It's almost always a bad translation of the thing that was in your head.

It was either the worst tour book ever written or the worst translation.

A good part of the confusion (and resulting debate) was due to a bad translation.

A bit of bad translation on the part of someone.

We must track these changes and not get lost in our own bad translations or in propaganda.

Much of the book is taken up by listings of good and bad translations.

Goldfarb knew he sounded like a bad translation from the French.

Then there was the news conference, marred by inadequate and bad translation.

She muttered something about bad translations, then sat back on her heels.

If all this sounds like a bad translation from another language, that is exactly what it is.