Staying in Asia, outlets in Taiwan are said to have translated sh**hole phonetically.
"Niao bu sheng dan de guo jia" strangely means "countries where birds don't lay eggs."
CROATIA:
Croatia also had an odd translation of the word.
Apparently, outlets there opted for a word which translated as "places where wolves have sex."
FRANCE:
There were two translations of the word in France.
Le Monde went with "pays de monde" which means "sh** countries."
In contrast, Courrier International used "trou a merde" which means "hole of sh**." They even went to great lengths to explain the meaning.
The Guardian quotes them as saying:
Literally, sh**hole means hole of sh**, and refers to toilets and, by extension, backwaters, ‘ratholes’.
POLAND:
Over in Poland, where Trump embarrassed himself recently, the liberal daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza used "imigrantach z zadupia."
The Warsaw-based publication translated the phrase as meaning "immigrants from either sh**holes, hellholes or nowhere."
GREECE:
The Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea used a word which translated as "thieving countries."
EL SALVADOR:
The Central American country, which is one of the nations Trump is alleged to have insulted didn't mess around with their translation.
"Agujerous de mier" literally translates as "sh**hole" and was used by the news site La Pagina.
HAITI:
French is the native language of Haiti and much like the aforementioned Courrier International, the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste opted to use "un trou de merde" in their report.
TANZANIA:
It has not been disclosed which African nations were discussed in the meeting but there has been a widespread response from many nations in the continent.
In Tanzania, the Mwananchi newspaper used the word "mataifa chafu" which simply means "dirty countries."
KENYA:
In Kenya, there were differences over how to translate the word in Swahili.
The Swahili newspaper Daily Nation used the word "nchi za kinyesi."
However, that is not a direct translation as it uses a more acceptable word than sh**.
According to the paper's editor Gilbert Mogire, a literal translation of the word would have been "unprintable."