Last week, the Malaysian Ministry of Defense posted an English translation of its dress code for employees on its web site. Unfortunately, it appears that they didn’t make arrangements to have the translation work done by a competent translator. The results were predictably hilarious and awkward.

Some of the issues stemmed from simply atrocious grammar. For example, this rather convoluted sentence comes from a screen grab of the web pages in question, now hosted on Scribd since the originals have been taken down:

“Therefore, how to dress and clothes are clean, tidy and appropriate to be standard practice is emphasized to the officers and staff.”

Well, then. That’s enough to give any English teacher a fit, but at least you get the gist of it. But, it gets worse. Women working at the Malaysian Ministry of Defense are advised not to wear “Clothes that poke eye” or “Dress up that thought it seems to want to attend a party or picnic.”

On Thursdays, Male employees who aren’t required to be in uniform must wear “long sleeve batik shirt with collar/ mongoose fight.”

Two mean, carnivorous animals fighting- yes, that’s exactly what I want to be wearing around my neck!

After people got wind of the page’s translation issues, the Ministry became the target of mockery across social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, according to the Uppercaise blog. As a result of the publicity, the English version of the site was taken down.

Malaysian Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the Star that the errors were due to Google Translate, saying “We have corrected the mistakes and translations are no longer done that way. It is now done manually.”

While these sorts of translation errors are often the fruit of relying on “free” machine translation, Uppercaise discovered that the official statement was probably not the whole story. They ran the original Malay on the site through Google Translate and found significant differences from the translations posted on the website.

The origin of this particular translation fail may always be shrouded in mystery, but the lesson is clear: When it comes to translating your website, take the time and spend the money to use a qualified translation firm!

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Malaysian Defence Awkward Translation

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The distributors of the action movie Colombiana, which stars Zoe Saldana as a female assassin, ran into a bit of a hurdle when they tried to get the movie approved for distribution in Hong Kong.

The problem? An unintentional double entendre in the movie’s original Mandarin title, “Hei-lan-jiao,” which means “Black Orchid Beauty.” Unfortunately, in the local Taiwanese dialect Hoklo, “Hei-lan-jiao” sounds an awful lot like “penis.” Whoops!

Taiwanese government censors were not pleased with the translation. According to the Taipei Times, the Government Information Office called the title a “violation of public morals.” In a comment to Reuters, the department further elaborated that “While film promotion and marketing needs to be creative and eye-catching, one must also consider public perceptions, and in this recent case, the title went too far.”

The film’s distributor, CatchPlay Inc, defended itself to the Taipei Times, saying “The translation came from the story itself, in which the killer draws a black orchid on her victims each time she takes revenge. We are sorry and will respect the decision of the GIO.”

The title of the movie in Mandarin has since been changed to “Heilansha,” which translates to “Black Beauty Evil.” That’s probably for the best, anyway…if they’d left it “Hei-lan-jiao,” who knows how many customers would have gone in expecting something far more risqué and demanded a refund afterwards for false advertising!

This incident illustrates why it’s so important for businesses to use qualified translators for translation projects. Translation is not just a matter of changing words from one language to another. As CatchPlay learned, you also have to be aware of local dialects and slang to avoid any unintentional negative connotations.

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Original‎ Chinese Translation of “Colombiana”‎

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New York City has had one heck of a week. First, a mild earthquake shook the city. Then, just a few days later, Hurricane Irene blew in from the Caribbean. Luckily, the city dodged a bullet when the storm weakened before it struck land.

As New York breathed a sigh of relief and began to clean up Irene’s mess, one way people coped with the ensuing aggravation was through humor – and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was a prime target.

You see, New York is a diverse city, and the two most commonly spoken languages are English and Spanish. To make sure the Spanish-speaking inhabitants were kept informed of the safety measures the city was taking, Mayor Bloomberg summarized them in Spanish. That’s definitely a nice gesture, but as you can see from the video below, young Mr. Bloomberg probably wasn’t the teacher’s pet in Spanish class:

Note the person laughing in the background and the decidedly uncomfortable expressions on the faces of the men behind him in the video.

