Foibles of Machine Translation.

[Chndru]

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]

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

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

[clearvision]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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