Google Translate is scaring me



  • So in the comments to today's front-page story, a bunch of people were posting gags about printer drivers translating foreign languages.  I noticed that no one had done anything in Spanish yet, but I didn't want to just do the same thing everyone else had done, so instead I posted the deliberately-mangled:

    El flautista Pedro recogió un besito de pimientos en vinagre. (¿Pensabas que iba decir algo acerca de los controladores de impresora y la traducción? ¡Jajaja!)

    (Literally: "Peter the flute player gathered up a small kiss of peppers in vinegar.  (You thought I was going to say something about printer drivers and translation? Hahaha!")

    I was a bit curious as to how badly Google Translate would mangle it in the attempt to turn it into English.  So I checked it, and... o_0

    Have they gone and built Skynet while we weren't looking or something?



  • @Mason Wheeler said:

    deliberately-mangled:

    How so? besito is a tad strange but I get the idea

    @Mason Wheeler said:

    Have they gone and built Skynet while we weren't looking or something?

    Dunno, my result was this:

    "The Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. (You thought I was going to say something about printer drivers and translation? Hahaha!)"

    Which is retarded so we can still defeat the newly born Skynet if we unite all of our tin foil hats.



  • I honestly never figured Google would be the ones to unleash the Robot Apocalypse, but I must admit I am impressed.



  • Translate knows a bunch of common phrases. "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet" tranlates to "this is just sample text".



  • German translation: "Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische" (a common tongue twister)...







  • And it now even gives alternate translations, and has gotten much better at handling slang.  My favorite phrase that translators used to mistranslate into Spanish was: I was hanging out with my friends.  It would take that literally as in you were getting hanged.  Google translate ignores the slang and reads it as "I was with my friends"

    Nowadays I have to throw something into japanesse and then back for it to do even a half way bad job. 

    I was with my friends last night -> I was last night with my friends



  • @PSWorx said:

    German translation: "Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische" (a common tongue twister)...





    So it's a tongue-twister in German, too, but with Fs instead of Ps and.. fish(?) instead of pickles?



  • @serguey123 said:

    @Mason Wheeler said:
    deliberately-mangled:

    How so? besito is a tad strange but I get the idea

     

    Besito = small kiss, as in a peck on the cheek.  When a computer is able to make sense of what's essentially a badly-translated pun, doesn't that kinda freak you out?



  • @niteice said:

    Translate knows a bunch of common phrases. "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet" tranlates to "this is just sample text".

    Hmm? I just tried it and I got "Read more".



  • @Mason Wheeler said:

    When a computer is able to make sense of what's essentially a badly-translated pun, doesn't that kinda freak you out?

    Not really, because Google Translate works, AFAIK, by comparing the text to phrases it already knows. Try it with [url=http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt]Babel Fish[/url] instead:

    [b]Your original sentence:[/b] El flautista Pedro recogió un besito de pimientos en vinagre. (¿Pensabas que iba decir algo acerca de los controladores de impresora y la traducción? ¡Jajaja!)

    [b]Babel Fish translation to English:[/b] The flautista Pedro picked up a little kiss of vinegar peppers. (You thought that it went to say to something about the printer drivers and the translation? Jajaja)

    [b]Babel Fish translation of English translation back to Spanish:[/b] El flautista Pedro cogió un poco beso de las pimientas del vinagre. ¿(Usted pensó que fue a decir algo sobre los conductores de impresora y la traducción? Jajaja)

    [b]And back to English again:[/b] The flautista Pedro took a little kiss of the peppers of the vinegar. (You thought that you went to say to something on the conductors of printer and the translation? Jajaja)

    The difference with Google Translate is because Babel Fish attempts to actually translate the text instead of using stock sentences as a template.



  • @Gurth said:

    The difference with Google Translate is because Babel Fish attempts to actually translate the text instead of using stock sentences as a template.

    I'm baffled as to why you think that isn't "actually translating" the text. Babel Fish translates on a word-by-word basis and ends up missing the point. GT translates phrases and concepts, which is much more in line with what an actual human being would do.



  • You're right, I should have phrased that better :)


  • :belt_onion:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    So it's a tongue-twister in German, too, but with Fs instead of Ps and.. fish(?) instead of pickles?

    Yes. The fisherman Fritz fishes (for) fresh fish.


  • Considered Harmful

    @niteice said:

    Translate knows a bunch of common phrases. "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet" tranlates to "this is just sample text".

    Actually, typing that sentence with live translation results in many very incorrect phrases flashing on the screen, including "Read more", "More News", "We give", "Home", and "Click images if".



  • @joe.edwards said:

    @niteice said:
    Translate knows a bunch of common phrases. "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet" tranlates to "this is just sample text".

    Actually, typing that sentence with live translation results in many very incorrect phrases flashing on the screen, including "Read more", "More News", "We give", "Home", and "Click images if".

    So they're populating their translation dictionary from their web index?



  • @Mason Wheeler said:

    @serguey123 said:

    @Mason Wheeler said:
    deliberately-mangled:
    How so? besito is a tad strange but I get the idea
     

    Besito = small kiss, as in a peck on the cheek.  When a computer is able to make sense of what's essentially a badly-translated pun, doesn't that kinda freak you out?

    Hmm, I know what besito means, I just don't see how this translation is that awesome, it is still mangled in english and yes, it translated besito as peck which according to the dictionary is the correct translation so?


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