Taste the translation campaign tests that Google can make mistakes

ElaN Languages is a translation service web site that -with help from JWT Amsterdam- developed a campaign that shows the mistakes that can be made when using Google Translate. The video campaign is called Taste the translation and features a chef cooking the same Japanese recipe as translated by ElaN’s team of human experts and by Google. Google’s version has many impossible steps such as adding chopped coins and plastic horses, but the chef used all of them. The commensals end up tasting both dishes blindfolded. The project debuted earlier this year but didn’t get much attention beyond the Netherlands until it hit the festival circuit, winning bronze at the Clio Awards and, this week, taking gold in Epica in Berlin. ElaN’s goal isn’t to get people to stop using Google’s free online translator. The value in Taste the translation is in showing the importance of using professional translation for documents where each word counts.