But wait, it gets better. The Spanish evacuation instructions inspired one Twitter user to create a parody Twitter account, @ElBloombito. The account has become quite popular, gaining 8,419 followers in just a few days. Here are some of our favorite El Bloombito tweets from the past couple of days:

“Stay awayo para los next few days los parks y los trees. Que fall down. El BOOM!”

“Ay Ay Ay todos things are mucho wet!”

“No elevatorador serviso en el high rises por que no electrico para movo y no rescue. el sucko para you.“ #NYC #Irene

“El River de Easto es overflowando. Mucho agua en downtown! Necesito el snorkel!”

It will be interesting to see how long this goes on, now that Irene has passed.

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Bloomberg’s Warnings Lost in Translation

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A language translation error in the Italian edition of a Catholic book aimed at young people made it look like the Vatican had changed its mind about birth control, reversing centuries of church policy. The book had to be temporarily pulled from the shelves while the publishers corrected the error, lest young Italian Catholic couples think they had been given license to practice contraception.

The book, YouCat, uses a question-and-answer format to give young adult readers guidance on Church teachings. One question deals with the traditionally thorny issue of family planning. According to ThirdAge.com, when this particular question-and-answer couplet was translated, the Italian phrase “metodi anticoncezionali” was used as a translation for the German phrase “Empfngnisregelung”.

As you’ve probably guessed, since it’s a cognate, “metodi anticoncezionali” means “contraceptive methods” in Italian. So, the Italian version of the question asked “Can a Christian couple turn to contraceptive methods?” The answer given in the book translates to, “Yes, a Christian couple can and must be responsible about their capacity of being able to give life.”

Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press, which published the English-language version of YouCat, explained in more detail how the error occurred in a post on his blog:

“The problem did not originate with the German text–at least not if the Italian translation is based on the same German text as that on which Ignatius Press based its translation. The German text of question 420 asks whether a Christian married couple may regulate the number of children they have. It does not ask whether the couple may use methods of contraception.”

The church does allow couples to attempt to regulate how many children they have, but only by “natural family planning” methods, which require a lot more effort than most other popular methods and have a higher failure rate to boot. Since the Vatican has been fighting the prevailing cultural winds for decades on this issue, the mistranslation was kind of a big deal. It’s also a perfect example of how translators have to be sensitive to the nuances of the words they use when they work. There are so many situations, just like this one, where “close enough” just doesn’t cut it.

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Mistranslation Confuses Italian Youth

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In February, the European Union approved a new free trade agreement with South Korea.  However, the pact sparked a controversy in South Korea after Korean lawyer Song Ki-ho uncovered numerous translation errors and discrepancies between the English language version of the agreement and the Korean one.

According to the Korea Times, some of the translation errors were quite significant. For example, the English version of a section on licensing for architects says that architects licensed in Europe can become licensed in Korea by passing a simplified exam only. The Korean version says that architects must have 5 years of experience and an exam, as per existing Korean law. According to Mr. Song, if left uncorrected this could have led to European architects being able to get Korean architect’s licenses more quickly and easily than Korean architects.

Mr. Song told the Korea Times:

“I cannot understand why they cause these controversies through disparities in the two versions. The disparities themselves must be corrected to weed out any misunderstanding.”

The South Korean government fixed the first batch of errors Song found, only to have him identify still more errors in the “corrected” translation.  Hopefully, the third time is the charm, as the agreement is supposed to go into effect in on July 1^st.

In response to the controversy, Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon has declared that new proofreading procedures will put in place for the upcoming free trade agreement with the United States.

Mr. Kim told the Korea Joong Ang Daily:

“What is wrong is wrong and errors must be corrected, and we are in that process. I have some measures in mind that include making a proper team that does the job within the ministry instead of running temporary task force teams, asking for the help of professionals outside the ministry even if it means more costs for us, and having a grace period and revealing the first version of the translation as an unofficial version before everything is thoroughly checked.”

