Gmail, Google’s email service, has reportedly experienced a months-long issue involving the incorrect automated translation of email content, affecting users in Germany and elsewhere. According to a report by German news portal T-Online, certain German texts were distorted and misrepresented to users due to the error.
Google has acknowledged the problem and stated that work on a resolution began in early June. The company has commenced the rollout of revised Gmail versions designed to eliminate the translation errors. T-Online’s reporting brought the issue to Google’s attention.
The core of the problem stemmed from an overly aggressive translation feature. The automated system appeared to place excessive weight on English-language technical elements present within the email source code, misinterpreting non-English content and initiating erroneous translations.
Instances of incorrect translations have surfaced, with words like “Ass” (German for a playing card) being rendered as “Arsch” and, in other cases, automated systems erroneously transforming references to “Ukrainian troops” into “Russian troops”. Google indicated that users had consented to this feature, characterizing the affected user base as a “very small number.
Josef van Genabith, Head of the Language Technology and Multilingualism research division at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and Professor of Translation-Oriented Language Technologies at the University of Saarland, described the issue as “rather a curiosity”. He emphasized the importance of addressing the problem, stating, “Google has a vast user base and it’s crucial to prevent the generation of misinformation”.