Do not get me wrong, I love to hit that Google translate button when a blog post I have done appears in a foreign language. Seeing what country it’s from and what they have to say is fascinating.
And I confess, that sometimes when I get a long email in Hebrew and I am tired or in a hurry, I cheat and hit that translate button. But I usually regret it. If a woman named Tamar is writing about her friend Geula, well then, I would have to stop and think why a date would care about redemption. The errors of Google Hebrew to English are sometimes humorous, but I always end up going back to the original Hebrew text to find out what it is really all about.
There are Facebook groups with outrageous and funny off the mark translations of Hebrew to English. Anyone who has been to restaurants in Israel has seen something on the menu that was a bit “off” in meaning.
But last week an ad in the Jerusalem Post magazine really took the cake, a strictly kosher for Passover one.
Of course I have no idea if they used Google or an ancient dictionary to translate, but I circled a few of the items on this take out menu.
Families all around Israel dropped their regular activities to guess what in the world was supposed to be for dinner.
Some items were easy like Gphiltfis = gelfilte fish.
But Heavy sauce, Asado Visit, and browse Visit?
Will not even discuss the fear Pulses!
A new and improved ad was in the new magazine. But darn if two of the expressions I spent the most time on were not on the corrected translation page.
What happened to those Bloody beans?
And for reservations where did Mrasbcsharot Mahfoud go?
In case you could not read the small type,
Heavy = liver,
Visit = beef,
Asado = Short ribs, and
Browse = Goulash.
Next time I wonder if they will get someone who knows English to translate?
If you figure out Mrasbcsharot Mahfoud please let me know.
Meanwhile, Happy holidays.
