Translation WTF



  • Is "English" and "French" really the same in Hebrew?

     -Tim




  • Hebrew is a very meta language. It has a word that means "the language into which you are attempting to machine translate this Hebrew". It's really quite fantastic.



  • @Welbog said:

    Hebrew is a very meta language. It has a word that means "the language into which you are attempting to machine translate this Hebrew". It's really quite fantastic.
    Who says that whole Tower of Babel thing ended badly?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Welbog said:

    It has a word that means "the language into which you are attempting to machine translate this Hebrew".
    That is not the word being translated though, otherwise the translations would be English and français, not French and anglais.

    Perhaps you meant "the last language into which you attempted to machine translate this Hebrew" which defaults to French if there wasn't a previous one?



  • Hebrew also has a word that means "the language originating in the country across the channel from the country of origin of the language in which you are attempting to machine translate this Hebrew."

    Fascinating language.



  • I know I'm a couple of weeks late responding to this but I just came across it.

    Hebrew is quite fascinating but I'm not convinced that the English Channel is involved.

    I'm sure I saw something similar a couple of years ago which involved Irish instead - or something like that. The conclusion was that the translator tries to choose the most appropriate country/language word according to frequency - so that German jokes about Poles become English jokes about Irishmen.



  • @ylavi said:

    so that German jokes about Poles become English jokes about Irishmen.


    I doubt that. Most German jokes about Poles include a less-than-subtile hint that Poles are thieves. As in "Visit Poland, your car is already here" or "Why do Russians steal two cars in Germay? Because on their way home, they have to transit Poland". When Germans need a supposedly stupid nation for their jokes, they choose us Austrians.



  • @ammoQ said:

    "Visit Poland, your car is already here" or "Why do Russians steal two cars in Germay? Because on their way home, they have to transit Poland"
     

    I like these jokes.



  • @dhromed said:

    I like these jokes.


    I forgot to mention that some German jokes also use Dutch people as the stupid nation, e.g.

    What happens to someone who fails the driving test several times? He gets a trailer to slow down his car, and a sign saying "NL" ("never learned")



  • @ammoQ said:

    @dhromed said:

    I like these jokes.

    I forgot to mention that some German jokes also use Dutch people as the stupid nation, e.g.

    What happens to someone who fails the driving test several times? He gets a trailer to slow down his car, and a sign saying "NL" ("never learned")

    Forgive this ignorant American (All you Yur'peens seem to blend together), are the Dutch known for having trailers?



  • @bstorer said:

    are the Dutch known for having trailers?
     

    I don't know.


  • :belt_onion:

    @dhromed said:

    @bstorer said:

    are the Dutch known for having trailers?
     

    I don't know.

     

    The Belgians use the Dutch when talking about greedy people, like in:

    Every summer the Dutch clog up the Belgian highways with their caravans because they are too cheap to rent a hotel room in France



  • @bjolling said:

    @dhromed said:

    @bstorer said:

    are the Dutch known for having trailers?
     

    I don't know.

     

    The Belgians use the Dutch when talking about greedy people, like in:

    Every summer the Dutch clog up the Belgian highways with their caravans because they are too cheap to rent a hotel room in France

    Isn't that what Jews are for?


  • :belt_onion:

     @morbiuswilters said:

    @bjolling said:
    @dhromed said:
    @bstorer said:
    are the Dutch known for having trailers?
    I don't know.
     

    The Belgians use the Dutch when talking about greedy people, like in:

    Every summer the Dutch clog up the Belgian highways with their caravans because they are too cheap to rent a hotel room in France

    Isn't that what Jews are for?
    I'd use Jews when talking about people with an strong desire to accumulate wealth. The Dutch more for their reluctance to spend.



  • @bjolling said:

     @morbiuswilters said:

    @bjolling said:
    @dhromed said:
    @bstorer said:
    are the Dutch known for having trailers?
    I don't know.
     

    The Belgians use the Dutch when talking about greedy people, like in:

    Every summer the Dutch clog up the Belgian highways with their caravans because they are too cheap to rent a hotel room in France

    Isn't that what Jews are for?
    I'd use Jews when talking about people with an strong desire to accumulate wealth. The Dutch more for their reluctance to spend.

    Come to think of it, my grandfather was Dutch and he was a cheap old bastard.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @bjolling said:

     @morbiuswilters said:

    @bjolling said:
    @dhromed said:
    @bstorer said:
    are the Dutch known for having trailers?
    I don't know.
     

    The Belgians use the Dutch when talking about greedy people, like in:

    Every summer the Dutch clog up the Belgian highways with their caravans because they are too cheap to rent a hotel room in France

    Isn't that what Jews are for?
    I'd use Jews when talking about people with an strong desire to accumulate wealth. The Dutch more for their reluctance to spend.

    Come to think of it, my grandfather was Dutch and he was a cheap old bastard.

    1/4 Dutch means you're Dutch.  I'm afraid we'll have to pin this gold clog to you and put you on a train to the internment camps.

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