A discussion about translation services, translators, and translation software

Today's Bad Translation comes to us courtesy of Region, a publisher in the Pampa region of Argentina.  The English version of the  website is cute.  The translation is good and fluid for the most part, but there are some real zingers and groaners in there.  For example, follow the link to "Touristic Activities" and you'll come to the description of "fishing game"--obviously meaning "fish and game".  There are too many fun mis-translations to include here.  I invite you to browse the site for yourself.  Visit all the pages.

OK, here's one fun example: "The tourist who arrive at La Pampa will notice other features which are not precisely the ones of a plain."

Technically, it appears that some of the pages are the result of machine translation without human editing.  Others appear to have been editied.  And some seem to be the products of a poorly prepared translator.  All in all, the site achieves its purpose of presenting the place and its attractions, and it does it in a very humble and approachable way, thanks to some bad translation.  Hmmm.  I wonder if there's a sociolinguistic ploy at work here.