Translating Joy

“Translating Joy” is a playful short film about a real-life AI translation error. BMW’s Chinese name, Bao Ma, means "precious horse”. “Bao Ma” is an auspicious phrase that appears in many ancient poems and Chinese New Year wishes. However, BMW has become so important in China that all major translation sites now translate Bao Ma into BMW instead of precious horse! This means that BMW is suddenly appearing in traditional Chinese New Year wishes. “Translating Joy” turns this mistake into an addictive short film.

The story is about a print shop owner who wants to scale up his business by selling Chinese New Year goods abroad. So he uses an AI translator to translates a typical Chinese New Year wish “Zhao Cai Jin Bao Ma Dao Cheng Gong” (meaning: wish you bring in wealth and ride on success) into English. But the AI translation app changes the wish into “Lucky Money into BMW to Success”. This error then gets amplified, along with the joy.

At the end of the film, viewers are reassured that this is a REAL translation error - and if they don’t believe it, they can try it themselves.

【Client】BMW China
【Agency】 TBWA\Juice Beijing
【Production】MOD Media

Director

Jonah Gabriel and Pablo Rochat

Time

0:03:18

Country

China

Genre

Branded Movie

Year

2022