Own up who was on the test team for this one?

[original PM]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...gner-to-n-word

[sal]

I find referring to someone by the color of their skin "black foreigner" not that much different than using a the N-word outright.

In subsequent tests, users found the app used the racial slur almost exclusively in negative contexts, including with the words late, lazy, and thief. But in many neutral sentences the word – hei laowai in Chinese – was translated into English as its literal meaning of “black foreigner”.

So the translator is actually too clever for its own good and manages to catch nuances/context in a sentence.

[Lance]

Honest, direct translation from one language to another is rarely desirable. It will lack nuance, context and cultural differences.

My understanding is that the Chinese have a very racist culture. When I worked there they were very offensive about anything Japanese (filthy f***ing animals being the common English phrase they used to describe the Japanese).
So it may not have been as accidental as Wechat may want to make it seem.