Duolingo’s mirthful mistranslations

Unpredictable spellings, oft-broken baffling grammatical rules, potty pronunciation irregularities – English is widely regarded as an immensely tricky language to master. 

Mistakes are not only inevitable, but can be valuable stepping stones on the way to comprehension.

This multi-faceted campaign, created by UltraSuperNew Tokyo for Duolingo in Japan, features The Museum of Wonky English, a pop-up museum at the UltraSuperNew Gallery in Harajuki, Tokyo, that exhibits some of the country's best examples of mistranslations. 

The droll hero film, directed by Takeshi Kogahara, features memorable mistakes featured in the exhibition, such as instructions to urinate with elegance, to avoid eating children or old people and a gloomy observation that an empty coffee pot equates to the end of days. 

Andrés Aguilar, Associate Creative Director, UltraSuperNew said: “Why do mistakes have such a bad rep? They’re the unsung language-learning heroes. There’s a treasure trove of meanings you can only access when lost in translation, and that’s what we wanted people to experience in the Museum of Wonky English.” 

The film invites viewers to share humorous and interesting mistranslations they come across in daily life on Duolingo's Twitter channel: @duolingo_japan. The best submissions will be exhibited in the museum and win a free month of Super Duolingo.