Google is wildly underestimating how many pieces these great composers wrote

18 July 2019, 11:51 | Updated: 18 July 2019, 12:04

Why is Google so unsure of itself when it comes to the great composers and their works?

A few months ago, we discovered a weird quirk in the ‘English-Latin’ setting of Google Translate, which mistranslates all classical composers’ names.

Beethoven translates to Brahms, Schubert is translated as ‘Ferdinand’ (literally who knows), and poor old Vivaldi translates as just ‘Unknown’.

And now, we’ve found another... here’s what happens when you search ‘how many symphonies did [composer] write’ in Google.

1. Haydn, the man of 107 symphonies...

   

2. Bach’s mammoth output of more than 1,100 compositions is reduced to...

   

3. Ah, Beethoven.

   

4. Not such a prodigy after all...

   

5. Schubert’s magic number.

   

6. Sure.

   

7. Poor guy couldn’t *Handel* more than 30.

   

8. Umm...

   

9. Poor old Vivaldi, always draws the short straw.