History Main / TranslationTrainwreck

* The Engrish Eurobeat cover of TM Revolution's Hot Limit ([[WebAnimation/{{Animutation}} We Drink Ritalin]]). As with most English-language covers of J-Pop. The major problem here is that the songs are often translated (and often literally) from Japanese and then given to groups that can barely speak English to perform. In this case, the group John Desire were Italian and had a barely passable grasp of the English language.

* A Taiwanese bootleg of ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell: Solid State Society'' included a line that's become a bit of a [[MemeticMutation meme]] in itself: "Even electronic brain pancake crystal elderly."
** Speaking of that series, "Are you aware of the Frequent Occurrences of Mass Naked Child Events within the country?" The fact that that particular {{fansub}} group blatantly violated a cease-and-desist order blacklisted them in most of the community, but the controversy would have been much more severe if people didn't already know they sucked.

* The official British blu-ray release of ''Anime/GhostInTheShell: Innocence'', which is notoriously filled with quotations from wide variety of famous and obscure sources ended up being a complete train wreck, where the translator inexplicably thought that Batou making an anecdote about Decartes treating a doll like a human being was talking about himself, not an 18th-century French philosopher, among many other oddities that make the subtitles almost Dadaistic in their random absurdity.

When a translation goes from odd word choices and stilted grammar that is still somewhat parseable into the realm of pure gibberish[[note]]or at least over three-quarters of the dialogue being some form of NonSequitur[[/note]], you have a Translation Train Wreck. This is especially common in bootleg translations, where the "localization team" has little budget, less incentive, and may not even speak the language they're translating to. In the case of little or no knowledge of the target language, they may guess as to the meaning and structure of what they need or use a direct machine translation.

* Controversy ensued when Manatee County, [[OnlyInFlorida Florida]] got a lifeguard to interpret evacuation warnings preceding Hurricane Irma's landfall. The county was apparently "in a pinch" when they asked him to do it, as he was one of the only people locally available and was apparently assured he wouldn't be needed when he voiced concerns over his ability to accurately translate emergency warnings. Unfortunately, they did end up needing him. His well-meaning attempts ended up giving deaf residents of the county such advice as "Pizza. Monsters. Help you at that time too use bear hug."

** Now with a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7veY5AlSAsA dramatic reading]]. Even the guy reading it can't keep help but laugh at it.

* In September 2022, FEMA needed to distribute fliers to Alaska residents following a recent typhoon, so they hired a company from California to translate them into the indigenous languages of Yup’ik and Inupiaq. But instead of the correct translation, the documents were filled with phrases like “Tomorrow he will go hunting very early, and will (bring) nothing” (with the word “Alaska” randomly thrown in the middle) and “Your husband is a polar bear, skinny”. One document was even written entirely in Inuktitut, a separate language spoken in Northern Canada, not Alaska.

** It works, and the judge rules [[IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance Peggy was too ignorant to understand what was going on]], and declares her not guilty. And in traditional Peggy Hill fashion, she immediately mistranslates the Judge's verdict this as "''Guilty''"!

** It works, and the judge rules [[IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance Peggy was too ignorant to understand what was going on]], and declares her not guilty.

* The mainland Chinese translation of the Harry Potter series contains many mistakes, as detailed [[http://www.cjvlang.com/Hpotter/mehelpindex.html here]], with some lines being translated to the exact opposite of the original meaning.

** In [[http://winterson.com/2009/01/episode-iii-backstroke-of-west-redux.html another bootleg]] of the same movie (now titled (''Star War: The Third Gathers: The WebVideo/BackstrokeOfTheWest''). The subtitles were machine translated from Chinese into English, and the results are nothing short of hilarious. This bootleg is pictured above.

Compare MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels; EitherWorldDominationOrSomethingAboutBananas; and IntentionalEngrishForFunny, where a fictional character manages to botch a language beyond all recognition. Also see WordSaladHumor.

* The tendency of German to collapse noun-phrases into Ridiculouslylongwords causes problems with automatic translators. One such occurred around the year 2000 when the Babelfish translated the word "Redakteurin" (female redactor) into "document talking urine".

