For a long time I've noticed a zest for inept, even downright stupid translations online. Perhaps it's particularly bad in the case of translations from German as many words are 'transparent' in the sense that one can recognize and unpick the various parts without asking themselves whether it is appropriate to do so.

An article on Der Tagespiegel in a well-known online encyclopedia had, in the first line, immediately after the title the words Daily Mirror! For a moment it had me wondering whether they were saying that the British newspaper of that title also has a German edition ... (In the meantime someone has added the words meaning literally, which is a little better).

This is just one example. There are many more.

Edited to correct a typo.

I come across this very often, being a bilingual Anglophone (English-speaker) in a Francophone country. It can sometimes be quite amusing, particularly when someone mistakes the meaning of a word which exists in both languages, but with different meanings.

I spent a half an hour listening to an English lady trying to plug her business to me in French over the phone. She was selling conservatories and spent a long time explaining the different options to me, without once noticing that I was not French and indeed that I spoke French with an English accent. Her big mistake? She used the word "Conservatoire" in her French spiel, and in French a "Conservatoire" is a music school! (The correct word is "Veranda"). I have had many a chuckle since wondering what a poor French person would make of this super offer to add a "Conservatoire" to their domicile at a knock-down price of a mere couple of thousand euros.

And no, I did not correct the person for her error. Maybe that was a little unkind of me, however I believe that if she was serious about running a business in France the most basic vocabulary to get right is the actual description of the product! I think it was unforgivably lazy of them not to have at least got the word right!

Good for you! Often the best way to learn is the hard way. She and her company must have come across as a bunch of clowns and buffoons to French people.

Some years ago the local (large) branch of a well-known supermarket chain had a 'French Week' to promote French wines and food. Vive le (sic!!) France proclaimed a bold banner above the full length of the delicatessen counter. My initial reaction was just to chuckle and think to myself, "Don't point out that gross howler. Just let people laugh at ________'s". But then it occurred to me that many people wouldn't laugh and that schoolkids might even think it was correct. After all, one doesn't expect one of the more upmarket supermarkets to make a mistake like that ... I went to Customer Services and pointed the mistake out to the woman in charge there. She took one look at the banner and said, "My word! You're right! I thought that anyone who'd done any French at all knew it's la France. She phoned the delicatessen counter at once, pointed out the mistake and got them to remove the banner. She added, "We mustn't have __________'s making itself look stupid".

However, this is something of a degression as it's not about translating but something much more basic.

Those are good examples. My favorite example as a full-time translator on staff in a French speaking office was when an Austrian wanted to write this advertisement about a product we made that is normally called a utility program or software. She insisted on leaving the word "tool" throughout the document. It was repeated at least twenty times! I tried to reason with her but to no avail. Finally a British coworker from the gaming industry came into the office. He sat down and reviewed the blurb with the word 'tool' in it then began laughing so hard I saw tears streaming down his cheeks. Then he looked up and said 'Heather, you've had a look at this. You left all those in there?' and then she admitted she'd insisted. He came over and said 'that was very naughty of you to let her leave those in.' Her English was very good but she would fight like a pit bull to keep a version of it because she wasn't a very flexible translator.

Another example was when the Austrians insisted that the description 'bullet proof' was appropriate for the casino hardware world for the case that encloses a slot machine. They had found that word somewhere and wanted to keep it.

When I lived in France I saw so many. Santana's example was an everyday occurrence for me as I worked the phones fifty hours a week at one place.

Another job site had this aspiring manager trying to endear himself to the staff by coming round and saying, 'La forme?' as if this were an American style greeting. I remember one or two of them trying to ape this greeting by asking others if they were 'In shape?' and greeted by blank stares.

Normally in France, they tack on an 'ing' ending to make it sound like an English word. I have a quiz somewhere around here that shows you examples.

Takes me back! At aged 17 I was staying with a lovely family in the South of France,it was lunch time. I was asked if I would like some more to eat. I replied that no thanks
"Je suis plein" (full, or so I thought}
Chortling from the family. Puzzlement from me till I was told I had said "No thanks I am pregnant." Oops!

A long time ago I read a book by the French humorist Pierre Daninos in which he made a joke (I can't remember what it was) about research into the habits of les cochons d'Inde (guinea pigs). Soon afterwards I came across an English translation of the book in my local library: the translator had rendered les cochons d'Inde literally as "the pigs of India". I don't think the humour was lost in that case, but I couldn't help wondering what misunderstandings might arise if that translator was ever given a French book on natural history to work on.

The sign on the first enclosure of our local zoo always makes me laugh. We first went there 11 years ago, and it hasn't been changed since: "Do not food the animals". The first thing the kids and I do every single time we visit is check to see if they have corrected it, but it hasn't happened so far.

A local shop to us (which shall remain nameless, but foreign owned) deliberately misspells signs in their window on a regular basis. As a frequent customer, I pointed out his error, but with a sheepish grin, he admitted that he does it on purpose, as he said that 'lots' of people came into the shop to tell him of the errors and normally buy something whilst they are there. Although his first error was a mistake, he realised that this could drum up a bit of extra business, so continues with the plan. Most enterprising, I thought.