# Translate This \[Greek\] Google Ad **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-greek-google-ad/587295 "2011-06-29T18:45:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-greek-google-ad/587295/1 "2011-06-29T18:45:11Z")
Alongside an alert email for an SDMB thread update, I had the following Google ad: > [@](#): > > an-thess na vreis edw > oti psaxneis sugoura tha to breis me thn pio sunxrwni anazitisi I tried plugging it into Google Translate, but it couldn’t even identify the language. Can anybody take a shot at translating it, or at least say for certain what language it’s in? ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-greek-google-ad/587295/2 "2011-06-29T18:49:56Z")
Greek. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-greek-google-ad/587295/3 "2011-06-29T18:53:14Z")
If you Google the phrase you can see that the ad is on other sites and it points to an-thess.gr (which isn’t virus-y or anything when I visit it but I’ve got blocks in place). But Google Translate Greek-to-English doesn’t have anything anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-greek-google-ad/587295/4 "2011-06-29T19:04:11Z")
Yeah, I didn’t include the URL, since I had no clue what the ad was for. Greek it is! Since it wasn’t written with Greek letters, that would explain why the translator couldn’t figure it out. Of course, that also leaves the question of why I had a romanized Greek-language ad in my email. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-greek-google-ad/587295/5 "2011-06-29T19:23:55Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Yeah, I didn’t include the URL, since I had no clue what the ad was for. Greek it is! Since it wasn’t written with Greek letters, that would explain why the translator couldn’t figure it out. > > Of course, that also leaves the question of why I had a romanized Greek-language ad in my email. They could have bought keywords that show up in your email. So even if it’s an ad for, I dunno, Greek extreme sports vacation packages or something, they might have bought keywords like “bananas” or “picnic” which have nothing to do with their business but is cheaper than “extreme sports” and thus gets them more hits. The romanized text, that’s just stupid 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-greek-google-ad/587295/6 "2011-06-29T19:47:44Z")
Well, yes. The question isn’t “why an ad for whatever they’re trying to sell me,” but “why _that language_, and romanized instead of using the Greek alphabet.” ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-greek-google-ad/587295/7 "2011-06-29T20:16:07Z")
[moderating] Title changed from “Translate This Google Ad” to “Translate This [Greek] Google Ad” at the OP’s request. [/moderating]