Just as sitting presidents take a lot of heat for any missteps while in office, U.S. presidential candidates are often under a microscope for any blunders committed before, during, and after their campaigns.

Barack Obama

Arabic in Afghanistan? – As a candidate, Obama mentioned a need for Arabic linguists in Afghanistan, momentarily forgetting that Arabic is not the language spoken in that country. He corrected himself shortly thereafter.

John McCain

Immigration and Innovation – During the 2008 race, Senator John McCain’s campaign presented what could have been a multimedia localization error or an intentional sleight of hand. The incident was explained on the T&I Business blog (where you can also see the localized video):

A recent Spanish and English ad by 2008 presidential candidate John McCain appears to allow him to have it both ways on the issue of immigration, thus allowing him to appeal to a majority of conservative or liberal voters depending on the language they speak. In the ad, McCain mentions “Pro-innovation Immigration Policies” in English (language that appears to promote a conservative immigration agenda), but the Spanish text that appears on screen is translated as “Innovación en las Políticas de Inmigración” or “Immigration Policy Innovation” / “Innovation in Immigration Policy” (which sounds like a potentially more liberal approach to immigration reform).

This subtle change in meaning provided a little ammunition for those who opposed McCain’s candidacy.

Hillary Clinton

Reset Button – A previous blooper of the week already explained what happened when former presidential candidate Hillary presented a symbolic “reset” button to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov that was not only mistranslated, but also in the wrong script.

Al Gore

E Unum Pluribus? – Former presidential candidate Al Gore once gave Latin-to-English translation a try. He assured an audience in Milwaukee, WI that America “can be E Pluribus Unum, out of one, many.” The correct translation is of course, “out of many, one.”

GGI is happy to help politicians and candidates for political office when they need translation of a gift, localization of a website, editing of a multilingual speech, or multilingual voice-over and localization for a campaign video.

Related: Translation Bloopers of U.S. Presidents