Tested for you, CEONews did not get Shanghai as a translation for Sihanoukville. Is this a real thing, has anyone seen this, or is it social media rumour ?

Controversy in Cambodia over a Google translation
5 January 2018
A mistake by Google Translate has sparked an online debate over Chinese influence in Preah Sihanouk province’s Sihanoukville.

Google Translate is translating Sihanoukville to Shanghai, leading many people on Facebook to question whether the translation was a reflection of the many Chinese investors moving into the coastal province.

“Nowadays, for tourism in Sihanoukville there are many Chinese investors,” one Facebook user said. “So is this why Google translates Sihanoukville to Shanghai?”

Others said they were worried that Sihanoukville would become a “Chinatown” in the near future.

However, an information technology specialist and a government official explained that the mistranslation is the fault of Google’s algorithms and has nothing to do with Chinese investment in the province.

Heng Sovan, an IT specialist, said no one can insert data into Google Translate, which is controlled by the company and cannot always keep up with accurate translations for so many languages.
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50100007/co ... anslation/

Look at a Google translate of Phnom Penh

So..... can anyone actually make this happen? I call bullshit. Translate from what to what?

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"Heng Sovan, an IT specialist, said no one can insert data into Google Translate, which is controlled by the company and cannot always keep up with accurate translations for so many languages."
I thought google translate used volunteers to help approve translations. There is even a facebook group for Google community in Khmer. It might no be a hack but maybe lots of people submitted Shanghai as the correct translation of sihanoukville

Sounds like some salty expat whose been booted out of their flat too many times in the past 12 months has been hammering the "suggest an edit" button.

Anyone can suggest edits to translations, that's how it gets better. Easy enough to game it to show a different translation for a short time, but it wouldn't last long.

Anyone can also join the translation community to maintain, improve, and approve that can approve translations that are completely accurate - noted by a ticked badge next to the translation.




Both Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh translate correctly for me.

pczz wrote: ↑Fri Jan 05, 2018 8:27 am "Heng Sovan, an IT specialist, said no one can insert data into Google Translate, which is controlled by the company and cannot always keep up with accurate translations for so many languages."

Even I have contributed to Google Translate from English to Khmer. It's with user contributions they improve (although maybe not so much from my contributions).

It wouldn't surprise me if it did in fact translate to Shanghai, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was just a fake Facebook post. My girlfriend tried it a few days ago, and it translated to Sihanoukville.

There were some similar jokes in Google translate in my language a few years ago too, for example a small town with a lot of immigrants was translated to Mogadishu.

username wrote: ↑Fri Jan 05, 2018 11:46 am

pczz wrote: ↑Fri Jan 05, 2018 8:27 am "Heng Sovan, an IT specialist, said no one can insert data into Google Translate, which is controlled by the company and cannot always keep up with accurate translations for so many languages."

Even I have contributed to Google Translate from English to Khmer. It's with user contributions they improve (although maybe not so much from my contributions).

It wouldn't surprise me if it did in fact translate to Shanghai, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was just a fake Facebook post. My girlfriend tried it a few days ago, and it translated to Sihanoukville.

There were some similar jokes in Google translate in my language a few years ago too, for example a small town with a lot of immigrants was translated to Mogadishu.

Someone just tried it and it came back kampong Som, but that's using the proper name for snooky. I suppose we ought to try typing in Sihanoukville in Cambodian alphabet, but cannot find a Khmer who knows how. they all call it kampong som

pczz wrote: ↑Fri Jan 05, 2018 11:57 am

username wrote: ↑Fri Jan 05, 2018 11:46 am

pczz wrote: ↑Fri Jan 05, 2018 8:27 am "Heng Sovan, an IT specialist, said no one can insert data into Google Translate, which is controlled by the company and cannot always keep up with accurate translations for so many languages."

Even I have contributed to Google Translate from English to Khmer. It's with user contributions they improve (although maybe not so much from my contributions).

It wouldn't surprise me if it did in fact translate to Shanghai, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was just a fake Facebook post. My girlfriend tried it a few days ago, and it translated to Sihanoukville.

There were some similar jokes in Google translate in my language a few years ago too, for example a small town with a lot of immigrants was translated to Mogadishu.

Someone just tried it and it came back kampong Som, but that's using the proper name for snooky. I suppose we ought to try typing in Sihanoukville in Cambodian alphabet, but cannot find a Khmer who knows how. they all call it kampong som

ក្រុង​ព្រះ​សីហនុ​

Well that works. Now we have to get it corrected back to saying Shanghai