If you rely solely on automatic translators for localizing an online store, some rather amusing translations might appear.

The article was written after exploring the website Elcorteingles.es, which is quite popular in Spain and throughout Europe. It’s worth noting that the website is truly remarkable. While navigating, I noticed several incorrect and even somewhat humorous translations.

Let’s assume you don’t speak Spanish but are fluent in English. While in Spain, you visit the El Corte Inglés website. Naturally, you would enable the automatic translation feature in your browser to translate the site from Spanish to English. The website will be translated, but not everything will be rendered as intended by the website’s administrators.

Let’s look at a few examples.

Automatic translation of product names can sometimes lead to amusing and unexpected results. To avoid such quirks, it’s better to manage automatic translations using BabelShark.

You may have noticed that in the previous example, the company name "El Corte Inglés" was translated as "The English Cut," which is completely unacceptable. Yes, automatic translators translate everything indiscriminately – brand names, user names, and more. Let’s look at another example.

Let’s visit the product page for the Vanish laundry detergent. Naturally, with automatic translation into English, the name will remain the same. But what happens if we enable automatic translation into German?

And in different languages, the brand name "Vanish" is translated differently on website. This is not correct from a marketing perspective. Automatic translation of brand names interferes with their recognition.

For some products that are currently unavailable, the label "Agotado" is used to mean "Sold Out" or "Out of Stock." However, in automatic translation, this word turns into "EXHAUSTED," which is not entirely accurate. On English-language websites, this term is typically not used; instead, it should be labeled as "Sold Out" or "Out of Stock."

Incorrect automatic translation can result in terms that do not align with the familiar standards of websites. This creates confusion for users and comes across as unprofessional.