Nov
4
As Pontes’ Rapini Festival takes place during Carnival, which next year falls in early February, if you fancy nipping down and nibbling on a few mouthwatering grelo.
Google Translate has since changed the translation.
The reason for the outrage is that grelo is also a Portuguese slang word for a lady’s love button.
It was meant to be a culinary festival celebrating grelo, the leafy green vegetable that is a staple in the Galician town of As Pontes in north-west Spain.
A Google spokesperson said: “Google Translate is an automatic translator – that is, it works without the intervention of human translators, using state-of-the-art technology instead”.
‘The clitoris is one of the typical products of Galician cuisine, ‘ proclaims the festival’s website, according to local media. Because Galicia has its own distinct language and culture, the name of the festival – Feira do Grelo – had to be translated from Galician into Castilian Spanish for the town’s website. They were only able to correct the error last week. “Since 1981… the festival has made the clitoris one of the star products of its local gastronomy”.
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. “At first, we didn’t believe what we were seeing”, she told the Guardian.
It all goes to show, we shouldn’t take those translations too seriously, as often what is automatically produced doesn’t even make a lot of sense.
It is estimated that more than 2.4 million people speak the Galician language, which is considered to be closely related to Portuguese, due to the region’s geographical position located just north of Portugal. The Guardian noted that the Galician word, “grelo” is now translated as “brote” or sprout.
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