Feb 16, 2014

Google Translate equates Francis (as in Pope) to a “better world”

Technology and the Church
Technology and the Church

Someone has slipped an interesting “easter egg” into Google Translate

Raffaele Buscemi Rome

Interesting that in the below article they don't mention the possibility that this was done by the Vatican...

Either it’s Google giving Francis a wink or a hacker thought of a fun way to show their support for the Holy Father, or maybe Google’s putting Francis forward as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. Those who have spotted the interesting anomaly on Google Translate have been coming up with all sorts of theories to explain it. But what is it all about you may be asking.
 
Well, go to Google Translate, select Italian as the source language and type in “Bergoglio”. The Pope’s surname translates as “better world” in any target language you choose.
 
I tested this out myself and here are the results Google Translate came up with in some of the target languages I selected: Latin: mundo melius; Hungarian: jobb vilag; Basque: mundo hobea; Portuguese: mundo melhor; Spanish: mundo mejor; Esperanto: bona mondo; English: better world. In German, French, Romanian and Greek, the translation given is in English. “better world”. It makes no difference whether you type “bergoglio” in lower or upper case.

It’s hard to explain this little number and even Google Italy seems clueless as to who is responsible. All you can do is test it out for yourself and form your own opinion (however fantastical it may be!). Seeing is believing.

From - http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/documents/detail/articolo/google-francesco-francis-francisco-31144/