The golden age of gobbledygook is over
Feb. 18th, 2009 05:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomusIn February 2006 I posted a Click Opera entry entitled Rinko's diary googlemangled. I was writing my Ocky Milk album, and using the inexactitude of Google translation to generate surreal poetry for my lyrics. I found the diary of Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi, hosted on the Foil website, a good source for the sort of gentle, personal, serious and sensitive phrases I wanted to put into the songs on my "friendly album" (as well as some lovely keitai snapshots from an internationally famous photographer).
In 2006, Google's machine translation between Japanese and English was so inexact as to be almost opaque, and while this didn't make it useful for any practical purposes, it did make it a great machine for creating striking poetic images. "Google translation is in its 'poetry golden age' precisely because it is inexact," I wrote. "Who knows how long this golden age will last before perfection moves in, destroying the poetry?"
Well, I thought today we might try a little test on the same phrases I rendered in 2006, and see how much more coherent they've become. Three years, after all, is a long time in the world of computing, and I've certainly been noticing a marked improvement in Google's Japanese to English translations over the past year or so, perhaps due to the introduction of wiki-style human input. A pop-up now asks readers to suggest a better translation themselves. It's as if Google has realised the limits of machine translation, and sent in the cavalry -- in the form of its millions of human users.
Foil have since taken Rinko's January 2006 diary down, but you can still read it via Wayback Machine. So I took the exact same phrases and ran them through Google's Japanese-English translation machine again. Under the cut, I've listed the 2006 translations as OLD and the 2009 translations as NEW.
My conclusion is that Google's Japanese to English translation is now about 30% clearer than it was in early 2006, but also rather more blunt and pragmatic. Some of the poetry has gone, transformed into prose. There's approximately 45% less charm -- it's the difference between a 16th century travel guide full of errors, childish maps and fantastical beasts, and a 21st century tourist handbook.
Has machine translation improved? Yes, but it depends what you're using it for. "For those of us who see every error as a potential poem or joke," I wrote in a 2006 column for Wired, "every new web service or handheld gizmo claiming to do translation strikes a chill in the heart."
The golden age of gobbledygook may be over. And I'm feeling pretty "dense, with the [illegible] of the bee" about it.
January 30th
OLD
The tremendously lovely amulet is received. It is dense, with the [illegible] of the bee.
NEW
Have a very cute charm. SUPESHIYARUBAJON in this earthy, handmade complete dispersal.
January 29th
OLD
It goes to the visit of the friend who is hospitalized. Because is not possible at all, inhaling the foot, stroking the head, it returned.
NEW
Your friend's visit to the hospital. Can not do anything, 撫DE got back from a foot rubbing my head.
January 28th
OLD
Receiving the handmade Japanese radish, it is delightful.
NEW
I am happy to receive homemade radish.
January 27th
OLD
Opening and/or closing the big cardboard, concentrating at a stroke, it categorizeeed.
NEW
And large cardboard boxes or open or closed, sorting and focused all at once.
January 26th
OLD
Somehow, however you kept wearing the kimono by yourself, in the various person.
NEW
I went out wearing my own clothes, to many, "Oh, I大島紬!" Be said.
January 25th
OLD
Joint life 4 of girls was visible, however perhaps, there is a variety, very pleasantly so.
NEW
Four girls who live together, I might have a lot, looked very happy.
January 24th
OLD
It has teaching the compilation of image, to Special Interest Group Ro.
NEW
Global system to teach them to edit the video.
January 23rd
OLD
You feel that one day passes lately quickly.
NEW
Too soon to feel the day.
January 22nd
OLD
When morning, the curtain is opened, the snowman and the eye were agreeable.
NEW
Morning, the first match and open the curtains and snowmen.
January 21st
OLD
Wearing the socks, wearing the underwear, wearing the kimono, it winds the band.
NEW
Japanese socks wearing, wearing襦袢, wearing a kimono, a wind band.
January 21st
OLD
Outside heavy snow. Doubtful by your the circumstances from the place where it is far a little it photographs with the video camera,
NEW
Outside the heavy snow. Video cameras to some distance from the looks of his dubious
January 20th
OLD
Very it was very pleasant time.
NEW
It was very very fun time.
January 19th
OLD
The camera bag and the tripod of ideal it goes to Ginza in searching.
NEW
Go to Ginza to find the perfect camera bag and tripod.
January 18th
OLD
Sometimes, with the notion that where, the Eguti male be completed it makes the store keep accompanying with everyone it probably will go to the kind of place which always it cannot go.
NEW
Once in a while that can not go on like I always have someone take me out to the store everyone's Featured Eguchi.
January 17th
OLD
Morning, real the burglar intrudes inside you looked at dream.
NEW
Morning, a real dream broke up a robbery at my home.
January 16th
OLD
After cleaning cheerfully, it went to the gym, bought the beer and the wine and the flower to the return.
