Digitising Kannada: A work in progress

The quirks of automated translation often make for amusing anecdotes. | Photo Credit: IMAGING: SEBASTIAN FRANCIS C.S. Yogananda, founder of Sriranga Digital Software Technologies, remembers a funny instance of coming across a post on X around two years ago. Originally written in Kannada, the post, after machine translation, took on an entirely different meaning.In Kannada, he wrote ‘ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡಿದವರನ್ನ ಮರೀಬಾರ್ದು (Sahaya madidavaranna mareebardu), which translates to ‘One should not forget those who helped’. X’s default translation in 2024-25 read, “Kill those who helped you.” Published - August 21, 2026 07:00 am IST