The REASON Google Translate FAILS at Japanese

Translating between Japanese and English can go horribly wrong. We explore HOW and WHY, as well as the most common mistake made by all new Japanese learners.
Special thanks to Ryotaro with his drawer metaphors. Check out his channel!
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[@AbroadinJapan]

NOTIFICATION SQUAD: Who's up for a bowl of puppy ramen? I've been wanting to do a video on Google translate for a while and I finally feel vindicated! If you have any translation tools you recommend, fire away with your suggestions!

[@MochinYoja]

I worked at a school in Korea and one day a new teacher from the US came and wanted to Bing translate the school's website from Korean into English. The motto for the school in Korean was 'Let's stand atop the mountain' but because the pronunciation and spelling of 'let's stand' is the same as the word for 'b*stard' in Korean, and 'atop the mountain' is pronounced and spelled in the same way as the word 'normal', the school's motto was translated by Bing as 'Normal B*stard'. Great school motto there

[@dabossdud]

"i think i'll close my imaginary resturant"

[@hatenayousei]

"I didn't know what I was saying but I was angry" honestly a mood

[@AlizeeYeezy]

great video chris, very unpleasant.

[@voidsabre_]

I'm gonna start saying "Full Stomach: achieved" after every meal

[@MegaPompoen]

"don't use he/she, use their names"

[@aaaron7481]

I'll never forget my classmate using google translate to cheat on his Japanese test. Let's just say he failed hard

[@alloymetal7861]

After I saw Google translate 「アメリカの御飯」 ("american food", literally "america's rice") as "united states of rice", I'm not surprised by anything.

[@dzello]

By the way, for those wondering why ''oppeshan'' gets translated to ''puppy''... Oppeshan means a flat face with a small nose. It doesn't specifically mean puppy, but it's often used to describe, you guessed, it, puppies with that feature.

[@Duskbear]

Chris, you may not observe Pig Bone Day but that's no reason to demean those of us who do

[@bludeadstuff683]

I'm going to start using the phrase "Full belly, received"

[@TheMatizyahu]

Actually Ryotaro's metaphor about drawers with languages is very accurate. I'm native Polish and every time i speak English i'm starting to think in English. Literally if i'm starting to have opinion, try to figure out what to say next i do it in English. I completely shut down my Polish thinking like a drawer - i'm no longer have contact with it. With Japanese is a different story because it is whole thought process and seriously you have to redo all the wires inside your brain. It's not just using other vocabulary and gramar.

[@28add11]

Lol I google translated some Japanese restuarant menus. I found out that the restaurant served mountain

[@harrystravelvideos5025]

Natsuki: 'I'm dental broken' .... this now makes perfect sense...

[@seiyuokamihimura5082]

Ryottoro has very good analogies. Very cool how he can effectively get his point across in an effective manner.

[@xDERable]

as a bilingual person myself, that ryotaro drawer example is pretty accurate lol.

[@jamodonnahan610]

"Yeah, I think I'll close my imaginary restaurant!"

[@user-bk5qj3yh4v]

Very interesting to hear the veteran Japanese learner's view on difference of two languages. I knew Google translate is not right always, but I never thought of what is their weakness like you did. Also, as I learned English in my junior high year「よろしくお願いします」was translated to "Nice to meat you." which later I noticed it is not concerning the meaning of the sentence at all. Good point.

[@SonnyO]

The drawer comparison for using languages is brilliant. People who try to learn a new language think it’s a filter, sifting key words, where you just have to turn off the languages you’re not using and think in another.