A local professor, known for his yearslong promotion of Dokdo, criticized Google Translate on Tuesday for converting culturally and politically sensitive terms in ways that misrepresent them.
Seo Kyung-duk, a professor of liberal arts at Sungshin Women's University, shared a Google Translate screenshot in which the Hangeul for Dokdo is translated into Japanese as Takeshima. Japan also claims sovereignty over Korea’s easternmost islets, referring to them as Takeshima in Japan.
The criticism comes after a series of recent corrections across Google’s platforms, correcting labeling errors involving the Gyeokryeolbi Islands — part of Korea’s territorial baseline in the Yellow Sea. It also corrected a problem that had sent users searching for “Dokdo airport” to Tsushima Airport in Japan.
Seo contrasted this with a case last year in which a Netflix variety show used the phonetic Japanese rendering Dokdo in its subtitles instead of the controversial term.
The professor also noted that Google Translate still translates "kimchi" into Chinese as "pao cai," a term referring to Chinese fermented vegetables that originated in Sichuan but exist in various forms across the country.
"Kimchi and pao cai are two clearly distinct foods," Seo wrote on his Instagram, noting that the Korean government in 2021 revised its foreign-language guidelines to recommend "Xinqi" as the standard Chinese translation.
junheee@heraldcorp.com
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