Ask HN: Google translate fail

[swah]

I'm trying to imagine what could make Google Translate do this, how it works, etc. Thing is, translating "manter" (the verb "to keep" in portuguese) from Portuguese to English gives me "Facebook". If I change it to "Manter" it gives me "Keep". How would you explain this? (Screenshot http://bit.ly/ewdyWn)

[cmelbye]

Google Translate wasn't engineered to translate single words, it was engineered to understand and translate entire sentences. It acts strangely when I try to translate Spanish infinitive into English, and I usually have to add "a " before them to force it to translate correctly. Use a dictionary for individual words.

[swah → cmelbye]

That explanation is plausible, but the expected words are there right below Facebook: keep, maintain, hold.. :)