NEW
Go to the gym to clean it with gusto, I bought flowers and wine and beer on the way home.
January 15th
OLD
A little, you received the telephone from the person where communication has broken off, very became delightful.
NEW
Received a call from a contact who had been cut, was very pleased.
January 14th
OLD
Rain.
NEW
Rain.
January 13th
OLD
Cold one day. The cat had died with Kawahara.
NEW
Cold day. The cat died in the river.
January 12th
OLD
Not making the change of feeling good, drag to useless mode and be troubled it may.
NEW
Things never work a lot from last month. I have to work the switch, it is not HIKIZURIKOMA mode.
January 11th
OLD
It goes to the vaccination of yellow fever in order to go to next month Brazil.
NEW
Go to the yellow fever vaccination. To go to Brazil next month.
January 10th
OLD
It is what, becoming the kind of feeling which keeps the girl small of the kindred, the various knobs remaining ones it puts out.
NEW
The feeling of being small relative to leave my little girl, get over my knob all over my leftovers.
In 2006, Google's machine translation between Japanese and English was so inexact as to be almost opaque, and while this didn't make it useful for any practical purposes, it did make it a great machine for creating striking poetic images. "Google translation is in its 'poetry golden age' precisely because it is inexact," I wrote. "Who knows how long this golden age will last before perfection moves in, destroying the poetry?"
Well, I thought today we might try a little test on the same phrases I rendered in 2006, and see how much more coherent they've become. Three years, after all, is a long time in the world of computing, and I've certainly been noticing a marked improvement in Google's Japanese to English translations over the past year or so, perhaps due to the introduction of wiki-style human input. A pop-up now asks readers to suggest a better translation themselves. It's as if Google has realised the limits of machine translation, and sent in the cavalry -- in the form of its millions of human users.
Foil have since taken Rinko's January 2006 diary down, but you can still read it via Wayback Machine. So I took the exact same phrases and ran them through Google's Japanese-English translation machine again. Under the cut, I've listed the 2006 translations as OLD and the 2009 translations as NEW.
My conclusion is that Google's Japanese to English translation is now about 30% clearer than it was in early 2006, but also rather more blunt and pragmatic. Some of the poetry has gone, transformed into prose. There's approximately 45% less charm -- it's the difference between a 16th century travel guide full of errors, childish maps and fantastical beasts, and a 21st century tourist handbook.
Has machine translation improved? Yes, but it depends what you're using it for. "For those of us who see every error as a potential poem or joke," I wrote in a 2006 column for Wired, "every new web service or handheld gizmo claiming to do translation strikes a chill in the heart."
The golden age of gobbledygook may be over. And I'm feeling pretty "dense, with the [illegible] of the bee" about it.
January 30th
OLD
The tremendously lovely amulet is received. It is dense, with the [illegible] of the bee.
NEW
Have a very cute charm. SUPESHIYARUBAJON in this earthy, handmade complete dispersal.
January 29th
OLD
It goes to the visit of the friend who is hospitalized. Because is not possible at all, inhaling the foot, stroking the head, it returned.
NEW
Your friend's visit to the hospital. Can not do anything, 撫DE got back from a foot rubbing my head.
January 28th
OLD
Receiving the handmade Japanese radish, it is delightful.
NEW
I am happy to receive homemade radish.
January 27th
OLD
Opening and/or closing the big cardboard, concentrating at a stroke, it categorizeeed.
NEW
And large cardboard boxes or open or closed, sorting and focused all at once.
January 26th
OLD
Somehow, however you kept wearing the kimono by yourself, in the various person.
NEW
I went out wearing my own clothes, to many, "Oh, I大島紬!" Be said.
January 25th
OLD
Joint life 4 of girls was visible, however perhaps, there is a variety, very pleasantly so.
NEW
Four girls who live together, I might have a lot, looked very happy.
January 24th
OLD
It has teaching the compilation of image, to Special Interest Group Ro.
NEW
Global system to teach them to edit the video.
January 23rd
OLD
You feel that one day passes lately quickly.
NEW
Too soon to feel the day.
January 22nd
OLD
When morning, the curtain is opened, the snowman and the eye were agreeable.
NEW
Morning, the first match and open the curtains and snowmen.
January 21st
OLD
Wearing the socks, wearing the underwear, wearing the kimono, it winds the band.
NEW
Japanese socks wearing, wearing襦袢, wearing a kimono, a wind band.
January 21st
OLD
Outside heavy snow. Doubtful by your the circumstances from the place where it is far a little it photographs with the video camera,
NEW
Outside the heavy snow. Video cameras to some distance from the looks of his dubious
January 20th
OLD
Very it was very pleasant time.
NEW
It was very very fun time.
January 19th
OLD
The camera bag and the tripod of ideal it goes to Ginza in searching.
NEW
Go to Ginza to find the perfect camera bag and tripod.
