In June 2019, the Department of Culture of the Lviv Regional State Administration held a tender for the production of about 50 information signs that were installed in the region. The information they contain is in Ukrainian and English, although the quality of the translation is poor because they were translated “using Google.”
According to Zaxid.net, about 600,000 UAH from the budget were spent towards the production of these signs. They are installed as part of the project “Our History”, which is being implemented in the region for the second year in a row.
For example, at the entrance to the city of Skole, a tourist sign about the activist of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Ivan Butkovskyi was installed, where the “district leader” was translated as “air condition.” The “concealment of a clandestine publishing facility of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army” was translated as “kryiviva satellite UPA typography,” “the first battles of the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen” as “the first boy of Ukrainian sich looking for the luck,” and the “brothers” as “brathers.”
Examples of all unsuccessful translations of signs, as well as the addresses of their location, can be found on the website of “Nashi Groshі.Lviv”.
Director of the Department of Culture Myroslava Turkalo has told the information agency that the contractor “Traffic Signs” (Dorozhni znaky) was responsible for the translation, however, department employees, according to “Nashi Groshі.Lviv”, saw the translation before the production of signs began.
“We are not a translation agency. We are a department of culture, not of international relations, where everyone is required to know English,” she commented to Zaxid.net.
Representatives of the contracting company noted that they were engaged in translation “with Google, using all possible means, and that is why it turned out like that.” The company promised to correct the mistakes at its own expense.
