Saudi officials are investigating a translation error that led to Hajj pilgrims being given gift bags marked “anthrax”, according to local media reports.
Arab News said the Arabic word “Jamarat” was inaccurately translated as “anthrax” – a dangerous and sometimes deadly infectious disease – and was printed on a gift bag given to pilgrims.
The bag contains small pebbles used for the ‘stoning of the devil’, in which pilgrims throw pebbles at three walls – or ‘Jamarat’ – in the city of Mina, east of Makkah.
هل يعقل ياوزارة الحج ان تأتو بأكياس يوضع بها حصى الجمرات . ويكتب عليها باللغه الأنجليزيه(انثراكس) وهذه الكلمه تعني الجمره الخبيثه ام ان المترجمين اجانب ولا يفقهون شيئ . لماذا لم توظفون سعوديين وسوديات في قسم الترجمه. pic.twitter.com/PKixEeV2Id
— الصقر2005 (@cFalcon90M) August 17, 2019
The Saudi Press Agency has reported that the kingdom’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah was notified of the error and opened an investigation into the translator – a contractor – on August 10, before handing them over to authorities for disciplinary action.
The error led to a prominent and popular speaker, American preacher Sheikh Yusuf Estes, to make a video warning for pilgrims.
“Anthrax, where did they get that? They get it from Google. It’s not Google’s fault. Google allows people to tell the meaning of the different languages of words.”
Some observers have noted that the error may have been caused by Google’s auto-suggest function.
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