Jessica Jones over at The Local continues reporting on an embarrassing gaffe in promoting a vegetable celebration in a town in northwestern Spain. The town, Pontes, publicized its annual rapini festival on the town hall's website.
From the article:
A town hall in northwestern Spain was left red-faced after a Google Translate error led to it advertising its local leaf vegetable celebration as a much more X-rated affair.
One of the highlights of the year in the town of As Pontes in Galicia, northwestern Spain, is its annual rapini festival, when townsfolk celebrate the town's speciality, the leafy green vegetable similar to spinach.
[...] But when residents clicked onto the Castillian Spanish version of the town's website - provided by Google Translate - to check the dates for next year's fest they were shocked at the new turn the festival had apparently taken.
"The clitoris is one of the typical products of Galician cuisine," read the description of the festival on the Castillian Spanish version of the town hall's website, whose original version is written in Galician.
"Google translate recognized our Galician word grelo as Portuguese and translated into the Spanish clítoris," town hall spokeswoman Monserrat García, explained to The Local.
Google Translate changed Feira do grelo (Rapini Festival) into Feria Clítoris (Clitoris Festival) leading to some embarrassment when staff at the town hall discovered their error on Thursday.
While this is embarrassing for the folks in Pontes, it raises some interesting questions as to how useful automated translation software (such as Google Translate) can be.
Have any Soylentils run into issues like this while using automated translation software? Did anyone see the mistranslation and make travel plans based on the it?
(Score: 4, Funny) by TrumpetPower! on Wednesday November 04 2015, @05:42PM
...and my nipples are exploding with delight.
It's been a problem [youtube.com] since the early '70s, long before the Google.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by martyb on Wednesday November 04 2015, @06:33PM
Agreed! In the early 90's I was doing software test for a company. We worked closely with the publications department; not only reviewing their documents, but also as a result of us both being 'downstream' from what development produced. One of the guys I worked with told of a place which had bought a database package from a French company and had it translated to English. To their credit, the translators were consistent, if not always correct. They had difficulty translating the fact that databases were composed of records, and records were composed of fields.
The translators stated that database records were comprised of... meadows!
Wit is intellect, dancing. I'm too old to act my age. Life is too important to take myself seriously.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday November 04 2015, @08:06PM
Of course it's already strange that the databases were composed [wikipedia.org] of records, [wikipedia.org] but it's completely strange that those records were composed of fields. [wikipedia.org] :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @08:30PM
The meat is rotten, but the booze is holding out.
Computer translation of "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
--fortune
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday November 04 2015, @09:13PM
Well, if you're going back *that* far
"Unseen idiot" and
"Distant madman"
were both translations (round trip) of "Out of sight, out of mind". I believe one was a translation into and back from Russian. This would (I think) have been in the 1970's or 80's.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 05 2015, @08:10PM
Google translate AI must have crawled the urban dictionary as word corpus and gone to the curb with the associations.
The "grelos" used for the famous galician soup are the green leaves of a "nabo" (turnip) variety, which in turn is slang for the penis.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @05:47PM
You mean it's *not* the clitoris festival? I need to cancel those tickets...
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday November 04 2015, @05:57PM
(Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Wednesday November 04 2015, @06:00PM
Well, on the bright side, if there are ever SN meet ups at conferences like /. had in the old days, now they'll have a name.
(Score: 5, Funny) by DECbot on Wednesday November 04 2015, @07:17PM
Sausage Fest?
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @05:59PM
The software gets 95% of it right. That's pretty damn impressive when you're dealing with grammar, multiple word meanings, etc. If what you mean an "interesting" question to be is "if it doesn't get 100% correct, is it 0% useful?", then I'd say most of the "interesting" questions you're thinking about are not very interesting after all.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday November 04 2015, @06:36PM
And this is exactly how AI will work. It mimicks a complex skill humans sometimes fail at as well. All it needs is to be good enough for X, and it's amazing progress.
Last century, no English speakers would be able to read this at all
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday November 04 2015, @09:11PM
Will the AI take into account political correctness, even if the language is spoken correctly?
