Returning from Cornwall during the spring holiday, I noticed a notice board at a train station.
The message is about 'Unattended Luggage', and the message is translated into 6 languages, including Chinese.
The Chinese translation doesn't make sense, as it's a literal translation.
I have a feeling the Chinese text is machine translated, as it smells like one.
I can't verify if other languages (French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese) in this notice make sense, or if they are correctly translated.
As a good citizen, I informed Great Western Railway, and got a 'thank you and we'll look into it' reply.
I shared this sign with Language Log, a site for languages and linguistics, and the blog post has attracted more than 30 comments.
Translation: Machine translation is just a bad idea
Returning from Cornwall during the spring holiday, I noticed a notice board at a train station.
The message is about 'Unattended Luggage', and the message is translated into 6 languages, including Chinese.
The Chinese translation doesn't make sense, as it's a literal translation.
I have a feeling the Chinese text is machine translated, as it smells like one.
I can't verify if other languages (French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese) in this notice make sense, or if they are correctly translated.
As a good citizen, I informed Great Western Railway, and got a 'thank you and we'll look into it' reply.
I shared this sign with Language Log, a site for languages and linguistics, and the blog post has attracted more than 30 comments.
Language Log by Prof V Mair: Unattended luggage