Bad Translation Pictures

I'm not sure why that's the case, but I'm guessing it must be kind of like slowing down as you're driving past a wreck. There's probably a feeling of interest in figuring how bad it was, but then relief that you weren't the one that screwed up. There have been plenty of examples of bad translations throughout the history of translation, and the one thing translators want to avoid is having their name and translation associated in any way with that history.

Well, lucky for you (or unlucky if your bad translation picture makes it on our site), we've got a place here where you can indulge all you want in the mistakes of other translators.

Just don't be too harsh since you never know when a picture of your bad translation might appear on here!

If a (*) appears next to the name of the photographer, it means that the photo is being used under a Creative Commons license. The particular license and its terms of use can be found here.

But before we look at the pictures, here is a video I put together of some pretty funny translations:

Now on to the bad translation pictures:

Photo by: Helga's Lobster Stew(*) This is a picture of a translation on a sign in China.
	Photo by: djrue(*) This photo is a picture of various language translations of a sign in McDonald's restaurant.
Photo by: sandcastlematt(*) "What made this sign extra bizarre to me is that it is in the "Garden of the Senses" - a small, wonderful courtyard in Montreal's Botanical Garden designed for the visually impaired. You are supposed to touch and/or smell all the plants - so why have a prickly plant at all, and why is this the only sign in the whole garden without a braille translation!? Otherwise, though, a really great garden and a wonderful idea."
	Photo by: Drpoulette(*) Photo taken of a sign at a restaurant in Mexico.
Photo by: Magnet Chick(*) A handwritten sign in Chinese with an awkward and incorrect translation.
	Photo by: Clint This picture was taken at a petting zoo in Utah. It wasn't a translation, but it was so bad I had to take a picture of it.

This is a picture taken at a hardware store. The box contains "Hex Rubber Mats", but the Spanish translation underneath translates back to English as "Evil Eye Rubber Tangles".

Yum yum yum. Wildlife. This was, go figure, at a zoo in China. A panda zoo. Full of tasty, tasty pandas.