Would you like a window table on your next cruise?

Careful. Looking at a MT translated text in German, you might get a Fenstertabelle. I recently came across a cruise description where the English referred to a “window table” – meaning, of course, a table next to a window in the restaurant. (...)

FREELANCERHUMAN TRANSLATIONTRANSLATIONFAIL

9/10/20261 min read

Would you like a window table on your next cruise?

Careful. Looking at a MT translated text in German, you might get a Fenstertabelle.

I recently came across a cruise description where the English referred to a “window table” – meaning, of course, a table next to a window in the restaurant.

The machine translation came up with: „Fenstertabelle“.

For anyone who doesn't speak German, the back translation is: “window table” – as in a table/spreadsheet containing windows.

Think Excel with rows, columns and numbers. Not somewhere you sit down for dinner with a sea view.

This is one of the reasons I’m always nervous when I hear:

“But the machine translation looks fine to me.”

If you don't speak the target language, how would you know?

MT can produce perfectly grammatical-looking words while completely missing the context. And in tourism, context is everything.

The same English word but very different German translations.

The machine doesn't always know which one you mean.

📩 Email me for English–German translation and transcreation that brings your tourism and marketing content to life.

What’s the funniest or weirdest MT translation you've come across?

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