Please don’t just use Google Translate

I AM not at all surprised by MP for Sibu Oscar Ling’s mistranslation of the term “brain drain” as “longkang otak” (“‘Longkang otak’ doesn’t quite mean ‘brain drain’, minister tells MP”, The Star, July 3; online at tinyurl.com/285cf6t2). “Longkang otak”, I believe, is what you get if you use Google Translate.

I had the personal experience of reading a legal submission saying that the defendant “tidak ada pertahanan bermerit”. It should be “tidak ada pembelaan bermerit” – “pembelaan” is the Bahasa Malaysia term for “defence”; “pertahanan” refers to defence in quite a different context.