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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Highland Handlebar on June 22, 2019, 11:37:36 AM

Title: Selling on e-bay, the perils of google translate
Post by: Highland Handlebar on June 22, 2019, 11:37:36 AM
An Italian seller has posted a Peco single slip on eBay today. He advertised it as Peco single briefs. Sounds like a load of pants to me
Title: Re: Selling on e-bay, the perils of google translate
Post by: RailGooner on June 22, 2019, 11:44:16 AM
Good to see you posting @Highland Handlebar (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=5852) - it's been a fair while I think. :beers:
Title: Re: Selling on e-bay, the perils of google translate
Post by: Lawrence on June 22, 2019, 05:40:41 PM
Quote from: RailGooner on June 22, 2019, 11:44:16 AM
Good to see you posting @Highland Handlebar (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=5852) - it's been a fair while I think. :beers:

It's been lambing season up there @RailGooner (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=5427) so they had to get all the sheep of the treadmill that powers the internet up there  ;)
Title: Re: Selling on e-bay, the perils of google translate
Post by: Hiawatha on June 23, 2019, 10:28:15 AM
Quote from: Highland Handlebar on June 22, 2019, 11:37:36 AM
An Italian seller has posted a Peco single slip on eBay today. He advertised it as Peco single briefs.

It's not the fault of Google Translate (which usually works quite well nowadays) and also not the seller's. He didn't advertise it as briefs (if you click on the item you can see his title). It's just ebay's own translation "service" which as a seller or buyer you can't even disable. :thumbsdown:
Their artificial intelligence is so stupid that after their translations you don't even know what was written there before. ::)
On German ebay it's particularly dreadful as many English terms are company names or proper names like "Mallard", so e.g. an E7 loco from "Life-Like" that "didn't run right" gets translated to something like "natural" and "not accomplished law". :doh:
Even worse are abbreviations: PRR is translated to "beten" ("praying"), and GWR becomes – wait for it – "Bördelwerkzeug" ("hemming tool"). :confused1:

So, if you see something completely stupid listed – don't blame the foreign seller, click on the item and see if it still reads the same. If not, it's ebay's artificial stupidity.
Title: Re: Selling on e-bay, the perils of google translate
Post by: Bealman on June 23, 2019, 10:34:05 AM
Quote from: Highland Handlebar on June 22, 2019, 11:37:36 AM
An Italian seller has posted a Peco single slip on eBay today. He advertised it as Peco single briefs. Sounds like a load of pants to me

Good to see you back!  :thumbsup:

You blokes are cracking me up here at the Antipodes  :beers: