Translate Server Error

Cindy King — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:00:59 +0000

There are many examples of translation and difficulties in cross-cultural communication in the press right now with the Olympics.

I found the photo below at http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2008/07/then-well-grab.html

This company sign is a fine example of why you have to be careful with online translation software.

The original Chinese characters ( 餐厅) should have translated into ‘Restaurant’.

The task of translating only two characters into one word does not seem the most difficult task for a software to do. This translation was obviously done using software, and very little human supervision, if any at all.

A simple cross reference of translating the results back into the original language would have highlighted the error.

This is a fine example of caution necessary when you use translation software to translate into a language that you do not speak.

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Cindy King's International Business Blog » olympic 2008 translation errors

Translate Server Error

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