Funniest English-Chinese Machine Translation Fails

I admit that the quality of machine translation like Google Translation and Facebook Translation has improved tremendously in recent years, some scientists even claim that algorithms are almost as good at translation as humans.

However, there are still some confusing and awkward machine translation results causing outbursts of unstoppable laughter. Some of them even make me feel creep…

• A dinner menu on Sean Hoare Cruise:

English Bacon (英式烟肉)  英语培根-which means ‘English language bacon’. Cool! Is a foreigner supposed to speak English after having this magic bacon?

Regular Milk（全脂牛奶） 规则牛奶-which means normal or uniform milk which is in a definite pattern like some chemical elements. Is there irregular milk?

Green Spilt Pea Soup （绿豆汤） 绿分裂豌豆汤-which means this pea soup got schizophrenia!

• An advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand:

Would you like to ride on your own ass? (您想单独骑一头毛驴吗)

您想骑自己的屁股吗?-which means ‘would you like to ride on your own buttock’？

When this sentence is translated in Google Analytics, I really wonder HOW. Sounds like an amazing yoga pose.

• In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency:

Take one of your horse-driven city tour and we guarantee no miscarriages.

(乘走您的马车城市之旅，我们保证随时为您服务)

乘坐您的马车城市之旅，我们保证不会流产。-which means you are guaranteed not to get abortion after a ‘miraculous’ city tour provided by this agency.

• A famous old saying:

We don’t read books for amusement. (我们读书不是为了娱乐)

我们为了娱乐而不读书。-which means we don’t read books in order to amuse ourselves. So true for a poor student like me…

• Victoria’s Secret American official website menu:

After I translated this menu by Google Translation， I laughed to tears. (I know there is a Chinese official version, but as a Chinese in America, my friends and I prefer to view English web version which is more attractive and the web speed is much more quick) There are so many translation errors on this web. I just mention the funniest points here:

Cheekies & Cheekinis (内裤-多镂空设计) 厚脸皮和脸颊-a curse in Chinese means ‘shameless’.

Shorties & Boyshorts (女士平角裤) 短裤和男孩-which means ‘Shorties & Boys’. There is nothing to do with BOYS!

What’s hot now (热卖产品) 什么是现在-which means ‘what’s now’. This is a complicated philosophical question, isn’t this?

Machine translation is indeed quick and cheap, but don’t let it ruin your life or business! If you need more accurate and professional translation results, consider a human translation service. Seriously!