A poorly translated menu from China Eastern Airlines has caused confusion and speculation among passengers, with one appetizer option listed as "dog food."
Translation errors in the airline industry are common due to the need to translate from local languages to English, the default language of international aviation.
Translation and marketing errors can have negative consequences for a brand, leading to damage to its image and potential financial losses.
A specific business class dining option from China Eastern Airlines has brought some media buzz. The Shanghai-based carrier's poorly translated menu offered a range of options, with one standout choice being "dog food" paired with okra, serving as a business class appetizer.
An unfortunate error
This month, traveler Conrad Wu shared an image of the airline's business class menu on Facebook. Among the appetizer choices were seafood, beef, and vegetarian meals. However, the inclusion of "imported dog food" as the fourth option has left the passenger wondering, 'What exactly is it?'.
Initially reported by The Independent, the social media post has received more than 1,000 likes and was shared by more than 170 people, accompanied by numerous comments. Speculation arose, with many suggesting that this was likely a translation mistake. While this is, indeed, most likely a translation error, the specific dish mentioned on the menu still needs to be clarified.
Photo: China Eastern
Another menu option that caught social media's attention was the 'dragon bone soup.' Contrary to what the name might suggest, dragon bone soup has nothing to do with dragons. It is simply a traditional soup made with pork or chicken keel bones.
Read more: China Eastern Plans To Beat Pre-COVID Operations With 1,000+ Weekly International Flights
Airline translation blunders
The default language of international aviation worldwide is English, although other languages are used if airlines are based in non-English-speaking countries. Therefore, with the need to translate from local languages to English, translation errors are only natural and may occur occasionally.
An example of this can be found when Braniff Airlines aimed to promote its new leather first-class seats in the Mexican market. The airline's 'Fly in Leather' campaign, when literally translated to Spanish, became "vuela en cuero." The term "en cueros," pronounced similarly to "en cuero," means "naked," transforming the tagline into a suggestive one: 'Fly Naked.'
Photo: Vytautas Kielaitis | Shutterstock
In another translation mishap, a French passenger experienced a moment of panic when an inaccurate announcement conveyed that the plane was about to make an emergency landing. According to a Daily Mail report, while an English-language announcement, 20 minutes after departing from Dublin, indicated the plane was entering turbulence and urged passengers to return to their seats, the pre-recorded French version wrongly stated they were about to ditch.
Translation or marketing errors can bring smiles or, on the contrary, financial losses. But sometimes, such failures can rapidly become viral, causing lasting damage to a brand's image. They may also result in dire consequences of customer boycotts, making it challenging to establish a foothold in new markets in the future.
What are your thoughts on this translation blunder? Have you ever seen or spotted any? Let us know in the comments section below.
Do the words “dōtankyohi” (同担拒否) or “irukatsu” (イル活) mean anything to you? Perhaps you’ve stumbled upon them on the internet and, squinting, closed the window.
There are, however, people for whom these terms serve as a vital way to engage with friends and fellow fans — or otaku — about their favorite idols, games, anime or other beloved media.
A new book is trying to bridge the knowledge gap: “Otaku Dictionary Daigenkai,” out Tuesday from publisher Sanseido, catalogs and defines lingo widely used among several fandoms.
A menu on a Chinese airline stirred controversy after an option offered “dog food” in an apparent translation error.
The Independent reported that a passenger, a certain Conrad Wu, shared a photo of China Eastern Airlines’ menu on Facebook.
The menu for business class includes beef, seafood, and soup dishes, but one of the starters is “imported dog food with okra.”
“What exactly is it,” Wu said in his caption.
The photo got over a thousand reactions and hundreds of comments and shares.
One user asked if the airline was “pet friendly,” while another one said it’s because “they treat you as a dog, not human.”
Another user said the airline probably meant hot dog, and another user wondered about the “consequences of Google translate.”
It’s unclear what the dish is, and The Independent said it reached out to China Eastern Airlines for clarification.
This isn't the first time an airline meal blunder has gained traction online. In July, British Airways passengers on a 12-hour flight from Turks and Caicos to London were served a piece of KFC chicken each because an airline’s staff reportedly forgot to refrigerate the flight’s catering.
Jason Momoa is like the guy from the varsity football team who’s given a small part in the high school musical as a goof. Everyone knows the jock isn’t an actor, but he’s so much bigger than everyone else on stage that people dig it anyway. “Ha ha, that’s Travis in a dream-sequence dancer leotard!” The big oaf does a couple of pirouettes to frenzied applause, then gets off stage before he can do any real damage.
Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.
