X translation puts ‍Sheikh Hasina’s name in place of Tarique Rahman, Japan’s Trade Minister embarrassed

Japan’s Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa has fallen into an embarrassing situation after the automatic translation of social media platform X put the name of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina in place of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. He expressed anger over this incident and called for a review of the platform’s translation system.

In a post on X on Friday (November 6) Akazawa said he had written the correct name of Tarique Rahman while posting in Japanese about the meeting with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. But the name came incorrectly during the automatic translation into English. This has created confusion abroad.

Akazawa wrote, “This may create the idea among the people of Bangladesh that Japan’s trade minister does not even know the name of their prime minister properly.” Addressing X owned by Elon Musk he said, “It is necessary to fundamentally review the activities of the platform that shows such negligence in the translation of names.”

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman went to Japan on October 26 on a four-day official visit. During the visit he held meetings with Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the trade minister and other top officials of the country. Akazawa posted on X in Japanese after the meeting with Tarique Rahman on October 28. The post also had photos of the two leaders. However, the automatic translation put Sheikh Hasina’s name in place of Tarique Rahman.

Japan’s trade minister said this is not the first time he has faced such a translation mix-up. He said, “The same kind of mistake happened after posting about the online meeting with Kuwait’s oil minister Tariq Al-Roumi on Thursday. In the translation it was shown as a discussion with Qatar’s energy minister.”

Akazawa also alleged that a wrong name came in the translation of the post given about the meeting with US Trade Minister Howard Lutnick. He said, “I have faced such an experience three times.”