Embarrassing Welsh Mistranslation
The supermarket owned by the company Tesco in the UK seems to have bitten off more than they can chew with their attempt to branch out to the Welsh speaking local customers with their embarrassing translation of the text on their cash point machine in Aberystwyth into Welsh. Obviously unaware, the company had actually translated their text saying “free cash withdrawals” to “free erections”.
This was embarrassing for the company and caught the attention of many Welsh speakers in the area. The Welsh translation reads “codiad am ddim” which translates to “free erection”. Some locals found the mistake amusing, while others were astonished at how poor of a quality translation the company used. A young man Garin Fitter, 18, elaborated on this after seeing the translation in person.
“I am not sure how they came up with it because anyone with a basic understanding of Welsh would know it is the wrong word.
“They must have used Google translate. I think it’s quite funny but I know some people might be offended they didn’t bother to check they had got it right.”
Evidently, Tesco failed to take into account the ramifications that a poor-quality translation truly could have on their brand image. Although free translation services may be enticing for such a small piece of text, you can see just how detrimental even the mistranslation of a few words can truly be to a company’s reputation. This is why you need to take all of your translations to a reputable professional translation agency, no matter how big or small the translation is.
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