In that kind of small dose (and Momoa has made a couple of SNL cameos over the years), the humongous guy trying to act can be funny. But as host, you can almost feel the SNL writers struggling to find things for him to do. Momoa’s sweet spot is “good-natured rage,” which is a swell fit for, say, Aquaman. His only other gear, though, is “good-natured loud” and that’s a problem for a 90-minute sketch show.
Things got off to a considerably shaky start with Momoa’s monologue, one of the shortest in recent memory. The guy was off the stage in less than three minutes, likely because telling jokes isn’t exactly his strong suit. So instead, he threw out a few Hawaiian phrases, plugged Aquaman as well as his sustainable drinking-water company, and screamed, “I love life!” At least he’s got that going for him.
The night’s worst idea was casting Momoa as a Hispanic bouncer alongside a nightclub promoter (Marcello Hernández). Let’s just go ahead and demote the SNL writer or producer who told Momoa, “Just imitate Marcello’s accent — it will be hilarious!” The result was less “funny” and more “unintelligible” or “borderline offensive.” To be fair to Momoa, it’s hard to imagine this sketch premise killing with a more skilled comic actor, although Hernandez somehow managed laughs.
The closest SNL came to finding a suitable vehicle for Momoa’s “good-natured rage” vibe was “Rome Song,” a musical ode to guys really being into all things Roman Empire. The sketch gave Momoa an excuse to show off his massive guns (not the only time in this episode when the shirt came off so the big guy could flex), wave a sword around and wreak havoc. Now this is Momoa’s element! It’s a shame that the song wasn’t more clever — additional observations that kids like dinosaurs and women are into astrology feel pretty tired.
There’s no guarantee that Saturday Night Live kills when it hires professionally funny people to host. But it’s no coincidence that this young season’s strongest episodes were hosted by Nate Bargatze and Pete Davidson, while the weak links were fronted by Bad Bunny and Momoa. DC Comics gets it — notice how it didn’t hire a guy like Bargatze to play Aquaman? When it comes to SNL, it’s usually best to leave the linebackers on the bench and let the theater kids do their thing.
China Eastern Airlines recently joined the busy trans-Tasman market.
There are tasty sounding food offerings available in business class on China Eastern Airlines. There’s grilled steak, a seafood stew, and stir-fried chicken, but it is one of the starters that has raised some eyebrows: “Imported dog food with okra.”
An image of the menu was posted on Facebook by Conrad Wu asking: “What exactly is it?” That is a question a lot of commentators had too.
One speculated it could be a hot dog, while others pointed out the very likely Google Translate fail. Some of the other items also look like they got lost in translation too, such as the “mushroom juice”, “vanilla shrimp” and “lemon fan”.
The image was also shared on Reddit with one commentator joking that “economy class passengers only get domestic dog food”.
It is unclear what the actual food item is. Stuff Travel is seeking more information to clarify what the menu is referring to.
China Eastern Airlines was in the headlines earlier this month after it entered the busy trans-Tasman market.
It started flights linking Auckland with Sydney and the Chinese city of Hangzhou earlier this month.
There are four services a week; two are direct from Hangzhou to Auckland with a return via Sydney, while the other two flights visit Sydney first before travelling to Auckland and then back to Hangzhou.
China Eastern Airlines also flies daily between Shanghai and Auckland.
AI has made another assault on the English language. After taking the title of the Collins Dictionary word of the year, artificial intelligence this week assailed the Cambridge version.
This time, the impact is more subtle — but deeper. The first example emerged from Cambridge’s word of the year for 2023: “hallucinate.”
It’s an old word, but the award is due to a new meaning. In the latest versions of the Cambridge Dictionary, “hallucinate” has an extra definition:
“When an artificial intelligence (= a computer system that has some of the qualities that the human brain has, such as the ability to produce language in a way that seems human) hallucinates, it produces false information.”
The <3 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
To clarify the concept, the entry also includes two examples:
LLMs are notorious for hallucinating — generating completely false answers, often supported by fictitious citations.
The latest version of the chatbot is greatly improved but it will still hallucinate facts.
Hallucinating words
At TNW Towers, we welcome Cambridge’s intervention. Tech experts may argue that they’re reducing hallucinations, but the problem is far from solved — and the results can be alarming.
ChatGPT, for instance, can spoutdangerous medical advice. Security analysts fear the bot’s hallucinations could also drive malicious code towards software developers.
There are also risks for the Cambridge Dictionary.
“Managing the tendency of generative AI tools to hallucinate will be key to ensuring our users can continue to trust us,” said Wendalyn Nichols, the book’s publishing manager.