January 18th
OLD
Sometimes, with the notion that where, the Eguti male be completed it makes the store keep accompanying with everyone it probably will go to the kind of place which always it cannot go.
NEW
Once in a while that can not go on like I always have someone take me out to the store everyone's Featured Eguchi.
January 17th
OLD
Morning, real the burglar intrudes inside you looked at dream.
NEW
Morning, a real dream broke up a robbery at my home.
January 16th
OLD
After cleaning cheerfully, it went to the gym, bought the beer and the wine and the flower to the return.
NEW
Go to the gym to clean it with gusto, I bought flowers and wine and beer on the way home.
January 15th
OLD
A little, you received the telephone from the person where communication has broken off, very became delightful.
NEW
Received a call from a contact who had been cut, was very pleased.
January 14th
OLD
Rain.
NEW
Rain.
January 13th
OLD
Cold one day. The cat had died with Kawahara.
NEW
Cold day. The cat died in the river.
January 12th
OLD
Not making the change of feeling good, drag to useless mode and be troubled it may.
NEW
Things never work a lot from last month. I have to work the switch, it is not HIKIZURIKOMA mode.
January 11th
OLD
It goes to the vaccination of yellow fever in order to go to next month Brazil.
NEW
Go to the yellow fever vaccination. To go to Brazil next month.
January 10th
OLD
It is what, becoming the kind of feeling which keeps the girl small of the kindred, the various knobs remaining ones it puts out.
NEW
The feeling of being small relative to leave my little girl, get over my knob all over my leftovers.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 06:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 06:38 am (UTC)mobamus (http://peekasso.tumblr.com/post/76655791/stauffenbama-canvas) *-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 08:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 10:18 am (UTC)lol!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 10:43 am (UTC)I'm currently reading 'Translation as a profession' by the freelance translator Roger chriss and he discusses the issue at length. He mentions that back in 1992 he made a bet with a friend that by 2007 computer translation systems would have taken over the industry. Needless to say, he lost that bet by a long shot and SUPESHIYARUBAJON is still in this earthy, handmade complete dispersal.
In the past few years, computers have been able to beat even the best human players at chess, but I believe AI is going to have to become close to human to ever be able to adequately deal with human language. By that time, they'll be "replicating" art.
The whole subject of "Robot culture" is interesting. In a way, these google translations are the early beginning of robot culture. When AI becomes advanced enough to be nearly human the robots will begin interacting with us, interpreting our culture in their own unique way. We'll pick up these subtle distorted reflections of our culture and propagate them ourselves, much like you did in Ocky Milk.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 10:57 am (UTC)There has been, I think, an incredibly naive trust in the ability of cmputers to interpret language, usually by people who are not linguists. I do actually make a bit of money at translation. I think that one thing that will always confound computers until they are actually alive - rather than being machines - is that language itself is alive. The meaning of a single word changes not only over time, but also in every context in which it is used. This might sound like an exaggeration, but I'll often find, in order to translate something properly, I have to use a word the dictionary would never have suggested. The computer, however, always relies on its dictionary, because it doesn't actually know what the language means. It's a very complex parrot.
Good luck with the degree.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 11:38 am (UTC)Similarly, I've always judged computer chess programs by how badly they can be set to play, not how well. It seems easy for a computer to play chess well, not so easy for it to play moderately badly, and make the kind of plausible mistakes a human player of moderate chess skill would make. Instead, it either lashes around crazily and loses, or plays with consummate rationality, and wins.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 11:58 am (UTC)My dad works a camera operator. In his 20's and 30's he was earning good money, he'd get hired for motion pictures but mainly television. But there's been a gradual change over the years -- Much like Momus mentioned the other day with regards to the death of magazines (http://imomus.livejournal.com/437125.html), television is having to compete with new media and it's slowly losing the battle too. It doesn't get the audiences it used to which means they don't have the budgets they used to. Moreover, everyone and his dog seems to have a media studies degree these days and they're all scrambling to get into TV. It wasn't like that in my dad's day. More and more people want to get into a gradually shrinking industry.
I grew up watching my dad's work slowly dry up, I really don't want to be in the same situation when I'm middle-aged. Google Translation's golden age of gobbledygook may be over, but I hope computers will keep talking gibberish for a little longer, at least until I'm old enough to retire...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 12:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 12:54 pm (UTC)Also, it should be noted that multilingual people working in the international communications business do far more than just interpreting and translating. They often need to have actual people skills, to be able to put others at ease, and perform other human services that a translation algorithm can't accomplish.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 01:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 01:04 pm (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flarf_poetry
It's a movement that uses randomized junk language (most notably Google search results) to construct purposely bad/ugly/deformed/etc poetry. Of course, as with any such movement, some of the results are actually quite appealing, because/in spite of authorial intention.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 02:00 pm (UTC)I've been informed it's very difficult to find regular, well-paid work as a translator without a degree. In fact some government agencies won't hire you without one. I wouldn't be getting myself into thousands of pounds of debt if I had another option.