Recall the infamous "Ooga-Booga" debacle of Google Translate. Here's some background -- the phrase "Ooga booga" is associated with Africans in a pejorative manner based on stereotypes of what their spoken language is supposed to sound like, similar to how the phrase "ching chong" is associated with Orientals.
Well, some fella typed "ooga booga" [imgur.com] into Google Translate and discovered that it was detected as Somali and had an English translation. "Ooga Booga" no longer translates (though it is still detected as Somalian), because das' raciss' 'n' sheeit, but you might have luck with "yaba daba doo" [imgur.com] or "Oo oo oo oog oo oo ook oo oor oo ool ooda oos oo oo oo oo oo oog ooda" ("And which establish the quality and effectiveness of the ook He and the choice of which to establish plug").
Note: " Oo oo oo oog oo oo ook oo oor oo ool ooda oos oo oo oo oo oo oog ooda " works, but the URL to the translate doesn't link properly(it removes the spaces) so copy and paste it into google translate and see yourself.
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Wednesday November 04 2015, @11:13PM
You'd have to go back a *lot* farther than 100 years to reach a point where modern English would be incomprehensible to even an average literate person, let alone all of them. Just to name a couple, the Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in 1876, and Gulliver's Travels in 1726.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday November 04 2015, @11:44PM
Yes, but 100 years ago the people lacked internet-capable computers, therefore they couldn't read the web pages anyway. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday November 05 2015, @05:28AM
We're talking about freely available translation services, which indeed didn't exist 100 years ago, and you'd have to pay someone to translate your material.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday November 04 2015, @06:39PM
it raises some interesting questions as to how useful automated translation software (such as Google Translate) can be.
The software gets 95% of it right. That's pretty damn impressive when you're dealing with grammar, multiple word meanings, etc. If what you mean an "interesting" question to be is "if it doesn't get 100% correct, is it 0% useful?", then I'd say most of the "interesting" questions you're thinking about are not very interesting after all.
Actually, the questions I had in mind relate more to the use of automated translation software when negotiating with folks around the world with whom you don't share a language, or when documents (sometimes large numbers of them) are shared. While the results of the issue mentioned in TFA were embarrassing to the site owners, confusing to some folks, and quite amusing to many others, the obvious question most certainly is not "is this stuff useful at all?"
I didn't even imply that that automated translation software wasn't useful. I was wondering aloud about how often stuff like this happens that *doesn't* get publicity, and how often such issues negatively impact the quality of communication.
If you're attempting to be deliberately obtuse, you're doing a lovely job. Keep up the good work!
If you're attempting to troll, not so much. In that case, keep trying -- you can do much better than that!
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @08:08PM
I was being neither. You pondered about how useful such software can be and I found that to be a very odd question. It is pretty damn clear, to me at least, that it is really really useful. You could give me a book in a language that I have zero proficiency in, and I could tell you exactly what that book was about with almost no effort at all. That's pretty damn useful.
Perhaps you should have deleted the entire first sentence in your comment at the bottom because it completely contradicts your explanation, which is fully captured in your second sentence. Your first sentence is akin to "It does leave one to wonder how useful automobiles are to moving people from place to place."
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday November 04 2015, @08:48PM
If you're attempting to be deliberately obtuse, you're doing a lovely job. Keep up the good work!
If you're attempting to troll, not so much. In that case, keep trying -- you can do much better than that!
I was being neither. You pondered about how useful such software can be and I found that to be a very odd question. It is pretty damn clear, to me at least, that it is really really useful. You could give me a book in a language that I have zero proficiency in, and I could tell you exactly what that book was about with almost no effort at all. That's pretty damn useful.
I'm sorry you weren't able to follow along, friend. Whether you found the question odd or not is your issue, not mine.
Perhaps you should have deleted the entire first sentence in your comment at the bottom because it completely contradicts your explanation, which is fully captured in your second sentence. Your first sentence is akin to "It does leave one to wonder how useful automobiles are to moving people from place to place."
