Most epic Google translate fails of skaters' names

[Ananas Astra]

After Petr Gumennik became "Petr Bohnengans" recently, I couldn't help but think of all the funny Google translate fails of quite a few skaters' names.
Especially Russian Nationals or other Russian competitions have always been a treasure in that sense.

I can come up spontaneously with:

• Gordi Pots (Gordei Gorshkov)
• Basil the Great (Vasily Velikov)
• Egor Will Close (Egor Zakroev)
• Andrew MP (Andrei Deputat)
• Lil' Wayne Kayumova (Alsu Kayumova)
• Petr Bohnengans (Petr Gumennik)
• Mark Chess (Mark Shakhmatov)
• Maxim rump (Maxim Kurdyukov)
• ...

Do you have more? I remember Japanese and Chinese names also were butchered by Google translate, let's collect all of them to have a good laugh (we all need it these days).

 

[Gris]

Detective Tanaka Very fitting for him to do a Sherlock Holmes program.

 

[Cherub721]

Jamie Sale was translated Dzhemy Fats in a Russian article
Marina Anissina - Seascape of Anis
World Championship - Championship of Peace

 

[mjb52]

Gummenik has been translated as Bean Goose before, which I absolutely love.

I also like the way pairs are rendered as greenhouses in translations from Russian to English. Toe loop to sheepskin coat is a classic of course.

Mozgov is Brains and I think Svinin/Zhuk come out a bit funny when translated literally but I don't remember the exact details. Zhenya comes out as Wife I think, which is funny when they do it for Plushchenko.

 

[Ananas Astra]

Just found a posting from Russian Junior Nats where Mikhail Kolyada was named "Michael Carol" ("kolyadat" means carolling in Russian)

Oh yeah, there was often a Sergei Brains in some lists.

And poor Mikhail Zhirnov was made "Fatty Michael"

 

[Amy L]

Mozgov is Brains and I think Svinin/Zhuk come out a bit funny when translated literally but I don't remember the exact details. Zhenya comes out as Wife I think, which is funny when they do it for Plushchenko.

Svinin is close to the word for swine (svinya). Zhuk means beetle.

 

[mjb52]

Ah, that's right. I think it's their always being mentioned together that makes it a little cuter than if it was in isolation. Swine and Beetle.

 

[Amy L]

Ah, that's right. I think it's their always being mentioned together that makes it a little cuter than if it was in isolation. Swine and Beetle.

There was a Ukranian dance team named Kozlova & Baranov which means goat and ram

 

[cygnus]

I remember years ago seeing Sale and Pelletier written as "Salted and Furrier".

 

[rfisher]

Google translation of Ksenia Stolbova was where Susie came from.

 

[Erin]

I remember years ago seeing Sale and Pelletier written as "Salted and Furrier".

Yes! I still always think of them as that. My other favourite is Stefan Lindemann’s last name translated as Lime Tree Man. Which was especially great because he had a green costume when that happened.

 

[tony]

Edited out, @Erin beat me to it!

 

[mjb52]

Why does the (I think) Russian Nationals keep translating to the Czech or Chechen Republic? It's the most fascinating one to me.

 

[tony]

Wow, I'm on a roll today. Ignore again.

 

[MissIzzy]

I made up a hashtag for this once: #ilovechrometranslate The funniest one from there is probably Sergey BRAINS (Sergei Mozgov).

 

[Vagabond]

Anna Burned (Anna Pogorilaya)

 

[Amy L]

Why does the (I think) Russian Nationals keep translating to the Czech or Chechen Republic? It's the most fascinating one to me.

The Nationals are the in the city of Chelyabinsk, so somehow whatever combination of spelling or grammar makes the translation software think of something else.

A lot of Russian names come from animals or physical descriptions, so that's why we get funny machine translations. The names already started out kind of funny. They literally mean hunchback (Gorbachev), fiery-haired (Volosozhar), or ugly (Nekrasov).

 

[Aerobicidal]

Some Japanese ones--
Satoko Miyahara = original intellectual child
Rika Hongo = this township management
Miyu Nakashio = Medium salt beauty

At some point I also found these, but I don't remember all the original names these came from except for Hanyu: "No good Takashi people, Hanyu binding chord, Miya field-sized areas, Forest clothing blow, and West field friend cones"

Google translate works a lot better now, (un)fortunately.

Some of the most epic names in figure skating, IMO, work all on their own: Hole and Johnson, Fear and Payne, Brittney Bottoms, and so many judge names I don't even know where to start (maybe Taffy Holliday?).

 

[mjb52]

"The Mitchell-Johansson Method"

 

[Vagabond]

"The Mitchell-Johansson Method"

What is that in its original language?

 

[Jot the Dot Dot]

I remember these from long ago, apparently the internet was unintentionally more funny before they fine-tuned it.

Michael Weiss = Michael White
Nathalie Krieg = Nathalie War
Lucinda Ruh = Lucinda Rest

 

[greenapple]

A Google translation of the starting order for the Russian Cup this week comes up with Bean Goose Pyotr for Petr Gumennik.

 

[midori]

Bing Tranlator (Microsoft Translater) used to convert "Plushenko Senshu" in Japanese into "Quad Jumps" in English. A few years later it was updated and just says "Quad."

https://twitter.com/tmidorin/status/817883838231629824

# "Senshu" is a honorific for atheletes in Japanese, and this is the common expression used by newspapers and magazines.

It also used to insist "Boyang Senshu" in Japanese is "WTF yo player" in English. It was around the time he started showing off his numerous quads.

https://twitter.com/tmidorin/status/818106686565007360

Now both got fixed and I have to say I am rather disappointed.

 

[Vash01]

Elena Berezhnaya was Google translated many times as as Elena Careful.

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

I was browsing the Italian Federation's website as nationals is coming up and Google Translate kicked in with some fun translations...

Matteo He Healed (Matteo Guarise)
Mattia From The Tower (Mattia Dalla Torre)
Marco Blacksmiths (Marco Fabbri)
Veronica Broad Bean (Veronica Fava)
Francis Shore (Francesco Riva)

​

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Google translation of Zachary Donahue came up as Keeper of ANL heart

Awwwww. The service does really work well

 

[puglover]

Not a google translate mistake but - years ago I was at a pairs/dance try out where they tried skaters together to see how they looked. One they scratched - maybe because of the names was "Slocombe-Dyck".

 

[Ananas Astra]

Japanese Nationals have a couple of treats for us:
"Chiba Hundred Sound"
"Yokoi ゆは dishes"
"Kawabata and love"
"Hebei love dishes"
"Under the mountain" (my favorite )
"Ji Ping Pear Flower"

 

[Vagabond]

Under the mountain = Mako Yamashita

Google Translate is still struggling with Japanese names.

 

[mjb52]

I keep on seeing references to "ribs" and "jambs" in google translated articles about Russian skating. I'm pretty sure that ribs are "edges" like deep edges when people skate, but I can't figure out what jambs are. I think some kind of mistake or instability? Does anyone know? Sorry this isn't a very funny post, I'm just curious.