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Warrior, Log and Hidden Port: the wrong translations of the Mexican tourism portal

2020-08-07T22:10:26.478Z


English language and programming experts tell Verne that this is a deliberate mistake and not a machine translation.


Visit México, the portal of the country's Tourism Secretariat to promote tourism to Mexico's sites, shows several erroneous translations in its English version. The State of Guerrero was literally translated as "Warrior", Hidalgo as "Noble" and places like Puerto Escondido as "Hidden Port".

These inconsistencies quickly placed terms like “New Lion” (literal translation of Nuevo León) as a trending topic on Twitter, with several joking comments from tweeters.

Good morning from the beautiful state of New Lion. pic.twitter.com/Pg1NPxdp8n

- ̷R̷i̷g̷o̷ (@rigobdlr) August 7, 2020

Did they call the State of Guerrero "Warrior"?
They named the State of Guerrero Warrior! #VisitMexico #VisitWarrior pic.twitter.com/rWplf9VMK7

- Paola Zavala Saeb (@PaolaSaeb) August 7, 2020

I was born in The Peace, Low California South. 😂😂🤪 # VisitMéxico https://t.co/cHnYEertOp

- Enea Salgado (@Enea_Salgado) August 7, 2020

I live in Cuernacow. https://t.co/NXQjQrLCvr

- Albornoz (@albornoz_mx) August 7, 2020

Carla Castillo, a language teacher and specialist in English, explains to Verne that it is a translation that has mixed both languages, so it is very confusing. “It is ridiculous to observe translations of places like Jumpsuit (Tulum) and Warrior (Guerrero) since these translations are not endorsed by the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, who endorse whether or not there is a name for a place (toponym. ) in another language ”, she explains, via email.

However, it is not just a bad translation made with a tool like Google Translate. "There is a conflict with pronouns and structure in general," says Castillo.

"Coal Village", a literal translation of Villa del Carbón.

The phrase that on the Spanish Visit Mexico site says "Today more than ever, think about Mexico" which translates in the English version as "Today more than ever, I think of Mexico", has an additional inconsistency. "Adding this pronoun could be due to the fact that the person in charge of reviewing the page lacks the necessary command of the language, since even Google translates it correctly," he says.

This error may be deliberate and may not be an automatic error. Hugo Morales, programmer and digital product manager, explains to Verne that the code on the page shows that it was done manually, and not with an automated translation system. “There are tools that programmers can use to make life easier. but in this case, it could be said that it was done manually ”, he explains, via email.

In this regard, the Ministry of Tourism of Mexico expressed in a statement that these are acts caused by a third party and that "they are intended to damage the image of both the portal and the secretariat, so the corresponding complaint has been made and action will be taken accordingly. to the right against who or who are responsible ”, he mentions.

The Visit México portal was suspended during the month of July due to differences between the companies that administered the content of the page and the Ministry of Tourism, but it was reactivated during the first days of August, presenting these inconsistencies in its content.

Screenshot of the Visit México portal in July 2020.

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Source: elparis

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