Death by machine translation

In a world where technology is rapidly evolving, machine translation has become increasingly relied upon to communicate across language barriers. While this tool can be useful in many situations, there are also dangers associated with its use, as it can sometimes lead to disastrous consequences.

One such danger is known as "death by machine translation." This occurs when a machine translates something incorrectly, and the resulting message is so garbled that it is incomprehensible. This can lead to communication breakdowns and, in some cases, can even put people's lives at risk.

Death by machine translation is a very real phenomenon that can happen when machines are used to translate text from one language to another. In some cases, the results of machine translation can be comical, but in other cases, they can be dangerous.

One well-publicized example of death by machine translation occurred in 2003 when a Chinese man was killed by a Russian translation of a Chinese-made car manual. The manual said that the car's airbags would deploy automatically in a crash, but the Russian translation said that the airbags would only deploy if the car was crashed into by another car.

The man, who was not aware of the difference, died when his car's airbags failed to deploy in a crash.

While this example is extreme, it highlights the dangers that can occur when machines are used to translate important documents. Machine translation can often introduce errors that can change the meaning of what is being said, and in some cases, these errors can have dangerous consequences.

For example, in 2008, a Chinese student died after taking a medicine that had been incorrectly translated by a machine. The student had been suffering from a cold and had gone to a pharmacy to buy some medication. However, due to the poor quality of the machine translation, the student ended up taking poison instead of a cold remedy.

Another example occurred in 2016 when a Japanese man was killed by a machine-translated message. The man had been trying to fix a gas leak in his home, but the machine translation of the instructions he was following led him to believe that he needed to turn the gas on instead of off. As a result, he was overcome by gas fumes and died.

It's important to be aware of the limitations of machine translation and to only use it for tasks where the consequences of an error are not serious. When it comes to life-or-death situations, it's always best to leave the translation to a human.

These examples show just how dangerous machine translation can be. When lives are at stake, it is vital that we take steps to ensure that communication is clear and accurate. Machine translation is a useful tool, but it should be used with caution and only when absolutely necessary.