Bad Translation Pictures

Bad Translation Pictures

Every translator I know gets a kick out of looking at bad translation pictures, or pictures with bad grammar and spelling. It's about time there's a central place where these pictures can be posted and looked at. Send my your pictures and I'll post them along with your name and any short description about the picture.

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.

Got any translation pictures you'd like to share?

Photo by: Helga's Lobster Stew(*)
This is a picture of a translation on a sign in China. Picture of a Chinese sign

Translation of a sign at a McDonald's 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." Picture of a sign in Montreal's Botanical Garden designed for the visually impaired

Sign in a restaurant in Mexico 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. Picture of a handwritten Chinese sign

Bad grammar at the petting zoo 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.

Taken any bad translation pictures lately?

You've seen 'em, you've laughed at 'em, and now you can share 'em with all of us! What bad translation pictures have you seen?

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Bad translation pictures others have submitted

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Save the planet with sunscreen!
Taken at a top notch camping ground in the Loire Valley of France, summer 2009.

The staff was rather friendly so I didn't want to bother them with a ...

Bad translation in the airport
I took this picture while I was waiting for a flight back home. The funny (or sad) thing is that this was in the airport in San Antonio, where there is ...

Bad Chinese English Translation - White Collar Roughage
I bought these tasty little biscuits while waiting to hop on a tour boat to float down the little three gorges in China. They were like little swiss cookies,...

Chopstick wrapper
Funny grammar is just one of the funny things about some of the Chinese to English translations out there. I'm not sure why it is so common to see bad ...

Black Diamond run
This sign is all over the place at Tignes and Val d'Isere, France.

Fall down carefully Not rated yet
Sign on some steep stairs inside the Dragon Tower in Harbin. This one always makes me giggle :-D

Edible wildlife? Not rated yet
This was, go figure, at a zoo in China. A panda zoo. Full of tasty, tasty pandas.