Amusing Anecdotes from Machine Translation
There is a place for machine translation. As it improves, and it is improving, it provides us with endless amusing anecdotes. Today we had a play with Akuna’s Bad Translator. This fun tool takes anything you put into in and runs it through Google’s translation tool between 10 to 50 times and shows you a final result. We thought we’d give it a go.
Our first try was something simple: ‘Innsbruck is a lovely small city in the Austrian Alps’. After 20 translations we got ‘The beautiful city of Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps’. Not a translation we’d give a client, but the essence remains.
We then started thinking of more interesting/evil sentences that we could run through. Let’s play with time and tenses! ‘When Marty went back to the future he had to save Doc Brown from his future self’. Bad Translator gave us ‘Was back in the future when Marty Dukebulang to save his own “self” in the future’. We’d rate this as a success of sorts, mainly because we’re eager to find out what else Marty Dukebulang gets up to next.
In fairness, we all know from the children’s game of Chinese whispers that sending any message across multiple people, let alone languages, will end up with distortions. What makes Bad Translator fun and interesting is that one can see the transformations in the message as they take place.
[EXPAND Click here to check out the transformations for the above example]
ENGLISH: When Marty went back to the future he had to save Doc Brown from his future self.
AFRIKAANS : Wanneer Marty terug na die toekoms toe hy moes Doc Brown van sy toekoms self te red.
Back to ENGLISH : When Marty returns to the future when he had Doc Brown from his future self to save.
ALBANIAN : Kur Marty kthehet në të ardhmen, kur ai kishte Doc Brown nga vetë e tij të ardhshëm për të shpëtuar.
Back to ENGLISH : When Marty returns to the future, when he had Doc Brown from his future self to save.
ARABIC : مارتي عندما يعود إلى المستقبل ، عندما كان دوك براون من النفس لإنقاذ مستقبله.
Back to ENGLISH : When Marty returns to the future, when he was Duke of Brown to save his future self.
BELARUSIAN : Калі Марці вяртаецца ў будучыні, калі ён быў герцаг Браўн выратаваць свайго будучага я.
Back to ENGLISH : When Marty returns to the future, when he was Duke Brown to save his future self.
BULGARIAN : Когато Марти се връща към бъдещето, когато той е Duke Браун да спаси бъдещето му “аз”.
Back to ENGLISH : When Marty returns to the future when he was Duke Brown to save his future “I”.
CATALAN : Quan Marty torna al futur quan era duc Brown per salvar el seu futur “jo”.
Back to ENGLISH : When Marty returns to the future when he was Duke Brown to save his future “I”.
CHINESE : 当马蒂返回未来，当他是杜克大学布朗保存自己的未来“我”。
Back to ENGLISH : When Marty returns to the future, when he was Duke Brown to save their own future “me.”
CHINESE_SIMPLIFIED : 当马蒂返回未来，当他是杜克大学布朗保存自己的未来“我。”
Back to ENGLISH : When Marty returns to the future, when he was Duke Brown to save their own future “me.”
CHINESE_TRADITIONAL : 當馬蒂回到未來，當他被杜克布朗拯救自己的未來“我”。
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future when Marty, when he was Dukebulang to save their own future “me.”
CROATIAN : Povratak u budućnost, kada Marty, kada je Dukebulang da spasi vlastitu budućnost “ja”.
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future, when Marty, when Dukebulang to save their own future “self.”
CZECH : Návrat do budoucnosti, kdy Marty, když Dukebulang zachránit svou vlastní budoucnost “já”.
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future, when Marty when Dukebulang save his own future “self.”
DANISH : Tilbage til fremtiden, hvor Marty når Dukebulang redde sin egen fremtid “selv.”
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future, where Marty when Dukebulang save his own future “self.”
DUTCH : Back to the Future, waar Marty toen Dukebulang te redden van zijn eigen toekomst “zelf.”
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future, where Marty was Dukebulang to save his own future “self.”
ENGLISH : Back to the Future, where Marty was Dukebulang to save his own future “self.”
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future, where Marty was Dukebulang to save his own future “self.”
ESTONIAN : Tagasi tulevikku, kus Marty oli Dukebulang, et päästa oma enda tuleviku “ise.”
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future, where Marty was Dukebulang to save his own future “self.”
FILIPINO : Bumalik sa Hinaharap, kung saan Marty ay Dukebulang upang i-save ang kanyang sariling hinaharap “na sarili.”
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future, where Marty was Dukebulang to save his own future “self.”
FINNISH : Paluu tulevaisuuteen, jossa Marty oli Dukebulang pelastaa oman tulevaisuuden “itse.”
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future, where Marty was Dukebulang to save his own future “self.”
FRENCH : Retour vers le futur, où Marty a été Dukebulang pour sauver son propre avenir “auto”.
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future, where Marty was Dukebulang to save his own future “auto”.
GALICIAN : Volta para o Futuro, onde Marty foi Dukebulang para salvar o seu propio “auto” no futuro.
Back to ENGLISH : Back to the Future, where Marty was Dukebulang to save his own “self” in the future.
GERMAN : Zurück in die Zukunft, wo Marty Dukebulang zu seinem eigenen “Selbst” in die Zukunft zu retten war.
Back to ENGLISH : Was back in the future when Marty Dukebulang to save his own “self” in the future[/EXPAND]
It turns out that much of the meaning was kept for several translations. Arabic introduced the wonderful ‘Duke of Brown’ who we lost to Dukebulang thanks to Chinese. However Chinese also brought us ‘back to the future’ which we had lost thanks to Afrikaans right at the start. All in all, there were some interesting translations.
Next we tried a sentence from typing class: ‘The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’. 20 translations later we got, ‘The slightly brown fox grabs the lazy dog’. Then we thought we’d push it and went for 50 translations. This gave us, ‘In the afternoon we met’. What! We hear you say. But it’s true. Have a go yourself and if you come up with any gems, share them with us in the comments.