An “automated error” caused Google Translate’s Ukrainian to Russian service to interpret “Russian Federation” as “Mordor,” a fictional place that features in the Lord of the Rings, according to BBC News. It also translated “Russians” to “occupiers” and “Sergey Lavrov,” the country’s foreign minister, to “sad little horse.”
The tech giant said in a statement that the errors were introduced to Google Translate’s Ukrainian-to-Russian service automatically, BBC reported. The bug appears to be fixed now. Google also clarified that the tool was an automatic translator that worked without human intervention. However, users have the option to suggest alternative translations manually.
The three terms mentioned above were part of the language used by some Ukrainians after Moscow took over Crimea in 2014.
Just 0.2% of readers pay for news. The others don’t care if it dies. You can help make a difference. Support independent journalism – join Scroll now.
Our coverage is independent because of readers like you. Pay to be a Scroll member and help us keep going.