Nov
4
Town hall spokeswoman Monte Garcia told The Local, “Google translate recognized our Galician word grelo as Portuguese and translated into the Spanish clitoris…” They used Google Translate for the Spanish-language version of the text.
The town of As Pontes in north western Spain has a tradition of holding the “Feira do grelo“, or rapini festival, each year, which celebrates a local leaf vegetable similar to spinach which is a local speciality.
The information about the festival was hosted on the town’s website which is primarily written in Galician, but which has all of its information translated into Castilian Spanish, too.
In what’s probably the best Google translate mix-up in history, a small town in Galicia, northwestern Spain, ended up doing just that.
A spokesperson for Google has confirmed that the incorrect translation has since been fixed. With the translation app believing Galician to be Portuguese, the word “grelo” automatically gets translated to an archaic Portuguese slang word for “clitoris“, although interestingly enough it does refer to the name of the vegetable in that country as well.
Residents of the Galician-speaking town As Pontes were more than a little confused when they saw an advertisement for a “clitoris festival” on the town’s website.
GETTY TASTY Rapini is a popular vegetable in Galicia
She added: ‘We discovered that Google translates any mention of grelos, on any website, to clitoris.
It said the translated announcement read: “The clitoris is one of the typical products of Galician cuisine”.
The mistake is understandable, given that Galician and Portuguese are closely related. The Galician word for rapini is grelo. Rapini is commonly called broccoli raab or rabe in the United States. Grelo is the green vegetable for which the region is famous, and an important part of the festival.
The vegetable is most commonly eaten with cured pork and potatoes.
The festival – which promotes regional products rather than the female anatomy – is set to take place next February.
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