First visit by Chinese leader to Myanmar in almost 2 decades is overshadowed by online translation from Burmese of president’s name as ‘Mr. Shithole’

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar — Facebook apologized Saturday for a distasteful mistranslation of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s name from Burmese language posts during his much-touted visit to Myanmar.

His two-day visit to Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw was the first made by a Chinese leader in almost two decades.

But the historic moment was dimmed by the automatic translation feature on Myanmar’s Facebook page — which rendered Xi Jinping’s name from Burmese into English as “Mr. Shithole.”

Facebook said it was sorry and blamed a technical glitch.

“We fixed a technical issue that caused incorrect translations from Burmese to English on Facebook. This should not have happened and we are taking steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again. We sincerely apologize for the offense this has caused,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

Source: Facebook sorry for vulgar mistranslation of Xi Jinping’s name | The Times of Israel