“The emergence of a new meaning of hallucinate is a great case in point. It’s human experts tracking and capturing changes in the language that make the Cambridge Dictionary a trustworthy source of information about new words and senses — ones the public-facing AI tools won’t have learned yet.”
AI’s second linguistic influence
The new meaning of hallucinate isn’t the only mark of AI on the Cambridge lexicon.
During 2023, lexicographers have added various definitions related to artificial intelligence, including large language model (or LLM), generative AI (or GenAI), and GPT.
At the tech’s current pace of development, the impact on 2024’s dictionaries could be even deeper.
With the generative AI explosion still booming, perhaps artificial intelligence will simply invent the next word of the year.
Iranian Christians attend the New Year mass at the Saint Targmanchats Armenian Church in Tehran on Jan. 1, 2023. | Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
As the underground Church continues to grow in Muslim-majority Iran, Bible translators are putting their lives on the line to bring the Gospel into the local dialects so that their friends and neighbors can have access to the written word of God for the first time.
Through the work of the translation agency unfoldingWord, Christians in Iran and across the globe have been able to translate the Gospel themselves into more native languages.
The Christian Post interviewed a representative from unfoldingWord, Evan Thompson, who preferred to use a fake name or pseudonym for his safety.
"There are 1.45 billion people in the world who speak about 5,500 languages that do not have the whole Bible in their heart languages. ... The Church has expanded exponentially in the last 20 years. And what these folks have learned is that you can lead someone to Christ, but if they don't have a church, they don't survive on their own," Thompson said.
"You can start a church, but if that church doesn't have the Bible in its heart language, it will typically only last one generation. Iran, for example, has churches operating underground. And there are thousands of underground churches in many other parts of the world," he added.
UnfoldingWord, a nonprofit organization that has been around for roughly seven years, "works with Church leaders around the world who are seeking to establish their churches in sound doctrine, but lack access to Bible translations in the languages their people speak."
A day in the life of Iranian Bible translators
The Christian Post heard from two Iranian women risking their lives to help translate unfoldingWord's Open Bible story resources from Farsi into other Iranian dialects for evangelizing.
Both women Bible translators have chosen not to give their real names for this article to protect their identities and maintain their safety.
The first woman, using the name Miriam, said she gave her heart to Christ after coming to the realization that she is "God's child and daughter."
Miriam is part of a people group in Iran that is made up of millions of natives. She says she is often treated as a second-class citizen because of how those from other people groups view her status in her people group.
Miriam's life could be in danger if the Iranian government finds out that she follows Jesus in the Islamic Republic, which Open Doors ranks as the eighth-most hostile country for Christians.
"God is my Father. I feel deeply honored to be part of this work of bringing God's Word to my people," Miriam said.
Despite having children and knowing that her life is at risk for believing in Jesus, Miriam said she will not stop working to translate the Gospel into her heart language.
"I cannot even imagine leaving this work unfinished. I must complete this work and see the result. I want to see my beloved ones experience salvation in Christ. This is my dream; that my people can talk about God and speak His name freely without any hesitation; without any fear they can talk about God," she said.
Miriam was introduced to Christianity through a friend in college who gave her a Farsi New Testament. She had to read the Bible alone and in secret, an act that left her without much of a clear understanding of the Christian faith.
After college, Miriam married into a strict Muslim family. But, no matter how hard she tried to adapt to the strict religious practices of Islam, she could not find God as a Muslim.
Miriam said she didn't give her life entirely to Jesus until after she heard about Transform, an online class offered in Iran that covered the basic teachings of Christianity.
She watched the classes secretly through various digital platforms. And during one of the class sessions, she gave her life to Christ.
Following her conversion, Miriam's husband caught her one day watching the Transform Iran pastor on television.
Miriam could no longer hold back the truth about her faith from her husband.
"By the grace of God, he did not get angry. He said, 'I know you are a serious-minded woman, and if this is important to you, it's OK,'" Miriam recalled.
Miriam's husband began watching the class with her, and several months later, he also gave his life to Christ.
Before her husband's conversion, the Transform Iran pastor asked her if she would get involved in Bible translation because of her expertise in her heart language.
Miriam accepted the offer even if that meant risking her life to help translate the Bible into more Iranian tongues.
"We are not allowed to study our heart languages in Iranian public schools. This is a limitation for our people. I have this language specialty and experience, this expertise so that I can help my own people. People like my mother can read this book," Miriam said.
"I have a Bible in Farsi, and I can read it. But I cannot understand the more complicated concepts in it because Farsi is not my heart language. I couldn't establish a relationship with the Bible in Farsi. I'm very fluent in Farsi. I studied hard and had great teachers. Still, I cannot establish a relationship with the Bible in Farsi," she continued.
