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* Pick any online text translator. Pick a block of text - the beginning of Hamlet's most famous soliloquy, for example. Now translate it to any other language, and back again.
** English -> French -> English
{{quote| To be, or not to be--c' is the question: If ' ; tis nobler in l' spirit to suffer the supports and the arrows from unworthy fortune Or to take arms against a sea of the troubles And by l' opposition stop them. To die, sleep-- Not more--and by a sleep to say we let us stop sorrow d' love, and the thousand normal shocks This flesh is heir with. ' ; Tis a consumption Being desired with enthusiasm. To die, sleep-- To sleep--perhaps with the dream: ay, there' ; S the strip contact, for in this sleep of dead which dreams can come When we scrambled in addition to this mortal rolling up, Must give us the pause. There' ; S the respect That makes the calamity thus long life.}}
** English -> Japanese -> English
{{quote| Because of a certain, or because it is not,--That is question: ' Whether or not; In order the topping lift and the arrow or the arm of a nobler tis inhuman good fortune to take with the heart which suffers vis-a-vis the sea of trouble and finish those with in the opposite direction. In order to die, in order to sleep,-- Above this--And as for us that meat of mental agony and thousand natural impacts which finish with the sleep which is said is to the successor. ' Because it is desired from Tis consummation heart. In order to die, in order to sleep,-- In order to sleep,--In perchance dream: there' ay; Whether perhaps, any dream comes, when mixing from the coil where we do not escape this death friction for the sleep of s death, separated, we must give pause. There' s point that makes the disaster of such long life.}}
** English -> Spanish -> English
{{quote| To be or not to be, that one is the question; If ' tis more noble in the head to undergo the slings and you shoot with an arrow of the indignante fortune, Or to take the arms against a sea from hardships, and being been against, to finish those. In order to die, to dream; Not over; and by a dream to say we were finished the pain and the thousand natural shocks that meat is the heir - ' tis a consumation devoutly to being wish' d. In order to die, to sleep; In order to sleep, to perhaps dream. Ay, there' s the rubbing, stops in that dream of the death what dreams can come, when we have mixed ourselves of this mortal coil, we must occur stop. There' s the respect that so makes terrible of long life.}}
** There are actually translators that do this ''deliberately'' like [http://tashian.com/multibabel/ Lost in Translation] (not the film). As in, that's the sole reason for their existence. Same with [http://www.translationparty.com/ Translation Party].
*** For instance, the classical ''To be or not to be, that is the question'', after a English-Japanese-Chinese-French-German-Italian-Spanish-English trip, becomes
{{quote| Due to the regulations due to it stops as they give under him is not: The needs of the argument}}
* One of the first websites to deal with this phenomenon, particularly as applied to hilarious usages of English in Asian countries, is [http://www.engrish.com/ Engrish.com].
* Need I remind you guys that WE WILL BURY YOUUUU!!!!!!!
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* [http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/7639/44723110448bb4ab671co.jpg This], spotted at a mall in Malaysia, but no doubt was already like that when it was brought in from China. Doubly funny if you had [http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2584/447231046838722e2054o.jpg looked at the ride] [[Unfortunate Implications|from the side]] first...
* ''[http://clientsfromhell.net/ Clients From Hell]'', a site that publishes anonymous anecdotes about insufferable web design clients, featured this beautiful post:
{{quote| '''Client:''' We need to get this all translated into Italian.<br />
'''Me:''' Ok, well we’ll need to get a price for the translation.<br />
'''Client:''' Can we not just do it in house? I’m sure between us we can speak Italian. }}
* This trope was invoked by the defence of one of the accused during the trials of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Apparently the thing that got him arrested as a possible coordinator of the attacks was a Spanish translation of an Italian translation (the guy was living in Italy at the time) of a sentence in Arabic that could be interpreted in more than one way.
* On the pedestal of the St. Wenceslas statue at Wenceslas Square in Prague there used to be a sign: "Keep of the statue and the basement".
* On the back of a piece of Chinese candy named "Soft sugar happy flavor" is this helpful description:
{{quote| The candy, the sending out happy,<br />
is being rich the happy gift which and<br />
the after taste is accompanies us to grow<br />
is childhood many joyful recollections. }}
** For some reason that made me think of [[Just Shoot Me|Lemon Wacky Hello]].
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* An ad for what appears to be some kind of translator. The ad was in Swedish, and, judging by the quality of the translation, it wasn't a very good translator. Word-for-word transcript:
'''Läsa några webbplats på alla språk!''' En klicka översättning, hämta nu fria!
{{quote| Läsa några: To read a few (plural)<br />
webbplats: website (singular)<br />
på alla språk: in all languages<br />
En: An<br />
klicka: (to) click<br />
översättning: translation<br />
hämta nu: retrieve now<br />
fria: free (opposite of incarcerated, not opposite of expensive)(plural) }}
* One promising-looking place in Quimper, France offered a ''crêpe aux avocats'' which was duly translated into the restaurants English menu as ''Lawyer crepe.'' ''Avocat'' is a homonym for two words in French, one meaning "avocado" and the other "lawyer."
* In Subway restaurants in Japan, the written advertisements on cups are unintentionally suggestive:
{{quote| "It's the way we welcome the sun with 35 sun-block. The way the best water, now mostly comes in bottles. It's the way we make time for exercise and like to enjoy reading. That's why SUBWAY offers the varieties of fresh and healthy subs. Because when you are through surfing, you might want to put on a bathing suit. It's the way a sandwich should be.}}
* During the [[Cold War]] Soviet espionage conveyed lots of information about the Manhattan Project to Soviet nuclear scientists. Unfortunately the translation work was often uneven. The famous example is that because no one understood what the English phrase "squash court" meant, for many years the Soviets believed Enrico Fermi had constructed his first breeder reactor in a pumpkin patch.
* [[YouTube]]'s "Transcribe Audio" function can result in this, especially if the person's voice is speaking fast or is slurred.
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