[geeks] Phrasebooks

[Mike Meredith]

On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 12:49:55 -0500, Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> This reminds me of all those funny computer mis-translations.
> 
> In our cognitive psychology classes, we used to use phrases to trip
> up both computer and human translators.
> 
> Like: They hear bears bare their hair there.
> 
> Or: You go to the zoo too.

To be fair, English can be a particularly tricky language to translate
with so many pit-falls like the above. I don't know (but I've been told
by those who business it is to know) that other languages have far
fewer such pitfalls. Although probably all languages have phrases like
"every cloud has a silver lining" which are meaningless if translated
literally.

> Some of the translations even by human translators were hilarious.

Translation is a funny business. It is tempting to try and save money
by using someone who isn't qualified to do translations. A friend who
has a degree in TEFL (and considerable experience) will refuse to
advertise as a translator because she isn't, but plenty of those who
know a little English can pick up spare change by pretending to be
translators.

As to computer translation, well most human translators will use them
as an aid to produce a working draft. In fact I remember some older
computer translators have a working interface that emphasises that
they're for aiding translation rather than intended to produce a final
result.

-- 
Mike Meredith (http://zonky.org/)
  "Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any 
   good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." Howard Aiken