Thank you for your advice. I'll take it under advisement. It's always nice to have a friendly voice in my ear letting me know what I'm supposed to be thinking and saying. You rock!
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @11:45PM
Google translate runs into some major grammar issues with German.
I've been learning Deutsch for the past 3 years while living there, and I can see why google translate doesn't handle it well.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday November 04 2015, @11:59PM
Google translate runs into some major grammar issues with German.
I've been learning Deutsch for the past 3 years while living there, and I can see why google translate doesn't handle it well.
I spent quite a while learning (and then speaking whilst I was in Osterreich and Deutschland) Deutsch. It seemed to me that idiomatic phrases were the most difficult. I found it very handy to keep an English-speaking German around so I could always ask: "Wie sagt man das, auf Englisch?" I highly recommend the practice. :)
When I first came across the following, it made me laugh. It still makes me chuckle merrily to myself. I hope it does the same for you
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday November 04 2015, @06:07PM
Did anyone see the mistranslation and make travel plans based on the it?
I look forward to Giada's "on scene reporter" chef demonstration.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @10:41PM
I was hoping for an all-you-can-eat!!!
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @06:08PM
Many years ago I was doing computer install in France. Had a professional translator with me. Asked for bias rate and the translator froze. I then had her ask "7 blacks driving at 9600 kph followed by 1 white car". The other guys looked confused then replyed "8 cars at 4800 kph no car following". And we were done. The translator just looked at us like we were crazy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @08:13PM
Maybe I'm just ignorant, but what? I'm assuming that this is some kind of technical analogy with the "blacks" representing some voltage or bandwidth and the "white" representing a sync signal or something, but that still seems wrong. What does this represent in non-obscured English?
(Score: 3, Informative) by NotSanguine on Wednesday November 04 2015, @09:06PM
Maybe I'm just ignorant, but what? I'm assuming that this is some kind of technical analogy with the "blacks" representing some voltage or bandwidth and the "white" representing a sync signal or something, but that still seems wrong. What does this represent in non-obscured English?
It's not surprising that you didn't get it. RS232C [wikipedia.org] communications settings aren't used very often these days. I understood immediately as, apparently, did the French techs. "7 blacks driving at 9600 kph followed by 1 white car" refers to using 7 data bits and a parity bit at 9600 baud. More details here [wikipedia.org]. Which weren't the settings needed -- so they replied "8 cars at 4800 kph no car following" [wikipedia.org] (4800 baud, 8 data bits, no parity)
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @06:11PM
http://languagehat.com/squirrel-institute/ [languagehat.com]
(Score: 2) by VortexCortex on Wednesday November 04 2015, @07:23PM
...And then we have the Japanese, where you can have a Dick Sucker and Clitoris Cookie while watching the Giant Penis Parades. [google.com]
How Europeans got so prude is beyond me, but they need to fix their birthrates so the state needs to step in and do something -- other than just replace the Europeans with "Syrian Refugees" (which are actually just mostly male Muslim migrants). If you ask me, creating a culinary craving for clitoris is a step in the right direction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @09:03PM
There is a very fine line between "not being a prude" and being creepy and offensive. Most of us have developed a sense of empathy with our fellow human being and prefer to err on the side of caution.
Even I (European white, male, unattractive, geek) managed to reproduce, much to the surprise of friends and family. Yes, the lady has terrible eye sight, but I digress...
(Score: 2) by N3Roaster on Wednesday November 04 2015, @07:33PM
I'm recently back from a vacation in Thailand. I generally didn't have a problem communicating but there was one incident where someone was trying to show me something but didn't know the English for it. They pointed to some lights out on the water and their phone (also Google Translate if memory serves) came back with "power squid". I'm pretty sure that wasn't quite right, but generally things like that worked well enough for what little use it got.
Typica - Free software for coffee roasting professionals. [typica.us]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @09:08PM
[...] it raises some interesting questions as to how useful automated translation software (such as Google Translate) can be. Have any Soylentils run into issues like this while using automated translation software?
I was once talking to a Russian guy using automated translation. I mentioned to him how I drank some vodka and ate some rotten meat, but then he started going on about an unrelated Bible verse [biblegateway.com]. Really weird!