As part of a degree course, you're required not just to learn the language but the culture it exists within. I wouldn't just be learning the Japanese language, I'm going to have to learn about Japanese society, its history, its people... culture is what gives language its context.
Recent example: I've been playing Phoenix Wright, which is a video game for the Nintendo DS. In the English language version, they poorly translated a joke from Japanese where one of the characters, a psychic girl, gets asked if she's been training hard and she replies "of course, I stand under streaming waters every morning!", to which she's met with the reply "That's showering!"
It makes reference to a Shinto ritual called shugyo where you stand under a waterfall as part of Shinto ascetic discipline. It's an ancient Japanese animistic practice that's meant to purify and transform one's spirit. a Japanese person would get this joke but someone who didn't have knowledge of Japanese culture and history wouldn't be able to translate it properly.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 02:35 pm (UTC)If I did translation, in the traditional sense, it would probably be on my own time, translating poetry and fiction as a hobby, and perhaps trying to find American publishers for it.
I guess what I'd want to be open, just as a possibility, are general jobs in private business that would require me to communicate with English-speaking markets for Korean companies.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 02:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 02:52 pm (UTC)best of all , all I have to do is open my spam email section and out it pours....sample:
You arrive pretty clouds without the
healthy lower window, whilst Mahammed cruelly believes them too.
Plenty of active outer exit promises sauces near Agha's deep
boat. Where will we cook after Oris moves the rich house's bandage? My
filthy pickle won't help before I walk it.
..clearly a bit of Syd Barrett there.
Others have found some great uses for it in their art. See:
lucky for us all!
Date: 2009-02-18 03:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 03:39 pm (UTC)But it was made in 2006, during the Golden Age. I used to get a lot of Google Alerts for Momus that were just random spam references like this, but there are very few like that now. And a quick look through my Junk mail folder shows every message making perfect sense. It's mostly art institution spam, in fact -- randomly-selected sentence: "Give us the most information you can, but since there is a word limit, try to be brief and concise in your descriptions and arguments."
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 03:40 pm (UTC)I'm not fully au fait on the subject, I'm just going but what it says on careersadvice.direct.gov.uk (http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk/) which is part of the British government's official DirectGov service:
"To be a translator you need to be educated to degree level, usually followed by a postgraduate qualification in translation. You must be fluent in one or more languages as well as English, and have thorough knowledge of the culture in the relevant country, usually gained by living and working there."
Actually, with a lot of these jobs, the big thing is having the actual language certification (JLPT in your case, KLPT in mine).
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 03:50 pm (UTC)In fact, I subscribe to the Youtube feed of a guy in Japan who does (or did ... he recently got downsized due to the recession) just that, and I don't believe he has a postgraduate degree, nor does he have an undergraduate degree in the area you specified. If I remember correctly, he hasn't even passed the highest level JLPT.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-18 03:52 pm (UTC)former berry picker wardrobe assnt stripper hp just plays rock n roll
Date: 2009-02-18 03:55 pm (UTC)This is a word for word recitation of an entry from Courtney Love's online journal that she posted sometime in January. She's since removed the entry, but you can still read it here (http://celebrifi.com/gossip/mario-lavinderia-313243.html). It's absolute genius.
translation
Date: 2009-02-18 11:34 pm (UTC)Also once you have a language, you understand when you don't understand something, and have the language skill and hopefully resources to figure it out
Not to say learning other than rote isn't useful, need to keep things interesting after all.
I have no degree in translation, but a degree in a science/engineering subject and years spent working in uk and japanese industry - specialist knowledge can be as important as translation skill.
john
various knobs
Date: 2009-02-18 11:54 pm (UTC)(↑※ For details, with the news animation in today please! ! )
《主語なし》"Store into enter not even if, menu and word-of-mouth communication information obj GET possible" convenient (passes? a/the the it it is it does ) Do you want な function?
This ones feetranslation.com and I can't even imagine the words used in some of these phrases.
セカイカメラ』――ソフトバンクが初めて公開した
新機能の取材で、都内のファッションイベントを
訪ねた森キャスター。iPhoneに次々と浮かんで
くる“エアタグ”にびっくりです! 携帯カメラはここ
まで進化しました。｢拡張現実」という今注目の
技術、世界に先駆けて開発したのは、たった6人
の精鋭からなる日本のベンチャー企業でした！
【↑※詳しくは、きょうのニュース動画でどうぞ!!】
「お店に入らなくても、メニューや口コミ情報を
ＧＥＴできる」便利(すぎ?)な機能、ほしいですか。
Re: various knobs
Date: 2009-02-19 12:25 am (UTC)SEKAIKAMERA's - published first Softbank
The coverage of the new features, a fashion event in Tokyo
Mori visited casters. iPhone following people floating and
Come "Air Tags" surprised! Mobile camera here
Was evolution. "Augmented reality" that the attention now
Technology, developed first in the world, only 6 people
Venture Could Japan consisting elite!
