Ridiculous translation mistake, board posted at Indian railway station goes viral

Ranchi: A picture of a sign board on a local train in India has gone viral on social media, in which a ridiculous translation error has been made.

According to Indian media reports, on the signboard, Hatiya, a suburb of India, has been translated into Malayalam as killer. Hattia-Ernakulam Express runs weekly between Ranchi and Ernakulam cities. The train’s name, Hatiya, translates to “Kolapathakam” in Malayalam, meaning killer.

The picture of the board went viral on the internet and was widely criticized. The senior divisional commercial manager of Ranchi division told local news that the mistake was due to confusion with the Hindi word “hatiya” as the word hatiya is also used as murder in Indian language.

He said that the wrong name plate has been rectified immediately after the mistake was brought to light. Commuters were confused to see the new name on the station boards and tickets. After online ridicule, railway officials immediately covered up the translation with yellow paint.

In this regard, a user of X wrote in the caption of the posted picture that ‘Keep quiet, no one should tell the railway authorities about this mistake. Another user commented that relying too heavily on Google Translate causes this disadvantage.