(Score: 2) by SrLnclt on Wednesday November 04 2015, @09:16PM
In related news, the mayor has declared through a translator that "All your base are belong to us." Tune in at 11 for more on this developing story.
(Score: 1) by isj on Wednesday November 04 2015, @09:32PM
Anyone assuming that automatic translation is relatively error-free are naïve.
Context, culture, argot and idioms all make automatic translation difficult, and because sometimes there are no 1:1 mapping of words and their semantics details and precision is usually lost in not only automatic translation but also manual ones. It is easy to find examples where automatic translation will fail. eg:
"Yes, it is blue". Translating that into Italian requires you to know what "it" is. If "it" is the sky then "blue" must be translated into "azzurro".
"Could you handle that?". Translating that accurately to another language requires you to know if the originator is British or non-British.
Translation requires understanding and understanding requires knowledge of the world, which computers don't have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @10:03PM
[...] requires you to know what "it" is.
It's raining. But what is the 'it' that rains?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday November 04 2015, @11:50PM
The cloud, of course. Rain is only available as cloud service. ☺
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Wednesday November 11 2015, @08:17AM
Cats and dogs of course! :D
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 2) by jelizondo on Wednesday November 04 2015, @11:22PM
And it gets worst in some languages... I took clases in Yucatec Maya and the number varies with the type of thing being described, for example:
And so on, depending on the characteristics of that being described; I count about 13 different things (living things, non-living, plants, flat things, thin things, slices, sips, etc.)
Bing does a somewhat decent job of translating Yucatec Maya but you have to watch it because a diacritical mark can turn one word into something else, like míis and miis; spoken you would not confuse the words, but written is quite more complicated.
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Monday November 09 2015, @01:13PM
It gets even worse, if one of the source or destination languages is not English. From some of the ludicrous results I've seen, its is pretty obvious that Google translates from the source language to English, then translates the intermediate English to the destination language. I don't remember any examples off-hand, but I've seen words, that have only one meaning, translated completely incorrectly. This is always the case when the English equivalent is ambiguous, so the incorrect translation could only have occurred if Google translated first into English, then flipped a coin and used the wrong meaning of the English word for the final translation.
I guess the accuracy of the translations also depends on the language being translated. If the language is a close relative of English, then the translation might be passable. For other languages, e.g., Greek, Google is little more than a glorified dictionary. It is very good at suggesting translations for individual words, but, when it comes to complete sentences, the resulting translation often makes very little sense. It's a good thing, too, because many spammers have started sending spam in languages other than English, using automatic translation. Google's poor results make it very easy to identify it.
One could argue that one could get a rough translation from Google, then edit the result, but I have found that this is more work than translating from scratch.
On a funny note, I recently made a blog post, which I knew some people would try to read using automatic translation, so I inserted a reference to hovercraft full of eels!
(Score: 1) by isj on Monday November 09 2015, @08:37PM
Google translate even falls down flat when translating from common-germanic languages, eg. German where due to case and emphasis the word order can be different. Example:
"Die Katze hat der Hund gefressen"
where google translate reverses the meaning eventhough all the grammatical clues are there.
I do find google translate useful when one of my acquaintances in Brazil writes in Portuguese. The rough translation and my knowledge of Italian makes it possible to decipher most messages but not catch nuances.
Reminds of a wonderful response one of my Italian colleagues wrote to an upset customer: "We are hardly working on the problem". (although no automatic translation was involved in that gaffe)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bogsnoticus on Thursday November 05 2015, @01:04AM
If they wanted a perfect translation, they would have hired a translator. As it is, they relied on a free service which caters towards mainstream languages and dialects, and then bitch when it doesn't recognise their obscure dialect.
People like this should not be allowed within 100 feet of the interwebs.
Genius by birth. Evil by choice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 05 2015, @12:54PM
The town's name is not "Pontes", but "As Pontes".
It's some 3/4 h far from home !!!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @10:19PM
And she'll be the red faced person when I do.