IT'S almost impressive that even now, so long after the referendum, the UK Government still manage to find new ways to embarrass themselves on Brexit.
And the latest mishap, reported on by website EurActiv, says so much about the state of Theresa May's negotiations.
In an effort to bypass the European Commission's negotiating team and win over member states, British officials translated the Brexit White Paper into 22 European languages.
There's a slight problem though. The translations are terrible – and are being widely ridiculed in European circles.
A Dutch newspaper described the version shown to them as reading like it was put through "the cheapest available translation software".
The French translation turned "principled Brexit" into "un Brexit verteux", suggesting Brexit is a moral good.
For Croatia they used an out-of-date translation of the words for "United Kingdom".
But it was the German version labelled as the worst on social media. One Twitter user, @odtorson, said: "This translated 'Deutsche' Weisspapier is a bit of a joke: an insult really. Either have it professionally translated, or just let us read the English one. No-one should be required to read this awful German."
this translated "Deutsche" Weisspapier is a bit of a joke; an insult really: either have it professionally translated, or just let us read the English one; noone should be required to read this awful Germanhttps://t.co/PxNsJTMJYT
— Oscar D Torson (@odtorson) July 17, 2018
Even the title was wrong, describing it as being "German/Deutsche"... it should have been "Deutsch" (and has since been amended).
Oh, and the names of Estonia, Finland and Poland were also spelled wrong in the titles.
Humiliating for the UK? Yes, but it goes on.
It was only the executive summaries of the document being translated. The full version, more than 100-pages long, has so far only been translated into Welsh.
Welsh isn't an official language of the EU, so as far as a gesture of good will goes, it's not the most effective.
There wasn't even going to be an Irish version until the UK Government were pressed on the subject, and that's the country May most needs to win over right now.
This shambles feels very symbolic of Brexit as a whole.
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