This week’s blooper actually comes from spoken interpretation instead of written translation. Thirty two years ago, the US State Department made the mistake of sending a non-native Polish speaker to interpret for US President Jimmy Carter on his trip to Poland. The interpreter was previously used by the State Department for interpretation and translation from Russian and Polish to English, but his Polish was far from the caliber required for this situation. The resulting errors left many embarrassed and were reported for months by newspapers worldwide:

• “I have come to learn your opinions and understand your desires for the future” was translated roughly as the equivalent to “I desire the Poles carnally“
• “When I left the United States” became “when I abandoned the United States”
• “Our nation was founded” became “our nation was woven“
• “Your desires for the future” became “your lusts for the future”
• “Poland is the ancestral home of more than 6 million Americans” became “a state also which constitutes the fatherland of 10 million Americans”