[↑ ※ For details, see the video on today's news!]
"The入RANAKU to the store, and word of mouth information menu
GET can "convenient (too) features? Want.
Re: various knobs
Date: 2009-02-19 12:28 am (UTC)[sekaikamera]' - - with collection of data of the Advanced Capability which the software bank releases for the first time, the forest caster which visits the fashion event inside capital. One after another it floats in iPhone, it is surprise in the “air tag”! The portable camera evolved to here. Technology of the current attention, “extended actuality”, leading the world, those where it developed were the Japanese venture enterprise which consists of the elite 6 it passes! “Entering the store also the [te], the convenience which GET is achieved the menu and word-of-mouth communication information” (it passes?)Function, we want, is?
Is the Golden Age really over yet, though?
Date: 2009-02-20 12:23 am (UTC)I have to admit I haven't used any of the automatic translations much in 2006 or now, so it was interesting to see the old/new comparison here.
I agree that overall there was more interestingly broken poetry in the 2006 versions, and at first I assumed that the 2009 results would be more accurate (after all, Google seems like a pretty efficient company and they've had 3 years to improve the system...)
After checking all 22 of these lines with the original Japanese, I'm not so sure, though.
I tried half-seriously (or maybe 2/3) to compare each line, this time trying to value accuracy over poetry (though not exclusively), and the results are pretty interesting (and surprising), I think.
I'll post the full analysis below, but my breakdown was, judging 22 lines:
11 wins for OLD (incl. 3 clear wins & 3 default wins)
3 wins for NEW (incl. 2 clear wins)
and 8 with no clear winner.
(So, based on these results, one step forward and two steps back since 2006..?)
It's hard to say how representative this sampling of blog entries really is - using Google translation on a regular basis since 2006 with full articles might give you a better idea of how well it's working.
Still, in these samples I thought I could detect a disturbing trend where, for 2 or 3 entries, the English seemed "deceptively polished" (as if in 2006 Google's translator had been a Japanese poet with a very loose grasp of English, and in 2009 they had switched to a native speaker of English who was taking guesses at what the Japanese sentences might mean..)
Who would you rather have as your translator (for accuracy or poetic inspiration)?
Re: Is the Golden Age really over yet, though?
Date: 2009-02-20 12:35 am (UTC)I do find the translation has improved, but it may work best on a certain "objective" style of writing. For instance, the other day I googletranslated this page
http://www.smash-jpn.com/band/2008/07_nylon/profile/index.html
and was surprised at how coherent the results were
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smash-jpn.com%2Fband%2F2008%2F07_nylon%2Fprofile%2Findex.html&sl=ja&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Looking again, they seem more garbled than they did the other day. It may be that when I know a bit about the subject, I apply a semi-conscious "text unmangler" to this sort of prose, a filter located in my own head. I'm also getting to know Japanese sentence structure better, even just in English.
Re: Is the Golden Age really over yet, though?
Date: 2009-02-20 12:37 am (UTC)Analysis (1/3)
Date: 2009-02-20 12:38 am (UTC)ものすごくかわいいおまもりをもらう。こはちのスペシヤルバージョンで、りさの完全手作り。
OLD
The tremendously lovely amulet is received. It is dense, with the [illegible] of the bee.
NEW
Have a very cute charm. SUPESHIYARUBAJON in this earthy, handmade complete dispersal.
1st sentence: Vocabulary is more natural in NEW, but the fact that “received” has been changed to “have” for もらう suggests that the system is taking steps backward in terms of accuracy too at times.
2nd sentence: Neither is accurate at all, but “It is dense, with the [illegible] of the bee.” is brilliant. I could almost imagine this fitting in somewhere in “Going for a Walk with a Line”...
Clear winner: OLD
January 29th
入院している友だちのお見舞いに行く。
なにもできないから、足をさすってあたまを撫でて帰ってきた。
OLD
It goes to the visit of the friend who is hospitalized. Because is not possible at all, inhaling the foot, stroking the head, it returned.
NEW
Your friend's visit to the hospital. Can not do anything, 撫DE got back from a foot rubbing my head.
1st sentence: “Your friend’s visit” is an improvement??
It strikes me here that the OLD first sentence could have been written by a first-year ESL student (who understood the Japanese but needed to polish their English), while the NEW first sentence might have been written by an English speaker just starting to learn Japanese (using clear English to misconstrue what the Japanese sentence actually said...) And who wouldn’t prefer the former in that case?
2nd sentence: The phrase 足をさすって sure caused problems in both versions – I wonder why? It doesn’t mean anything like either “inhaling the foot” or “got back from a foot”, so we have to award this one to OLD for the tremendous creativity of “inhaling the foot”.
Clear winner: OLD
January 28th
手作り大根をもらって嬉しい。
OLD
Receiving the handmade Japanese radish, it is delightful.
