lost in translation

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

lost in translation (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Unable to be understood due to having been poorly translated.

   I tried reading the instruction manual but many of the steps were unfortunately lost in translation.

   The message of the Japanese Prime Minister's speech was lost in translation.

Related terms

• translation loss

Translations

unable to be understood due to having been poorly translated

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: kadota käännöksessä