Lost in Translation? How Auto-Translate Really Works

Imagine you receive this message from a Spanish-speaking friend, already run through an auto-translate tool: 'I am very embarrassed to tell you my library is full of people.' Your friend actually meant to say they were *ashamed* — but the Spanish word 'embarazada' looks like 'embarrassed' in English. It actually means *pregnant*. So the message should have read: 'I am ashamed to tell you my library is full of people.' Two separate mistranslations in one short sentence! Think about this before you read on: why might a computer, which can process millions of words in seconds, still get things so spectacularly wrong?