NEW
I am happy to receive homemade radish.
NEW is getting closer to “natural” English (in a way) here, but both convey the meaning of the original well enough. And when it comes down to it, OLD would make a much nicer photoblog entry anyway. In fact, we can almost form it into a little haiku (just one syllable short in the first line)
Receiving the
handmade Japanese radish,
it is delightful.
(And isn’t that in fact preferable to much of what ends up in many of those English-language haiku contests?)
Winner: OLD, considering the context.
January 27th
大きな段ボールを開けたり閉めたりして、一気に集中して仕分けした。
OLD
Opening and/or closing the big cardboard, concentrating at a stroke, it categorizeeed.
NEW
And large cardboard boxes or open or closed, sorting and focused all at once.
Why does the NEW version fail to render the boxes as the object of the opening and closing? Both are clearly imperfect, but NEW doesn’t offer any improvement. The creative spelling of “Categorizeeed” serves as the tiebreaker –
Winner: OLD by default
January 26th
なんとか自分で着物を着ていったけど、いろんな人に「あ、それ大島紬でしょ！」と指摘される。
OLD
Somehow, however you kept wearing the kimono by yourself, in the various person.
NEW
I went out wearing my own clothes, to many, "Oh, I大島紬!" Be said.
OLD is wrong, but in a traceable way. We could probably make up a context where なんとか自分で着物を着ていったけど actually does mean (more or less) “Somehow, however you kept wearing the kimono by yourself,” even if it doesn’t here.
NEW is accurate for the first four words (“I went out wearing”), but “my own clothes” is wrong and strange, considering that the OLD version already “understood” this as “the kimono by ---self”.
Winner: Unclear
January 25th
女の子４人の共同生活は、いろいろあるかもしれないけど、とても楽しそうに見えた。
OLD
Joint life 4 of girls was visible, however perhaps, there is a variety, very pleasantly so.
NEW
Four girls who live together, I might have a lot, looked very happy.
This one’s a little hard to judge, but “I might have a lot” is wrong enough that I think it constitutes a step backward from “perhaps, there is a variety...” for いろいろあるかもしれない.
Winner: OLD, by default
Re: Analysis (1/3)
Date: 2009-02-20 12:43 am (UTC)But don't tax yourself, you've already done wonders!
Analysis (make that 2/4)
Date: 2009-02-20 12:43 am (UTC)映像の編集を教えてもらいにシグロへ。
OLD
It has teaching the compilation of image, to Special Interest Group Ro.
NEW
Global system to teach them to edit the video.
Well, my offhand translation would be something like “Off to SIGLO to learn video editing.” I do kind of like the sound of “Special Interest Group Ro,” though.
Winner: Unclear
January 23rd
このところ一日が過ぎるのを早く感じる。
OLD
You feel that one day passes lately quickly.
NEW
Too soon to feel the day.
This one really seems like an anomaly to me. OLD is, if anything, a little more accurate than NEW, but I prefer the sound of NEW for its creative inaccuracy. Where on earth did “Too soon to feel the day” come from as a translation for this? The English sounds deceptively polished, but the meaning is completely different than the original.
Actually, now that I think of it, this doesn’t make it an anomaly - This actually fits the pattern I described for the Jan. 29th entry above:
It strikes me here that the OLD first sentence could have been written by a first-year ESL student (who understood the Japanese but needed to polish their English), while the NEW first sentence might have been written by an English speaker just starting to learn Japanese (using clear English to misconstrue what the Japanese sentence actually said...) And who wouldn’t prefer the former in that case?
Winner: OLD
January 22nd
朝、カーテンを開けると雪だるまと目が合った。
OLD
When morning, the curtain is opened, the snowman and the eye were agreeable.
NEW
Morning, the first match and open the curtains and snowmen.
My offhand translation would be, “Opening the curtains at morning, my eyes met with a snowman’s”. Where OLD basically just got “agreeable” wrong, NEW is even less accurate, introducing “the first match” from nowhere and leaving out the eyes altogether.
Winner: OLD
January 21st
足袋を履き、襦袢を着て、着物を着て、帯を巻く。
OLD
Wearing the socks, wearing the underwear, wearing the kimono, it winds the band.
NEW
Japanese socks wearing, wearing襦袢, wearing a kimono, a wind band.
Not only did NEW mangle the grammar, comparatively speaking (“a wind band”??), but it left a word in kanji that OLD was able to translate: 襦袢, juban (a loanword from the Portugese jibão), a type of underwear or slip worn under the kimono.
Clear winner: OLD
January 21st
外は大雪。
その様子を少し離れたところからビデオカメラで撮影する、あやしい自分。
OLD
Outside heavy snow. Doubtful by your the circumstances from the place where it is far a little it photographs with the video camera,
NEW
Outside the heavy snow. Video cameras to some distance from the looks of his dubious
I don’t see a lot of difference between these two in terms of intelligibility. Certainly no great improvement in NEW.