** Turn on the transcribed captions on the video version of ''[[Creator/PeterChimaera Quarter-Life: Halfway to Destruction]]'', and the line "Bad guy from the game said" becomes "John [=McCain=] said". You laugh, you lose.
*** What's even funnier is that "Gordan Freeman" becomes "Good morning Andrea", "This is Gordan Freeman" becomes "This is Creator/MorganFreeman", and the enemy headquarters doesn't go to the Atlantic Ocean, but rather [[VideoGame/NineteenFortyTwo Gordan pushes quarters into World War II.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpzHYg0dAVs Watching this video of someone getting a strike in]] ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' somehow got out "what really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really". In a part where there was no speaking whatsoever. It's the sound of the shell sliding down the lane. And Mario's "woo-hoo!" was transcribed as "overruled".
** Similarly, an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVbPnDf3TIw acapella cover of the Super Mario Bros. theme song]], which really consists of "do do do" over and over again, results in "he hasn't been hispanic data tennis player bloom", "institution international terrorists all right thanks ralph" and "status tuesday national champions".
*** The captions have been "updated". They now think the video is in Russian. Adhering to the spirit of the trope, translating the captions into English gives some sort of bizarre political commentary related to terrorists and Copenhagen, among other oddities.
** Transcribing episodes from the first season of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' produced [[http://derpibooru.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=youtube+caption&min_score=&max_score=&sf=score&sd=desc&commit=Search some oddities]], leading a person to string them together in a vague sort of alternate plotline, showcased on a (now-defunct) blog called ''My Little Pony: The Armenian Democrat Conspiracy'', involving bizarre marriage proposals and Pinkie Pie having connections in the Equestrian senate.
*** One of the characters in the series, Steven Magnet, even got canonically named after a [=YouTube=] transcription error thanks to the fandom running with that as his name and Creator/{{Hasbro}} rolling with it.

** One of the earliest Russian dubs of ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' was done like this. It is highly likely that the translation was done by ear, and many of the stranger aspects of the dub could be chalked down to mondegreens. Despite the nonsensical nature of many lines, [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously voiceover actors perform quite professionally.]]

*** A Chinese bootleg of ''Film/TheAdventuresOfSharkBoyAndLavaGirl'' and ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' also had the subtitles of ''Detention''.

* InUniverse example from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Peggy is portrayed as a KnowNothingKnowItAll, specifically thinking she's an expert in Spanish, speaking the language fluently. This is exemplified in the episode "Lupe's Revenge," when after she returns a girls she accidentally smuggled into the [=U.S.=] the day before, she's put on trial for kidnapping and Hank [[BatmanGambit convices her lawyer to let her give her testimony in Spanish.]] Roughly translated Peggy said:

** There's also [[https://youtu.be/BtLqT1jU95A a much newer]] LP of the game by someone who apparently doesn't know this is a bootleg, thinking it's an actual Pokémon game and reading all the dialogue dramatically. The result is hilarious, to say the least.

*** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' bootleg is full of hilarious lines, but one of the most famous is "Look at this Flying Boot, it's my Egg Carrier!". "Yaikin", a literal translation of Eggman's name, is also hilarious if you are a native speaker. The translation became more popular after Russian [=YouTuber=] Sienduk made a series of videos with highlights from it.

-->"Your honor, I can tell you are a reasonable ''horse''. I am very ''pregnant'' because of what happened with Lupe. She ''ate'' my bus accident and all I wanted was to ''make Lupe into a book''. I have too many good ''anuses'' ahead of me to spend my life in a ''cigar factory''."[[note]]Peggy said "caballo" instead of "caballero", "embarazada" instead of "avergonzada", "comio" instead of "subio", "hacer Lupe libro" instead of "liberar a Lupe", "anos" instead of "años", and "fabrica de cigarros" instead of "carcel" (maybe "prision" or probably thought that she would be sent to an actual cigar factory if convicted). What she meant to say was: "Your honor, I can tell you are a reasonable ''gentleman''. I am very ''embarrased'' because of what happened with Lupe. She ''climbed'' aboard my bus accidentally and all I wanted was to make ''sure Lupe was free''. I have too many good ''years'' ahead of me to spend my life in ''prison''."[[/note]]

-->"Your honor, I can tell you are a reasonable ''horse''. I am very ''pregnant'' because of what happened with Lupe. She ''ate'' my bus accident and all I wanted was to ''make Lupe into a book''. I have too many good ''anuses'' ahead of me to spend my life in a ''cigar factory''."[[note]]Peggy said "caballo" instead of "caballero", "embarazada" instead of "avergonzada", "comio" instead of "subio", "hacer Lupe libro" instead of "liberar a Lupe", anos "instead" of "años", and "fabrica de cigarros" instead of "carcel" (maybe "prision" or probably thought that she would be sent to an actual cigar factory if convicted). What she meant to say was: "Your honor, I can tell you are a reasonable ''gentleman''. I am very ''embarrased'' because of what happened with Lupe. She ''climbed'' aboard my bus accidentally and all I wanted was to make ''sure Lupe was free''. I have too many good ''years'' ahead of me to spend my life in ''prison''."[[/note]]

* There is a book for sale on Amazon entitled ''How to Good-bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?''. The only intelligible English in it is the stunned responses from the author's equally word-blender Website/{{Usenet}} posts.

*** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' bootleg is full of hilarious lines, but one of the most famous is "Look at this Flying Boot, it's my Egg Carrier!". The literal translation of Eggman's name is also hilarious. The translation was parodied by Russian [=YouTuber=] Sienduk.
*** ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' is also rich with humorous bloopers. In fact, it was ''this'' game, not "Adventure", that brought more attention to the Pufkein scene in its early days.
*** ''VideoGame/SonicShuffle'' is turned into a trashy 18+ comedy with swear words and dirty jokes. When standing on a certain space, Lumina tells you that "you will be sent into Anus Distant Lands". In another instance, she says, "Nature is so beautiful. Respect the nature, fuck your mother!" Wizard Eggman is translated as "Sucking Wizard".

** The ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' bootleg is full of hilarious lines, but one of the most famous is "Look at this Flying Boot, it's my Egg Carrier!" The pirate translation was parodied by Russian [=YouTuber=] Sienduk.
** ''VideoGame/SonicShuffle'' is turned into a trashy 18+ comedy with swear words and dirty jokes. When standing on a certain space, Lumina tells you that "you will be sent into Anus Distant Lands". In another instance, she says, "Nature is so beautiful. Respect the nature, fuck your mother!" Wizard Eggman is translated as "Sucking Wizard".

** When ''ComicStrip/USAcres'' cartoons in English were still on [=YouTube=], the audio transcription transcribed the song lyric "Where do you wander?" as [[http://i40.tinypic.com/11jp2sy.jpg a reference to]] ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', [[http://i44.tinypic.com/f2mo46.jpg Wade]], apparently offering himself to Aloysius as a sex slave rather than questioning Aloysius' authority, and [[http://i58.tinypic.com/14vjiat.jpg these]] [[http://i60.tinypic.com/qx5vex.jpg three]] [[http://i61.tinypic.com/hs0qkk.jpg instances]] [[note]]last image's caption may be NSFW[[/note]] from the episode "Wanted: Wade".
** The transcriptions can even appear on videos that aren't in English, but they can either be translated from another language or be interpreted from the original language into English. For example, a copy of the first episode of ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'' (which had subtitles available in English) had [[http://i60.tinypic.com/vrwufm.jpg Hime refusing to go to Iraq]], and a Norwegian episode of ''WesternAnimation/MagicAdventuresOfMumfie'' (with subtitles available in German) had, when translated into English, [[http://i57.tinypic.com/nnk18n.jpg Mumfie saying that he shoots animals so that they can be turned into magic polish]].

When a translation goes from odd word choices and stilted grammar that is still somewhat parseable into the realm of pure gibberish, you have a Translation Train Wreck. This is especially common in bootleg translations, where the "localization team" has little budget, less incentive, and may not even speak the language they're translating to. In the case of little or no knowledge of the target language, they may guess as to the meaning and structure of what they need or use a direct machine translation.

%% The "Duwang" scanlations for [=JoJo=]'s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable are not an example of Translation Train Wreck, since the translated text, despite being grammatically poor, match the intended translations rather well. It can be found on Blind Idiot Translation instead.

* A Hong Kong bootleg of ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' struggled quite a bit with phonetic translations. Perhaps not catching the [[SevenDeadlySins theme naming]] of the homunculi, the English subtitles gave them rough phonetic approximations like "Rasuto" for "Lust," at one point resulting in Wrath crying, "Call me Lassie!" Winry's name proved to be less explicably difficult, usually rendered as an ever-evolving mash of nearly unpronounceable consonants. In a failed attempt at taking a shortcut, the translator(s) tried to crib the translation of Edward Elric's title from the show's title card — a gamble that failed with him introducing himself as "the Creator/SquareEnix."

* The ''Manga/OnePiece'' HK subs, which contained such infamous lines as "I smelted the edge .. on the goog", "he dive like a crazy beef", "the cord's from your bingy", "shit of cockchafer?!", and "what shall we do? we can't break through the Hymen this way".

Sometimes translations are [[BlindIdiotTranslation bad]]. And sometimes they [[UpToEleven pass bad at warp speed and crash headlong into the wall around the galaxy]].

* Creator/{{SNK}}'s UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame ''Athena'' had a [[http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/flyers_video/snk/14487602.jpg flyer]] with both Japanese and English text. The one complicated sentence was garbled into English as: "Knock down Cat's paw of Monarch Dante with weapons appearing one after another."