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Translation Errors In Free Trade Agreement

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Accurately translating text from Japanese or Chinese to English (or vice versa) can be a difficult task. The languages are just so different, both grammatically and phonetically. Meanwhile, small Asian businesses often don’t have the resources to get a proper translator and rely on machine translation instead. The resulting translations are sometimes odd and nonsensical, and often hilarious. If you need a laugh, Engrish.com has a constantly growing collection of these mistranslations and malapropisms. Here are 10 of my personal favorites:

1. “Hand grenade:” Found over a fire extinguisher in China.
2. “The grass is smiling at you. Please detour.” Found on a “Keep off the grass” sign from China. Why yes, don’t mind if I do…
3. “Nokia – Connocting poopie.” Found over a cell phone shop in Manzhouli, China. Obviously, this should say “Nokia – Connecting people.” But it doesn’t.
4. These children’s play area rules from a shopping center in Malaysia repeatedly refer to the play area as “the naughty palace.” Could be me, but that doesn’t sound like an appropriate place for a child!
5. “Feman:” Found on a women’s bathroom sign in China.
6. “Fried horse crap with lime.” Found on a menu in Thailand. Judging by the accompanying picture, it’s actually a crab dish. Thank heavens!
7. Chinese Semen Cannabis Drink: Found on a menu in Hong Kong. They meant “hemp seed.”
8. “Drop off your laundry and get it on.” Found over a laundromat in Saipan.
9. “ZeroCare:” The name of a home health care service. Nurse Ratched, is that you?
10. “Creep Shop:” The name of a crepe shop in Japan.

It should be noted that English speakers have their own translation issues with Japanese and Chinese, especially when it comes to body art. See That Chinese Tattoo: I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means for some examples.  At least signs and menus can be reprinted!

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Top 10 Asian English Translation Failures

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For companies looking to expand into Asia, one of the hardest steps is choosing the right name. Chinese in particular lends itself to plays on words, and it’s common for names to have multiple meanings that can either help a brand or damage it. The result is that a company name that seems simple and straightforward in English can have undesirable connotations when translated phonetically into Chinese.

For example, this story on CNN.com recounts the struggle that US-based law firm Kobre & Kim LLP went through to find a Chinese version of their name. While the Chinese character for “Kim” means “gold,” finding the right characters to approximate “Kobre” was harder. Eventually, the company decided on a combination of characters that means “Plentiful Knowledge and Victorious in Our Pursuit of Gold.”

That may sound like the “Tikki-tikki-tembo” of law office names, but it’s a lot better than some of the competition.  William McGovern, Kobre and Kim’s managing partner in Hong Kong, told CNN that:

“A Chinese speaking partner at the Hong Kong office of another American law firm complimented our choice of name, and warned that more firms should put thought into their name, giving an example of one poorly translated name that could be read by native Chinese speakers to mean ‘garbage pile. We obviously are happy to have avoided that outcome.”

According to James McGregor, Dow Jones’ former CEO in China,  Kobre and Kim was lucky to be able to put as much forethought into their name as they did. He explained to CNN that:

“Many companies don’t have much choice on what they name themselves in China, especially old companies that have been around for many years. In many cases, the Chinese media just make up transliterated names for them and they stuck.”

That almost happened to Coca-Cola, in one of the most famous translation mishaps. According to Snopes.com, the company put a lot of effort into deciding how to translate its name into Chinese. However, while they were doing their homework, shopkeepers in China were already selling Coke in their stores and transliterating the product name as they saw fit. The result was a slew of translations that were more or less phonetically accurate, but had nonsensical meanings like “bite the wax tadpole.” The symbols the company officially settled on in 1928 mean “to allow the mouth to be able to rejoice.”

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Translate your Brand Name in Chinese

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A translator at Lincoln Prison made an unfortunate error in translating a prisoner handbook for Russian speaking prisoners, translating “exercise yard” as “execution yard.”  Obviously, this would not have been good for the morale of Russian-speaking inmates, but fortunately according to the BBC the error was caught during proofreading and the mistranslated material was never actually handed out to the prisoners.

