1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser

Adventures in Google

Google Translate Thinks Women “Should” Be Doing House Chores


For some unknown reason, a Google Translate user wanted to translate the phrase “men are men and men should clean the house” from English into Spanish. Why this occurred remains unclear. Regardless, Google Translate knew they must have typed that incorrectly.

Also, for the record, The Jane Dough road-tested this on its own and got the same results. What gives, Google?

[Reddit]

(Note: The original image has been altered so that it could fit on the page. No other photo-altering shenanigans occurred.)

TAGS: | |

  • Carolscarabucci

    This doenst work in portuguese and translate it correctly … is this a good answer???? kkkkk

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HB62J5OFDLFHOMD3DXN2PCROKQ Matthew

    A faulty algorithm is not the result of intended sexism.

  • Pablo Joaquín Varela

    This is actually expected behavior. 

    Google Translate is a corpus-based translation system. This means that when it translates, Google searches in millions and millions of 
    already translated, real-life sentences that include the string of words “should clean the house”.  What happens is that statistically, Google Translate found more of these translated sentences with a _feminine subject_ rather than a masculine subject. That is why it is suggesting that “women” is a more accurate wording for that sentence.

    It is not Google that is sexist, but the Spanish speakers whom sentences have been captured by Google’s corpus.

    Pablo
    Argentinean, Native Spanish Speaker and Linguist
    about.pablojvarela.com.ar

  • Manolo

    If what you are saying were true, would’t the same thing happen in a regular Google search? (it doesn’t).  Think it is more likely that this is just an easter egg from a Google employee

  • Derek Flint

    A general Google search is more broad than one that searches Spanish speaker’s sentences that have been captured by Google’s corpus. As stated ealier in this thread, it doesn’t show up when translating to portuguese.

  • Dax

    When I tried it with Portuguese it still showed up..

  • Ai_ilyas

    The translate is right. Just Google is suggesting you to use women instead of Men.

  • Jamie-bril

    A reagular google seach gives this as well, just type a wrong letter in your sentence like: men are men and men shoulT clean the house, then it corrects you and ask rather you ment men are men and woman should clean the house 

  • Pica_pica_77

    yes, but if you type ‘fish are fish and fish should clean the house’ or ‘dogs are dogs and dogs should clean the house’ it does not suggest any correction. So it is  a faulty algorithm in the brain of the programer….

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002480346112 Kali Nash

    So when you typed dogs are dogs and should clean the house. You expected dogs are dogs and bitches should clean the house?

  • Lo

    This is nothing but another Google easter egg. 

  • Theresa

    …then it must be a German male empoyee – because in the German translation it actually translates it into women (Frauen)!!! not only suggests it on the left English side…

  • Theresa

    No it is not right! It actually translates it into “Frauen” (women) in German!

  • Mcsneezy13

    I think that sexism is practically dead in the enlightened world. Most people only joke about it just to satire those who used to practice it. Yes, men and women are different, and, as a result, a small portion of their skill sets don’t overlap for the most part, and anyone who would treat another as a lower class citizen on basis of gender is a fool, and shouldn’t be taken seriously anyway.

  • 2gethernet

    Regarding the easter egg, I may agree, because when I write just “men are men and men”, it is already translated as “Männer sind Männer und Frauen”. But, by the other side, the german translation is wrong (the verb should be conjugated as “säubern”), so I really don’t know if the employee was german indeed. 

  • Anonymous

    just because someone doesn’t love
    you the way you want them to, doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they
    have.   Find  true love? ——-> sugarcupid.C¤M 

  • http://www.facebook.com/joshuabozeman Joshua Taj Bozeman

    Is there anything liberal women won’t call sexism??  Seriously, who has all the extra time in the world to even put this into google translate to test it out?  Stop looking for bogeymen around every corner.    

  • Guest

    My google translate doesn’t show me the correction. Does this still work?

  • Retard

    dont think so…
    just check out how the google translator works, Manolo is right i think…

  • Nyyy

    go google go go go .

  • David

    It does not, I saw it a few days before

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/TXCAKWWYBVS6BURJ5RDAOUIM6E Giles

    My friênd’s stêp-sistêr mâkês $38/hr ôn thê intêrnêt. Shê hâs bêên ôût ôf â jôb fôr 6 mônths bût lâst mônth hêr incômê wâs $1722 jûst wôrking ôn thê intêrnêt fôr â fêw hôûrs. Gô tô this wêb sitê ând rêâd môrê…. LazyCash10.c&#173om

  • RandomGuy

    if you think a little bit, it has nothing to do with cleaning the house..
    it’s just the analysis of “men and men” that is corrected to “men and women”.
    This said, “women should clean the house” seems the right sentence :)

  • Anonymous

    Why we recommend you the man in military? The reason is simple: They are
    not only dependable, but also romantic. They are brave and strong but also warm
    in heart. Now it’s a new year, find your strong and warm
    arms for a new beginning at —- uniformedkiss*c’o’m —-

     

  • Anonymous

     http://lnk.co/IHOTL

  • Anonymous
  • http://twitter.com/StressBeat StressBeat

    I had a similar problem with MacSpeech Scribe. It was so very clear the software had been programmed by men…and it didn’t want to learn anything new. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/karanthsrihari Srihari Karanth

    I think its because it starts with “men are men” so it normal for men to think “women should clean the house”, implying that men are always men and they would want women to clean the house. Hence the suggestion. Just type “men should clean the house” and u will not find any suggestion. Said that, now i tried but it didnt work. Looks like google fixed it.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/LFTAOUEU5NWVZUI4YMXE2FULSE Cc
  • Adrian Tonnies

    google translate is right and men are men and wemen shoud do every services for men :)

  • Charlotte DeKoning

    Just because you haven’t experienced it doesn’t mean it’s not there.  Sexism is still alive and well in the “enlightened” world.  I experience it on a weekly basis and I work in Academia (supposedly the most “enlightened” and “elitist” of all areas).

    People only think it’s dead because it is no longer on the surface of everyday life.  It’s been relegated to the subconscious and private areas of life, which can be seen as a good thing, but is almost worse, since that makes it even harder to fight.

Abrams Media Network click here for advertising opportunities

© 2012 The Jane Dough | About Us | Advertise | Newsletter | Privacy | User Agreement | Disclaimer | Contact | Archives | Send a Tip | RSS RSS
Dan Abrams, Founder | Hosting by Datagram