US Presidential Candidates get Spanish wrong on their websites

[Kat]

This beats President Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a stuffed pastry).

While there is a type of stuffed pastry that's called Berliner, Kennedy's famous sentence is neither wrong nor ambiguous.

This pastry has many different regional names. In Berlin, where Kennedy gave his speech, they say Pfannkuchen. If you go to a Berlin bakery and ask for a Berliner, you'll probably get a confused look and not much more.

[Speakeasy]

Kennedy's famous sentence is neither wrong nor ambiguous

Kat, thank you for your observations. I am quite aware that Kennedy’s utterance was correct in the context that he used it, as I am sure was his audience. Nevertheless, this did not prevent a number of West German journalists at the time from underscoring the possible double meaning of the expression, it was they who offered the translation of a stuffed pastry. That is, the ambiguity does, indeed, exist, if you want it to exist.

Kennedy’s use of the phrase forms part of the political history of the Cold War era. However, in linguistic terms, this phrase shows up repeatedly in German courses as an example of the differences between German and English usage of articles. Most often, the authors take pains to point out that both “Ich bin Berliner” and “Ich bin ein Berliner” are correct in the context that Kennedy used the latter and that the mockery by a few German journalists was light-hearted and meant to be an expression of genuine affection in the same manner that friends share in gentle teasing of one another. My reference to Kennedy’s phrase was a deliberate foil to the vastly more serious translation error of late July 1945.

[Kat]

Most often, the authors take pains to point out that both “Ich bin Berliner” and “Ich bin ein Berliner” are correct in the context that Kennedy used the latter and that the mockery by a few German journalists was light-hearted and meant to be an expression of genuine affection in the same manner that friends share in gentle teasing of one another. My reference to Kennedy’s phrase was a deliberate foil to the vastly more serious translation error of late July 1945.

Thank you for clarifying, speakeasy. Since I'd never heard this story before, I went on a little Internet search and found an interesting German Wikipedia article on Kennedy's speech with the subheading "Missverständnis im englischsprachigen Raum" (A missunderstanding in the English-speaking world).

According to the article, Kennedy's alleged mistake is actually an urban legend which originated in the 1980s in the US. The first known source is the British novel "Berlin Game" (1983) by Len Deighton, though it seems like the author only made a joke about it. When the New York Times published a review of the book, they apparently took the story serious and from this point on it has repeately turned up in different English media.

The Wikipedia article confirms that the usage of "ein" is perfectly correct in this case because Kennedy uses the phrase in a figurative sense. What I find most interesting, is the explanation they come up with for the laughter: Apparently Kennedy concluded his speech by thanking his interpreter with the sentence “I appreciate my interpreter translating my German!” and that's what made the audience laugh.

I have no idea if it's true but it sounds plausible.