Machine-swapped page: a translation nobody read
A machine-swapped page is one run through automatic translation and published without review. It satisfies every declaration, counts identically to a human translation, and is recognisable to a native reader in about one sentence. As of 2026-09-22.
| Sign | Why it happens | How obvious it is to a reader |
|---|---|---|
| Product names translated | The engine cannot tell a name from a noun | Immediate |
| Interface labels in two languages | Only the body text was routed through | Immediate |
| Formality wrong throughout | The engine has no register setting | Immediate to a native reader |
| Numbers and units unchanged | Formatting is not part of translation | On any page showing prices |
Inclusion rule. Signs visible without tooling to a reader who knows the target language. Detecting them requires opening the page, which a count does not. Order. Most immediately visible first.
1The count cannot see it
A swapped page carries the same declaration, states the same language in its own markup, and occupies the same slot in a cluster as a page a translator worked on. Counting alternates cannot distinguish the two in either direction.
That is why this register performs spot checks and records them as checks on one page rather than as a property of a vendor. Two such checks exist here, both on languages declared by nearly every vendor.
2Recognising one takes a reader, not a tool
The signs are all judgement calls: a product name that has been translated, a formality level no human would pick, interface labels left in the source language beside translated prose.
None of that can be automated reliably, and all of it is obvious to somebody who reads the language. So the honest position for a register is to report what was checked and to leave the rest as unchecked rather than as fine.
3Why a vendor would publish one
It is cheap, it captures search traffic, and for a marketing page the cost of being slightly wrong is low. For documentation and for anything a crew has to act on, the cost is much higher, which is where the practice starts to matter.
A reader evaluating a tool should therefore check the page type they will actually live in. A translated landing page and translated help pages are different investments, and only one of them is a working condition.
A definition, not a measurement: no vendor figure appears here that is not also in the register. What each check found is stated on the entry for the vendor it was run against.
Nearby terms: Language switcher, Language subdomain. The whole vocabulary is at terms; nothing on this page is a claim about a named product.