Winner: Unclear
Analysis (3/4)
Date: 2009-02-20 12:48 am (UTC)とてもとても楽しい時間だった。
OLD
Very it was very pleasant time.
NEW
It was very very fun time.
Hey look, NEW was able to put the two verys together.
Winner: NEW
January 19th
理想のカメラバッグと三脚を探しに銀座へ行く。
OLD
The camera bag and the tripod of ideal it goes to Ginza in searching.
NEW
Go to Ginza to find the perfect camera bag and tripod.
OK, finally an example where we went from “the golden age of gobbledygook” in OLD to accurate, coherent English in NEW. NEW actually went from broken poetry to straightforward English.
Clear winner: NEW
January 18th
たまにはいつも行けないようなところに行こうということで、江口さんおすすめのお店にみんなで連れていってもらう。
OLD
Sometimes, with the notion that where, the Eguti male be completed it makes the store keep accompanying with everyone it probably will go to the kind of place which always it cannot go.
NEW
Once in a while that can not go on like I always have someone take me out to the store everyone's Featured Eguchi.
See, though, “the golden age of gobbledygook” lives on as soon we reach the slightest hint of complexity in the sentence structure.
Winner: Unclear
January 17th
朝方、うちに強盗が押し入ってくるリアルな夢を見た。
OLD
Morning, real the burglar intrudes inside you looked at dream.
NEW
Morning, a real dream broke up a robbery at my home.
OLD is a translation of the original sentence subject to a cut-up experiment and rearranged as a poem.
NEW is a deceptive retelling of the original by a surrealist interpreter.
Winner: You decide
January 16th
いそいそと掃除をしてからジムへ行き、帰りにビールとワインと花を買ってきた。
OLD
After cleaning cheerfully, it went to the gym, bought the beer and the wine and the flower to the return.
NEW
Go to the gym to clean it with gusto, I bought flowers and wine and beer on the way home.
OLD knows something about Rinko that we don’t: She had a robot housekeeper. (Sort of correct, in this case.)
NEW offers an accurate improvement after the comma, but the first half is absolutely wrong. She went “to the gym to clean it”??? The grammar in “掃除をしてからジムへ行き” is so straightforward and clear (except the part about the subject, which, you know, could be her or it could be her robot) that this does not bode well for Google’s “progress” over the past three years...
Winner: OLD
January 15th
少し連絡が途切れていた人から電話をもらい、とても嬉しくなった。
OLD
A little, you received the telephone from the person where communication has broken off, very became delightful.
NEW
Received a call from a contact who had been cut, was very pleased.
NEW sounds like the person has been cut rather than the contact; like she’s taking delight in their injury. (Maybe so that she can visit them in the hospital and inhale their foot, too...?)
Winner: OLD, by default
Analysis (4/4)
Date: 2009-02-20 12:50 am (UTC)雨。
OLD
Rain.
NEW
Rain
Doing just fine on selected single-word translations since 2006...
Winner: N/A
January 13th
寒い一日。
河原でネコが死んでいた。
OLD
Cold one day. The cat had died with Kawahara.
NEW
Cold day. The cat died in the river.
I’m picturing the site as a dry riverbed or something like that, not “in the river” or “with Kawahara”...
Winner: Unclear
January 12th
先月からどうもいろんなことがうまくいかない。
気持ちの切り替えをうまくしなくては、ダメモードにひきずりこまれそう。
OLD
Not making the change of feeling good, drag to useless mode and be troubled it may.
NEW
Things never work a lot from last month. I have to work the switch, it is not HIKIZURIKOMA mode.
The second sentence in NEW is terrible in every way... At least with OLD you get some sense of what she’s saying.
Winner: OLD
January 11th
黄熱病の予防接種に行く。
来月ブラジルに行くため。
OLD
It goes to the vaccination of yellow fever in order to go to next month Brazil.
NEW
Go to the yellow fever vaccination. To go to Brazil next month.
OLD is telling us more about her robot, apparently... I like the approach NEW takes in just leaving out the subject (since they’re nowhere near being able to write a program that figures that out consistently.) Sounds better for this kind of journal entry anyway.
Clear winner: NEW
January 10th
なんだか親戚の小さな女の子を預かっているような気分になって、いろいろつまみやら残り物やら出す。
OLD
It is what, becoming the kind of feeling which keeps the girl small of the kindred, the various knobs remaining ones it puts out.
NEW
The feeling of being small relative to leave my little girl, get over my knob all over my leftovers.
They’re both bad poetry with virtually no relation to the meaning of the original. If you have any doubts remaining about whether the end of “the golden age of gobbledygook” is really imminent, I just want you to ponder this NEW translation for いろいろつまみやら残り物やら出す (for which I would suggest a translation more along the lines of “...set out all kinds of little snacks and leftovers for her”, but you might miss all this talk about knobs...) –
“...get over my knob all over my leftovers.”
