Google 'embarrassingly' mistranslates Malaysian gov't website

Malaysia's defense ministry is going manual in translating the contents of its website, after many items using search giant Google's free translation service apparently resulted in  "embarrassing" mistakes on the English version of its site.

 

Defense minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi admitted the inaccurate translations caused much embarrassment to the ministry, Malaysia's The Star reported. Now done by hand

 

“We have corrected the mistakes and translations are no longer done that way. It is now done manually,” a report on The Star quoted the minister as saying.

 

The ministry took down its English translated version several hours after it went viral on Twitter and Facebook, the report said.

 

The report noted "amusing translations" of the staff dress code on the ministry's official website were being shared on social networking websites.

'Eye-poking clothes' and 'Tight Malay civets'  

It cited one case where "pakaian yang menjolok mata," which means revealing clothes in Bahasa Malaysia, was translated as “clothes that poke eye.”

 

Another case involved “collared shirts and tight Malay civet berbutang three,” translated from "berkolar baju Melayu cekak musang berbutang tiga."

 

Still another was the brief summary of the ministry's history on the website: “After the withdrawal of British army, the Malaysian Government take drastic measures to increase the level of any national security threat.”

 

Ministry takes action The Star report quoted a ministry spokesman as saying a clarification had been posted on the website, and that corrective action was being taken to ensure that the translations were accurate.

 

“We did not intend for the English translations to turn out that way,” said Dr Zahid. — TJD, GMA News