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Foibles of Machine Translation.

         

Chndru

3:10 pm on Oct 28, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



step 1: go to Google Translate [translate.google.com]
step 2: enter the following into the text box:

Janet's mom is nice and cool

step 3: translate from english to spanish.
step 4: copy the translated text, and translate it back from spanish to english.

i don't know spanish.. so the translated spanish text could be completely off-base.
And the back-to-english translation could be unsuited for several audiences!

balam

3:14 pm on Oct 28, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I hear echoes, and they're not even a week old...

Are all free online translators created equal? [webmasterworld.com]

clearvision

4:41 pm on Oct 28, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



That is too funny! Imagine if that is what it says when translated to Spanish and you think you are sending a friendly compliment!

greenleaves

5:05 pm on Oct 28, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



actually the text goes bad when translated from spanish to english. When it is from english to spanish, it is much better. The spanish text that comes out means "Janet's mom is nice and fresh".

Leosghost

10:06 am on Oct 29, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



There was science fiction story I read waaaay back in the sixties where the two main characters had a game going ( which was nothing to do with the main point of the story ) in which they each fed a phrase or a word or a name into an auto translation computer and the other had to guess what was put in based on what the computer gave as the translation ....

one example comes to mind ..

response .."serious constricting path"..
input.. "Ernest Hemmingway" ...

Can't remember who it was by ..what it was called..or what the real plot was ...

However it was definately prophetic :)

bcolflesh

5:02 pm on Nov 1, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Can't remember who it was by ..what it was called..or what the real plot was ...

It's in Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick - greatest science fiction author, ever:

[philipkdick.com...]

Sanenet

12:27 am on Nov 2, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Ho ho ho.

That's a bug in the English - Spanish translation bit. Should read

La mamá de Janet está agradable y fresca

Note bolded á on mama, as opposed to mama. Mamá is "Mum", mama is "breast" (as in the organ).

greenleaves

10:58 pm on Nov 23, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I always had trouble with my spanish classes in high school. Spelling was never my strong point. La tilde...