My hovercraft is full of eels: automatic translations
Seppo Sipila
Alta Vista automatic translator (http://babelfish.altavista.com) to
see what it comes up with when using some Monty Python quotes related
to the difficulty of accurate translating.
"My hovercraft is full of eels."
German: "Mein Luftkissenfahrzeug ist von den Aalen voll. "
French: "Mon aéroglisseur est plein des anguilles."
Spanish: "Mi aerodeslizador es lleno de anguilas. "
Italian: "Il mio hovercraft è pieno delle anguille. "
Annoyingly good results.
"Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy-bouncy?"
German: "Möchten Sie zu meinem Platz, bouncy-bouncy zurückkommen?"
French: "Voulez-vous revenir à mon endroit, bouncy-bouncy?"
Spanish: "Usted desea volverse a mi lugar, bouncy-bouncy? "
Italian: "Desiderate ritornare al mio posto, bouncy-bouncy? "
Quite good - the most important word seems to be universally known.
The French seem to be a bit vague about where they live, while the
Italians seem to be posted somewhere.
Of course, these short sentences are too easy, and much more amusing
results can be obtained with a longer one. Especially satisfying
results can be produced by translating first from English to French,
then back, then to German, etc. and finally from Urdu back to English.
"I will not buy this record, it is scratched."
This translates to German as:
"Ich kaufe nicht diesen Satz, es werde gelöscht."
From this, German-English:
"I do not buy this record, it am deleted."
And, as the Portuguese would say:
"Eu não compro este registro, ele am suprimido."
Back to plain English:
"I do not buy this register, it am suppressed."
But you can always count on the Germans to rephrase this as
"Ich kaufe nicht dieses Register, es unterdrücktes morgens."
To the English-speaking peoples of the world, this is quite clearly
"I do not buy this register, it suppressed in the morning."
And this means to the French
"Je n'achète pas ce registre, il ai supprimé le matin."
From this, we get to the X-filesque conclusion in English:
"I do not buy this register, it removed the morning."
Well, there goes another 30 minutes.
S.
James E.
Seppo Sipila wrote in message <380c8882...@130.233.224.42>...
Yes, but they were wasted for a good cause. :)
--J
Stephanie Kirmer
No, well we don't have "Rarnaby Budge" by Charles Dikkens with two Ks, the
well-known Dutch author, and perhaps to save time I should add that we
don't have "Karnaby Fudge" by Darles Chickens, or "Farmer of Sludge" by
Marles Pickens, or even "Stickwick Stapers" by Farles Wickens with four
M's and a silent Q!!!!! Why don't you try W. H. Smith's?
-In French-
non, puits non avoir " Rarnaby bouger " par Charles
Dikkens avec deux Ks, bien connu hollandais auteur, et
peut-être
pour sauvegarder temps je devoir ajouter que non avoir "
Karnaby fondant " par Darles Poulet, ou " fermier cambouis "
par Marles Pickens, ou même " Stickwick Stapers " par Farles
Wickens avec quatre m et un silencieux q!!!!! Pourquoi
n'essayez-vous pas W. H. Smith?
-and German-
Nr., Vertiefung wir nicht haben " Rarnaby rühren "
durch Charles Dikkens mit zwei Ks, d weithin bekannt
holländisch Autor, und möglicherweise zu sichern Zeit ich
sollen
hinzufügen daß wir nicht haben " Karnaby Unsinn " durch Darles
Huhn, oder " Landwirt von Schlamm " durch Marles Pickens,
oder sogar " Stickwick Stapers " durch Farles Wickens mit vier
m und ein leis q!!!!! Warum nicht versuchen Sie W. H. Smith?
Now there's a timesuck if i ever saw one. Now i'll go translate some Dave
Barry i think.
Stephanie
Ib Rasmussen
wrote:
>"Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy-bouncy?"
>German: "Möchten Sie zu meinem Platz, bouncy-bouncy zurückkommen?"
>French: "Voulez-vous revenir à mon endroit, bouncy-bouncy?"
>Spanish: "Usted desea volverse a mi lugar, bouncy-bouncy? "
>Italian: "Desiderate ritornare al mio posto, bouncy-bouncy? "
>
>Quite good - the most important word seems to be universally known.
I believe the translator just repeats the words it can't translate.
BTW are you familiar with Phillip K. Dick's "Galactic Pot-healer"?
/Ib
Analda Anglin
>>Alta Vista automatic translator (http://babelfish.altavista.com) to
>>see what it comes up with when using some Monty Python quotes related
>>to the difficulty of accurate translating.
Since I wanted to be evil and amused, I threw the deadly joke at it.
From German to English, it produced:
If that is git now stucco and Slotermeyer? Yes! Beiherhund the or the
Flipperwaldt gersput!
If you compare this to Dick Rehberger's official translation in the
FAQ, the words that were translated were pretty close! The nonsense
words were left as nonsense words.
However, the translation's still not perfect. When I use the
"English" joke translation and go back to German, it becomes:
Wenn das Stucco und Slotermeyer des git jetzt ist? Ja! Beiherhund oder
das gersput Flipperwaldt!
And just for fun, en francais:
Si c'est stuc et Slotermeyer de git maintenant? Oui! Beiherhund ou le
gersput de Flipperwaldt!
And en espanol:
Si ése ahora es estuco y Slotermeyer del git? Sí! Beiherhund o el
gersput de Flipperwaldt!
And of course, just for fun:
Look out! There are llamas translated in Spanish to
Mirada hacia fuera! Hay llamas!
The llama has a beak for eating honey and fins for swimming translated
in Spanish to
La llama tiene un pico para comer la miel y las aletas para la
natación.
And Fechez la Vache! translated in English as Fechez the cow! See, it
didn't know how to translate Fechez, so it left it alone.
Analda aka Oh geez, what linguistic skills I have
ana...@hiwaay.net
The Bishop
BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.............<THUD>
--
The Bishop thebishopatSoftHomedotnet
OK Devious! Don't Move!!!
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David Hoare
In the Phrase Book Sketch, the Tobacconist reads something out of the book
and gets punched - is it a real hungarian phrase?
Jarkko Buzzard
David Hoare wrote:
> In the Phrase Book Sketch, the Tobacconist reads something out of the book
> and gets punched - is it a real hungarian phrase?
Is the 'killer joke' really German?
--
--ka...@hotmail.com--
Jarkko "I wish I'd been a girlie" Buzzard
David Hoare
sort of
kk<<FLOMP!>>
Jarkko Buzzard <cas...@aaaarggh.com> wrote in message
news:3811DEB7...@aaaarggh.com...
Well, Brian...
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I am opening a boutique!