Winner: Unclear
Re: Is the Golden Age really over yet, though?
Date: 2009-02-20 01:05 am (UTC)I'm sure it helps to be familiar with the subject and decode the text yourself. I suspect that's why it's better if there's not too much polish (unless of course it's really translating it accurately) - an obviously garbled detail can be decoded more easily than a wrong but smoothed-over sentence.
The obstacle to making more comparisons (other than time constraints) is that, as you pointed out, there's no Wayback Machine equivalent for Google translation as far as i know..
Re: Analysis (1/3)
Date: 2009-02-20 01:07 am (UTC)Re: Analysis (4/4)
Date: 2009-02-20 01:27 am (UTC)Yes, Google really undoing all that good advice our parents gave us not to play with our food there!
+ one 2009 human rendering
Date: 2009-02-22 04:40 am (UTC)ものすごくかわいいおまもりをもらう。こはちのスペシヤルバージョンで、りさの完全手作り。
I'm given an incredibly cute o-mamori amulet. A special Kohachi(?) version, completely handmade by Risa.
January 29th
入院している友だちのお見舞いに行く。
なにもできないから、足をさすってあたまを撫でて帰ってきた。
Go to visit a hospitalised friend.
There’s nothing I can do, so I rub their feet, stroke their head, and return home.
January 28th
手作り大根をもらって嬉しい。
I’m delighted to be given home-grown daikon radish.
January 27th
大きな段ボールを開けたり閉めたりして、一気に集中して仕分けした。
Opening and closing the big cardboard boxes, with a flash of concentration, I get them sorted.
January 26th
なんとか自分で着物を着ていったけど、いろんな人に「あ、それ大島紬でしょ！」と指摘される。
I go on in a kimono, which I managed somehow to get on by myself; “Oh, that's an Ōshima Tsumugi, isn't it!” a variety of different people point out to me.
January 25th
女の子４人の共同生活は、いろいろあるかもしれないけど、とても楽しそうに見えた。
With 4 girls living together, I suppose there might be a range of things that crop up, but it looked very enjoyable.
January 24th
映像の編集を教えてもらいにシグロへ。
Off to SIGLO to be taught video editing.
January 23rd
このところ一日が過ぎるのを早く感じる。
A day’s passing feels so quick these days.
January 22nd
朝、カーテンを開けると雪だるまと目が合った。
Opening the curtains at morning, my eyes met with a snowman’s.
January 21st
足袋を履き、襦袢を着て、着物を着て、帯を巻く。
Putting on the tabi socks, getting into the juban slip, getting into the kimono, and tying the obi sash around.
January 21st
外は大雪。
その様子を少し離れたところからビデオカメラで撮影する、あやしい自分。
A heavy snowfall outside. ... And me, the shady character videotaping this scene from a little way off.
January 20th
とてもとても楽しい時間だった。
I had a very, very good time.
January 19th
理想のカメラバッグと三脚を探しに銀座へ行く。
Go to Ginza in search of the ideal camera bag and tripod.
January 18th
たまにはいつも行けないようなところに行こうということで、江口さんおすすめのお店にみんなで連れていってもらう。
With the idea of once in a while going to the kind of place one can’t always go, I’m taken along with everyone to a restaurant Eguchi-san recommends.
January 17th
朝方、うちに強盗が押し入ってくるリアルな夢を見た。
In the morning I had a realistic dream that a burglar was breaking into my home.
January 16th
いそいそと掃除をしてからジムへ行き、帰りにビールとワインと花を買ってきた。
After briskly/cheerfully cleaning up, I went to the gym, then on the way home picked up some beer, wine, and flowers.
January 15th
少し連絡が途切れていた人から電話をもらい、とても嬉しくなった。
Receiving a telephone call from someone I’d lost touch with a little, I was very pleased.
January 14th
雨。
Rain.
January 13th
寒い一日。
河原でネコが死んでいた。
A cold day.
Dead along the river, a cat.
January 12th
先月からどうもいろんなことがうまくいかない。
気持ちの切り替えをうまくしなくては、ダメモードにひきずりこまれそう。
Somehow all kinds of things haven't been working out since last month.
I’ve got to snap out of this mood effectively, or I’ll just get dragged along into “worthless mode".
January 11th
黄熱病の予防接種に行く。
来月ブラジルに行くため。
I go to be inoculated against yellow fever. For going to Brazil next month.
January 10th
なんだか親戚の小さな女の子を預かっているような気分になって、いろいろつまみやら残り物やら出す。
I started feeling sort of as if she were one of my relative’s little girls left in my charge and set out all kinds of little snacks and leftovers for her.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-22 04:42 am (UTC)Re: + one 2009 human rendering
Date: 2009-02-22 05:04 pm (UTC)Google have asked me to ask you if you'd be willing to sit in a box in their HQ and handle all incoming Japanese-English translation requests? You'd need to do a page in under a second, but the pay would be good.