Online translation tools: Funny results between French and English
Some expressions can give amusing results when put through an online service, such as Google Translate or DeepL
The meanings of expressions can be hard for native speakers to translate, let alone dictionaries or online tools
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Online translation tools such as Google Translate and DeepL have developed over the years to become useful assistants to help you decipher words in foreign languages.
However, while they are adept at translating the literal meaning of words, expressions and idioms and slang words can pose more of an issue, sometimes leading to funny results.
Below is a selection of translations from French to English and English to French that would earn you strange looks if you spoke them out loud in either country.
Google Translate and DeepL were used to translate.
French to English
Les carottes sont cuites
This expression literally means ‘the carrots are cooked’, which is what online translators will tell you.
The actual translation of the meaning of the expression is that there is nothing to be done anymore in a situation, it is too late. It is equivalent to saying all hope is lost and a similar expression in English is ‘his goose is cooked’.
Unless you are in a kitchen or about to have a meal, if someone tells you les carottes sont cuites, you are in a bad situation.
Avoir l’esprit d’escalier
This expression specifically refers to the feeling you have after a conversation when you come up with the perfect reply or retort in your head, but the moment has passed.
Translating it online will reveal that it means ‘having staircase spirit’. While literally true, no English speaking person will have any idea of what you mean.
In fairness to Google Translate and DeepL, the expression does not exist in English.
Read more: 10 French words and phrases that are untranslatable in English
Crapoter
Smoking a cigarette or cigar without inhaling the smoke is referred to as crapoter.
DeepL does not even attempt to translate the term although it suggests ‘toad’, ‘toddle’ and ‘toadying’ as alternatives. Google Translate translates it as ‘to crap’, which is wrong.
J’ai le seum
J’ai le seum is a widely-used slang term which does not really have an exact translation in English. Google Translate suggests ‘I am pissed off’ which is accurate, although it has other meanings such as ‘I cannot be dealing with this anymore’ and ‘I am gutted/bummed out’.
DeepL suggests ‘I have got the willies’, an expression which denotes nervousness. This is not an accurate translation and it also conjures an amusing image of the youth of France saying ‘I have got the willies’ on a daily basis.
An impressive number of expressions are correctly translated. For example, ‘Know it like the back of one's hand’ becomes ‘Le connaître sur le bout des doigts’ (know it at the tip of your fingers).
French to English
It’s raining cats and dogs
If you put this expression through DeepL, it translates it as ‘Il pleut des chats et des chiens’, a very literal translation. As this is not an expression that is known in France, you might scare French friends or family if you tell them this.
The actual translation would be ‘il pleut des cordes’ (it is raining rope).
Read more: ‘Soaked like soup’: 7 French expressions to use for wet weather
Cock and bull story
This expression, which refers to a tall tale or an implausible story, is translated literally by both DeepL and Google Translate: ‘histoire de coqs et de taureaux’. That would be nonsensical to say in French.
The French equivalent of this expression would be ‘une histoire à dormir debout’ (a story that makes you sleep while standing). It implies that the story is so implausible that you stop listening completely and fall asleep.
Cut the mustard
Couper la moutarde is the literal translation of this expression, given by both Google Translate and DeepL but it means nothing in French.
The real translation to use would be is être à la hauteur (to be at the height), meaning to meet the requirements for or be of adequate quality.
An example of an expression that is correctly translated is ‘out of the blue’, which is translated as ‘à l’improviste’.
Finally, here is an amusing mistranslation found on Twitter. The ‘extra butter flavour’ has been translated to à saveur de très beurre, which translates to ‘flavour of very butter’.
Do you have any examples of amusing translations or translations gone wrong? Let us know at feedback@connexionfrance.com
