Translation Fail Of The Day

Spotted in Jerusalem:

ignorance on road

[source]

 

In Hebrew, “?????” can either mean “holes” (when pronounced borot) or “ignorance” (when pronounced booroot). They’ve gone with option 2, which seems to be Google Translate’s first choice.

Anyone who has ever driven in Israel knows this sign probably makes more sense with the error!

12 thoughts on “Translation Fail Of The Day”

  1. Wouldn’t ignorance be “booroot”? Boorot sounds more like “ignorant” – plural feminine (if such a word exists). Mind you, my Hebrew is … not great. 😀

  2. “Anyone who has ever driven in Israel knows this sign probably makes more sense with the error!”

    Very close to the comment of my friend who posted this same photo on FB 🙂

  3. ahad_ha_amoratsim

    Too funny.
    A few years ago a translation fail of a wine label made the rounds of the internet, involving a poor translation of b’li chashash orlah. The label did not show the brand or variety of wine. Did anyone ever learn whether that label was real or Photoshopped?

      1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

        Orla has two meanings. (1) Certain types of crops, including grapes, cannot be harvested for the 1st three years of their planting. The 4th year crop cannot be eaten or used but must be offered in the Bes Hamikdash. The 5th year crop can be eaten or used. Orla is anything that is still within the 1st 3 years. Any product made from orla is therefore not kosher, and wine labels often state that the maker was careful to avoid orla. Because there is no brief translation of that term, and most people who would care about the issue know the Hebrew term, most labels leave it untranslated. (2) Foreskin.

        1. Ah, thanks. I didn’t know about the 3 years non-harvest law. So, when there’s no Beit Hamikdash, the 4th year is treated exactly like the first 3?

  4. It’s real, and it was tirosh (grape juice), not wine. Furthermore, it wasn’t the only translation fail on that label (see below)–although it was the funniest.

    1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

      Thank you. This is not the same one I saw, which was less complete. Is the other fail “Blessed by” borei pri hagefen?

      1. JNF instead of calories (??”? can stand for kilocalories or ??? ????? ??????)
        “cooked” s/b “pasturized” I believe.

  5. If you enter the Hebrew text for “Borot” in Google translate, it will spit out “ignorance”.

    In other words, the people who put the sign together probably relied on Google too much (like most of us these days…).

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top