The Babelfish

[CardZeus]

If you didn't already know babelfish is an online translation service - http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr

I though it might be fun to start a thread of famous (or not so famous) quotations which have been translated back and forth between languages on Babelfish

An example serves best to illustrate what I mean;

My signature is a quotation from Albert Einstein;

"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible"

Translate it into Korean and then back into English and it becomes:

"Regarding the world the whole it will can understand it has been most incomprehensible and, is."

[CardZeus]

How about this one:

Original: "Humor is a rubber sword - it allows you to make a point without drawing blood. " (Mary Hirsch)

Translate into Japanese, back to English, then to Korean and finally back into English and it becomes:


"Humour the rubber the multi knife which it will make, - that to the point which does not have the blood of the rough sketch it is a possible it does to be it production."

[sundaymorningstaple]

If you didn't already know babelfish is an online translation service - http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr

I though it might be fun to start a thread of famous (or not so famous) quotations which have been translated back and forth between languages on Babelfish

An example serves best to illustrate what I mean;

My signature is a quotation from Albert Einstein;

"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible"

Translate it into Korean and then back into English and it becomes:

"Regarding the world the whole it will can understand it has been most incomprehensible and, is."

CardZeus,

Yeah, we went through the Babelfish thing a number of months ago. Not what you are talking about (that's not a bad idea) but a number of our european posters were trying to impress each other with their french, dutch, german, spanish and portugese skills. For a major language dumba$$ like me, I used babelfish a lot but it got really silly. They were translating from french into dutch or german and then I was translating using babelfish to english. The site leaves a lot to be desired but for someone like me the only way. The results were oftentimes very funny.

[CardZeus]

"To be or not to be, that is the question."

Eng - Korean - Japanese - Russian - English ....becomes



"And the point and or the flag of information is question because it is."



"No wonder Europe is tied up in red tape"

Eng - French -Greek - German -Portuguese -English......


"Absolutely no Europe wondrous was limited in the high one in the red band."

[Baron Greenback]

Nice one CZ Its a bit like chinese whispers.

For those who don't know chinese whispers is a game you can play with a group of people where you whisper something into someone's ear, then they whisper what they hear to someone else & so on, by the time you get to the last person the initial sentance has totally changed - usually with amusing results. What is the game called in China though?

[CardZeus]

What is the game called in China though?

Interesting question... anyone???

[earthfriendly]

I don't know if there is a name for it. They do it all the time on TV entertainment/variety show. Saw it on Korean program and the wildly popular Taiwanese Super Sunday.

It can be quite hilarious when the last person come up with a phrase that is so vastly different from the first version.

But I think "Chinese whisper" sounds quite appropriate though.

[Baron Greenback]

Speaking of tv shows from the East. I managed to catch a show (I think it was Japanese) which was a bit of a contest, participants would perform their acts which could be anything, but usually involved the most imaginative costumes/props. Picture if you can, the performers in their outfits which make up a mini stage/setting like a giant tv screen (but can be anything). Then by changing the position of their bodies the 'stage' transforms into a giant remote control (or whatever).

Then the act is judged by how much applause it generates (clapometer type thing).

I didn't understand a single word, but it was possibly the most entertaining variety show I have ever seen. The imagination that went into the costume design was amazing. Anyone have any idea what I am talking about or what it might be called?

[Kats_]

Totally digressing but this thread somehow reminded me of JAM (just-A-minute) days.....

'No hesitation, repetition or deviation'!!

http://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs3604/suppor ... inute.html

if you arent sure what I am talking about!