Letters: Automatic French translations can be so funny
Connexion readers share their experiences of absurd mistranslations
Readers have noted the limits of automatic translation software
Feng Yu / Shutterstock
To the Editor,
I recently used the English translated version of the French tax return. I was surprised to see my name was given as ‘Fart Bright’.
I was a little annoyed until I realised it was the translation programme that had used the verb péter.
Peter Bright, by email
Read more: Online translation tools: Funny results between French and English
To the Editor,
Peter Bright's amusement at being renamed "Fart Bright" by an automatic translation programme reminded me of many other such howlers.
Restaurant menus provide some great examples, such as the puzzling "sprocket washer salad," which turned out to include the French dry sausage rosette.
Place names are another danger area.
My wife and I live in Grasse, which we are now used to seeing referred to as "Fatty".
Worse, though, for the inhabitants of Buzet-sur-Baïsse in the Lot-et-Garonne, a village we have seen translated on an estate agent's website as "Buzet on F*cks" !
Dr Martin Hum, Alpes-Maritimes
Have you encountered any translation howlers in France? Share them with us at letters@connexionfrance.com