"How about other people who don't have my educational advantages? My family and friends? Having the Gospel in my heart language makes it much easier to talk to my family about Jesus. They can understand and accept Him easily."
'Jesus fed me'
Another Iranian Bible translator who is using the pseudonym Stella accepted Jesus into her heart after her husband died of cancer.
Following her husband's death, Stella was left alone to care for her young son. During that time, she relied on the peace of God as her only hope.
"God has helped me. The Name of Jesus Christ was in my life. I didn't need anybody. Jesus fed me, put clothes on me and gave me peace," she said.
Stella learned more about God through a Bible translated into Farsi. At first, she thought Christianity was a religion. But, now she understands that Christianity is a relationship.
"When I was a new believer, I was thinking that, 'OK, I'm going to just switch religions.' But, when I got to know the Holy Spirit, I understood that this is a relationship, not religion," Stella said.
Stella is currently working on a Bible translation in her heart language. Her sister-in-law became a Christian thanks to her work translating the Bible. Stella worked for five years alongside her family as they helped her review the translation of the Bible, and now she works as part of a larger Bible translating group.
"I love my mother language. I'm telling the poetry; I write the context. I write the sentence. I record it. … I know all of this is God's work for us. God wants us to do this. … I am thinking about my mom, my father, my childhood. And everyone that doesn't have it right now. I really want to bring God to my town and my people," she said.
A dire need for Bible translations
Before unfoldingWord was launched, traditional Bible translation agencies across the globe have done "marvelous work" and continue to do so, Thompson noted.
However, he said the number of Western Bible translators that Bible translation agencies can send overseas is dropping, and the demand for Bible translation is increasing rapidly.
"The group that founded unfoldingWord developed a way to address this problem. We call it church-centric Bible translation. ... It's Bible translation incorporated into the life of the Church as part of its discipleship," Thompson noted.
"Most of those unreached people have neighbors who know Christ, and they're taking the Gospel to them. And what unfoldingWord does is we equip the Church in every people group with a goal of translating the Bible in every language."
To help local churches translate the Bible, unfoldingWord provides people groups with open-source software and open-licensed biblical content that's breaking the copyright barriers to source texts.
The organization also has comprehensive translation guides to answer difficult Bible translation questions. The organization offers essential doctrinal education to protect the theological integrity of the translations.
"unfoldingWord provides training for indigenous Bible translation teams over Zoom and sometimes in neutral locations," Thompson said.
The training locations are kept secret to protect participants in certain countries where practicing Christianity is not accepted.
"Our training allows for indigenous Bible translation teams to be able to use best practices when they are translating the Bible for themselves. One of the ways that I like to say it is: 'We don't make Bible translations. We help develop Bible translators.' Because that's what the Church really needs all over the world."
Issues bringing translations to Iran
Thompson said unfoldingWord has aided Iranian natives who have translated the Bible into dozens of native languages.
However, he said there are some unfortunate limitations to the organization's ability to aid translators in Iran. He cited strict government policies prohibiting Iranians from studying their heart languages or their native tongues in public schools.
"All of these oppressive countries, like Sudan, like Iran, and some others we could name, are trying to Islamasize their whole population. And one of the ways that they do that is by forcing them to speak this one national language, and it's causing their heart languages to die out," Thompson said.
In Iran, the government recognizes Farsi as the national language. However, many natives speak other Iranian dialects more fluently.
"It's very much like anybody that comes to America from someplace else, and we put them in American schools to learn English. Unless their family makes it a point to keep their native languages ... alive in their families, by the second or third generation, the kids can't speak their native language anymore," Thompson said.
The few responsible for the many
Miriam believes God has blessed her with a huge responsibility to help translate the Bible into more Iranian languages.
"This is not just a scientific book. This is God's Word. I felt some tension. I was scared that I would not do the work well enough, but I'm very happy to make it available so that my people can establish a relationship with the Bible. That's why I got involved with this Bible translation project," she said.
When asked if she can imagine the day when the Bible is completed in even more Iranian languages, Miriam said it will take many years, and she doesn't know if she'll live long enough to see the project's conclusion.
"I want my children to experience the result of my work so that they can know Jesus through their heart language. I never thought this project would grow like this. But I've learned that it's not just about me," Miriam said.
"I need this team that has been pulled together. For safety, we have many people working on this project secretly. There may be several Christians in one Iranian family, but they cannot share their faith with each other openly," she continued.
"We need more people who can speak my heart language to continue working on this project. … I want to ask for prayer … to recruit people into the project who know our language well."
