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Lost in translation? AI-generated translations amuse Grab customers

Twitter user @ko2w posted a screenshot of one such message, showing a Grab driver’s abbreviated notification that he was dpn madm (in front, Madam) somehow being translated as “you are not depressed” in English.

Rizki Fachriansyah (The Jakarta Post)
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Jakarta
Wed, September 4, 2019

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Lost in translation? AI-generated translations amuse Grab customers A phone user opens the Grab Indonesia app. (Shutterstock/Jirapong Manustrong )

I

n yet another instance of netizens pointing out everyday absurdities, customers of ride-hailing service Grab Indonesia have recently taken to social media to share screenshots of the app’s erroneous English translations of Indonesian text – to unintentionally comedic effect. 

Twitter user @ko2w posted a screenshot of one such message, showing a Grab driver’s abbreviated notification that he was dpn madm  somehow being translated as “you are not depressed” in English.

“Grab translation is its own dictionary,” @ko2w tweeted on Sunday. 

The tweet has garnered over 5,100 retweets and 4,700 likes at the time of writing, spawning an entire thread on which fellow Grab customers shared their own amusing messages. 

A Twitter user that goes by the handle @__saladass__, for instance, posted a screenshot of a message sent by a Grab driver that reads, “Saya segera ke sana, Mas” (I will head over there soon, brother), which is then translated as “I love you” in English. 

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