DailyDirt: Automated English Translations Are Fun

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Automated language translations have made some pretty big advances over the years, but sometimes the results are hilarious because they're so wrong. We don't mean to pick on Google Translate here -- since it's just one of many automated solutions for translating foreign languages -- but automated Engrish can be pretty funny. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.
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Filed Under: call me maybe, fresh prince of bel air, funny, speech technology, translation
Companies: google


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2013 @ 6:07pm

    Fresh Prince lyrics

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM5-i9NH0tM

    The original version, for reference.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    cosmicrat (profile), 22 Jan 2013 @ 9:33pm

    A good laugh

    It was pretty funny a few years ago when the translators weren't quite as good. Find a porn website, preferably one with a lot of verbal descriptions of the videos. Run it through auto translate into Japanese, then into German, then back to English. I know, I'm easily amused.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Wally (profile), 23 Jan 2013 @ 1:16am

    This article proves two things:

    1. American Nuance English is by far the hardest language to learn to speak...let alone program.

    2. Best known example of lovalized cultural memes and inside jokes do not translate well from region to region..I still have no idea what the joke is behind the big ear is in Japan.

    In regards to the second thing I learned from the article, Nintendo had to localize almost every game they made for the NES and Super NES. Most notably Super Mario RPG was localized to make sure the Bowser sprites didn't flip the players the bird after each victory. Then again they had our symbolism wrong when it came to Earthbound...no red crosses on the hospitals as the cited they were being PC about it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    another mike (profile), 23 Jan 2013 @ 8:17am

    someone had to do it

    Madness? This is Sparta!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Gwiz (profile), 23 Jan 2013 @ 11:36am

    I watched the Fresh Prince video when Mike put the link out on Twitter.

    Makes me wonder if Mandarin reruns of Fresh Prince are titled "The Apricot Emperor's Son of Bel-Air"

    link to this | view in thread ]


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