NHB corrects errors in Tamil text of kebaya exhibition
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The exhibition at the Gardens by the Bay had a number of “Xes” in one of its exhibition boards instead of a Tamil letter.
PHOTO: REDDIT
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SINGAPORE – It was a National Heritage Board (NHB) exhibition meant to draw attention to the kebaya as a cultural dress, but what caught the eye of some eagle-eyed members of the public were instead errors in the Tamil translations.
The exhibition at Gardens by the Bay had many instances of an “X” in one of its exhibition boards instead of a Tamil letter.
The errors came to light after a picture of the board was circulated online on Saturday.
Titled Love, Kebaya, the exhibition, which started on April 26, kebaya as a form of shared cultural heritage
The exhibition, which will also be held at Our Tampines Hub later in May, showcases six unique kebaya designs from local craftsmen as well as photographs of women wearing the garment.
The NHB told The Straits Times that the mistakes have since been corrected. “The errors occurred when the entire introduction panel with text in all four official languages was reprinted ahead of the exhibition’s run at Gardens by the Bay that started on April 26,” said an NHB spokesman in response to queries.
“We would like to thank the public for raising this feedback to us. NHB will work closely with our vendors and improve our processes to prevent such incidents from occurring again.”
The exhibition had an initial run at the National Museum of Singapore from April 4 to 23, and there were no errors in the text.
Translation firms here said such an error could have happened because of incompatible fonts used during typesetting.
A spokesman for translation agency Lyric Technologies said: “The translation may have been fine but when they incorporate it into the design file, the font and having a non-Tamil native doing the typesetting may have resulted in the error.”
This is not the first Tamil translation blunder that has happened.
In an incident during the National Day Parade show in 2020, one line of a Tamil song’s lyrics that was supposed to read “My Singapore” had strokes and letters in the wrong places
The Tamil words for “friends” and “siblings” were also misspelt.
Singapore Translators vice-president of operations Dharmesh Gandham said this is why qualified and experienced translators are needed to review and edit translations.
“Let’s strive to eliminate translation errors and promote linguistic diversity and understanding in our global society,” he added.
