Coat of arms of the Naval Support Command in Wilhelmshaven. Graphic: wikimedia commons

Coat of arms of the Naval Support Command in Wilhelmshaven. Graphic: wikimedia commons

When the MUKdo becomes Kijima or Muck Island - the pitfalls of translation

On 27 September 2023, this portal reported on the handover of command of the Naval Support Command (MUKdo) in Wilhelmshaven on 29 September. The basis was a press release from the PIZ Marine dated 26 September 2023, from which dpa certainly also generated its short report dated 29 September 2023 (see below for both links).

If you - like the marineforum editorial team - frequently deal with foreign information and sources, then you tend to be careful with translation programmes. Particularly in the maritime field, things can sometimes go badly wrong! A few days ago, the "Aussiedlerbote" gave a striking example on its website: The message created from the dpa report for the German-Russian readership of the actually pro-Western portal "aussiedlerbote.de" of the Stratera media group, which is blocked in Russia, then reads as quoted in the following paragraph - which, however, no one can understand who does not have naval vocabulary or knows the source material quite well.

Quote aussiedlerbote.de:

Change of leadership at Naval Support Command

New head of the Naval Support Command: Matthias Michael Pothof moves from Bonn to Scholtens. The handover is expected to take place at 10 a.m.

The Naval Support Command (Kijima), which is responsible for ensuring the operability of the fleet's ships and aircraft, is changing command. According to a statement, the handover will take place on Friday (10 a.m.) in Wilhelmshaven. Captain Matthias Michael Potthoff will take command of Mook Island in future.

Potterhoff was most recently Head of the Federal Ministry of Defence in Bonn. Pothoff said in advance: "Our greatest potential is our employees with their concentrated expertise. This is our greatest asset, and I respect and look forward to it."

Muk Island from Fleet Admiral La Lars Holm from 2017 . "This command is essential for the maintenance of our ships, airborne weapon systems and numerous naval facilities ashore," said Holm before the handover.

Muck Island used to be part of the German Navy, which has existed in its current form since 2012 and has 14 locations in Germany. The company also has representative offices in the Netherlands and the United States. The employees are based in Schortens (Friesland) in Lower Saxony, near Wilhelmshaven. Koh Mook has around 1,100 employees.

End of quote

I don't know where Scholtens is, but Muck Island really does exist: the tiny island lies south of the Isle of Skye and is part of the Inner Hebrides off Scotland. And Kijima seems to be an East Asian cartoon character, among other things! Back to the text.

The dpa report was presumably first translated and transcribed into Cyrillic letters - and then the already incomprehensible report was transcribed back into German by the programme - with remarkable success. It couldn't have been artificial intelligence, could it? You have to be allowed to smile sometimes!

Dear Aussiedlerbote, if maritime content in the raw text or in translation no longer makes sense to you, please contact us here - we would be happy to assist you with factual information. After all, it is very important to us to be able to familiarise your readers with maritime contexts and Germany's dependence on secure sea trade routes. You can also use the hashtag #meerverstehen - because there is more to it than meets the eye. With best regards - marineforum editorial team.

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