According to the Telegraph, the  mistake came to light in a report from Nick Hardwick, the Chief Inspector of Prisons,  who wrote:

“Staff were concerned that some translations were not entirely accurate, one example being a Russian handbook which had translated ‘exercise yard’ as ‘execution yard…the accuracy of translated material should be verified.”

The mistake may seem funny to outsiders, but imagine if you were a Russian prisoner who didn’t speak English! As Mr. Hardwick told the BBC:

“This is an example where actually making sure prisoners have properly translated material is important. You could treat it as a bit of a joke unless you were that prisoner and you didn’t understand how the British prison service worked and came from a country that still had execution yards. It wouldn’t be a funny thing for him.”

This mistake demonstrates how important it is to make sure that your business or organization uses translators who are trained professionals. Seemingly minor errors can have a tremendous impact on how your translated material comes across to the intended audience. In this case, if the error had not been caught, those poor prisoners would have been in fear for their lives!

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Lincoln Prison Translation Fail

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The debate over machine-produced versus human translation took the British Colombian division of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police by surprise, according to an article in the Vancouver Sun. The BC Mounties were providing French translations of their press releases via Google Translate. However, after a recent, highly critical report from Radio-Canada sparked controversy, they will no longer offer Google Translate to translate press releases from French to English.

Here’s the unfortunate thing-since the British Colombian division of the RCMP does not have enough translators on staff, disabling the Google Translate option isn’t going to improve service to their French-speaking users. In fact, it will have quite the opposite effect, at least until a new translator is hired. The Google-provided translations were no doubt imperfect and clunky. They almost always are. However, they were generated instantly. Readers also had the option to request a human-translated version to be emailed to them, although that could take up to a month.

Technically, that doesn’t meet the requirements of the  Official Languages Act, which requires Canadian government agencies to communicate with citizens in both French and English. RCMP spokesman Insp. Tim Shields acknowledged as much in the Vancouver Sun. However, the practice at least allowed French speakers to get the gist of a press release without delays.

Now, as the RCMP tries to find another translator, the website will only offer French-speaking visitors the option to request a translation via email. Visitors who speak other languages will still be able to use Google Translate, as will French-speaking visitors with enough web savvy to cut and paste the release into Google Translate themselves.

At this time, human translation is more accurate than machine translation, and Francophone Canadians have a right to translations that are  both correct and provided in a timely manner. Until the RCMP gets another French translator, though, it seems a little silly to remove the Google Translate option.

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | British Colombian Mounties Remove Google Translate From Website

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Facebook’s crowd-sourced translation app has helped the company translate Facebook into over 100 different languages quickly and cheaply. However, the company (and many of its users) just discovered one of the downsides of crowd-sourcing- vulnerability to online pranksters.

The problem was discovered on July 28th, when Spanish and Turkish-speaking Facebook users logged on to find their pages filled with profanity in both English and Spanish. For example, according to this article on The Register, the Turkish version of Facebook’s IM error message, which is supposed to read “Your message could not be sent because the recipient is offline,” was changed to say “ “Your message could not be sent because of your tiny penis.” That’s pretty much the only example that’s even printable.

Why did Facebook suddenly start cursing at its users?  Facebook’s translation app depends on users to vote for the most accurate translations for each piece of text. That works great, as long as the people are voting are honestly trying to be helpful. Unfortunately for Facebook, members of a Turkish online forum called Inci Sözlük worked together to create the profane “translations” and vote them up. This vulnerability is inherent in any sort of crowd-sourcing unless precautions are taken. For example, when young Canadian pop star Justin Bieber tried to “crowd-source” a stop on his world tour, his contest was hijacked by the internet pranksters at 4chan, who promptly voted to send him to North Korea.

Rik Ferguson, a security consultant at Trend Micro, told the Register that this prank should serve  as “teachable moment,” both for Facebook and for other companies that use crowd-sourcing:

“Perhaps it is fortunate that the hole has been exposed through a prank in the first instance and not something more nefarious. Any online service, whether it’s translation or reputation services, which solicits user generated content would be well advised to quality check that content before going live with it.”

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Crowd-Sourced Translation Goes Awry For Facebook

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