This really tickled me. Anyone still read downtime?
From http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/it-downtime-blog/
I used to read it on the loo every week, but its not printed any more. The articles are generally just as dry though.
The entire post:
Lost in Translation
UK companies eager to tap into foreign markets have rather been letting
themselves down with local language versions of their web sites marketing
materials.
Proving that not all online translations services are up to the job, UK
translation firm Lingo24 has released a list of translation blunders.
The UK-based Parker pen company, for example, trying to promote that their
products will not leak in users' pockets, mistook the meaning of the Spanish
word 'embarazar' so 'It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you' became
'It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant'.
Japanese gamers playing "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", in turn, were
shot down by a translation error. In the American version, a comment by
one leading character "Remember, no Russian," was translated as "Kill 'em;
they're Russians ", which left Japanese players killing Russians rather
than attempting to talk to them. Game Over.
US firm Pepsi has made a number of translation blunders in its time, too,
but nothing competes with the products launch into the Chinese market. They
translated 'Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation into 'Pepsi Brings Your
Ancestors Back From the Grave'.
"These examples should be a wake-up call to British businesses attempting
to translate their marketing materials and websites using internet translation
machines," says Christian Arno, managing director at Lingo24.
Back in 1998 we started the American Export Register site in 10 languages. Then using machine translation if you translated "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" using machine translation in russian then machine translated the translation back into English it came back "the vodka is good but the meat is rancid" - I've just done it now on Google translate and it has it done perfect.
I think that MT has come on a lot in the last 10+ years.