Fix racist translations, Google told
Malay, Aceh forum demands change to racist entries in language platform
Aceh group demands search giant to rectify translations from Malay, Indonesian to English.
JAKARTA: In a world where anyone from any background can connect with others, the online platform Google Translate has become an important part of society’s daily life.
Providing words from hundreds of national languages and regional vernaculars, the online translation platform is a reliable assistant to help those with different tongues understand each other better.
However, translation errors happen and sometimes those errors can lead to racial tensions.
The Malay and Aceh Community Forum has sent a letter of objection to Google LLC in California, United States and Google Indonesia after claiming it found racist translations when the names “Malay” and “Aceh” were input into the program to translate from Javanese to Malay, Indonesian and English.
Haekal Afifa, a member of the forum, said that he captured the proof of the racist translations on his screen on Oct 14.
“This is a (screen capture) that I recorded using the screen recording on my personal mobile phone.
I recorded it on Oct 14, 2.42am,” Haekal said in a text message on Friday.
In the capture, it is apparent that the translation of “Malay child” from Javanese to English was “son of a b***h”, while “Aceh girl” became “You jerk”, “What jerk” and “What a jerk”.
There are many other examples of apparently racist translations depicted in the video.
Haekal said that the community has sent the letters to Google Indonesia using an online delivery service and to Google LLC in California via fax.
In the objection letters, the community said it felt there had been discriminatory practices, incitement of hatred, making fun and degrading the identity of Aceh and Malay cultures.
“For that reason, we ask your company to delete anything contained in translation that we have described above, or in other translations that we have not found, no later than three times 24 hours after you receive this protest letter, that is, from Tuesday, Oct 15, 2019,” the letter said.
When checked on Oct 18, the translations on the Google Translate platform were back to normal.
Haekal also said that Google Indonesia had sent an official apology letter on Friday afternoon. — The Jakarta Post/ANN