i was really curious as to how Clotilde, author of the delicious Chocolate&Zucchini, gets her French version of her blog done so quickly... and then realised it was with the aid of Google Language Tools... more curiously, i wondered how well the tool could translate my muse into French, German, and Chinese, and how close the translated versions are to the original. i was going to choose a foodie entry but i decided to use a short paragraph from a recent entry instead... here's what Google gave me for the exerpt...
overacuppa in hrm's English
"on the way back, i read another short story from "Elephant and other short stories" by Raymond Carver, an author (and poet) i am beginning to grow quite fond of... perhaps i will share my thoughts on them someday... but i am no expert on such things and i can't string clever and eloquent sentences to make a brilliant critique...hmm...
Posted by hrm at 14:25 hrs on 20 November, 2004 "
overaccuppa in Google's French
"sur le chemin en arri?re, je lis une autre histoire courte d'"?l?phant et d'autres histoires courtes" par Raymond Carver , un auteur (et po?t) que je commence ? me d?velopper tout ? fait affectueux... peut-?tre de moi partagera mes pens?es sur elles un jour... mais je ne suis aucun expert en de telles choses et je ne puis pas ficeler des phrases intelligentes et ?loquentes pour faire un hmm brillant de critique......
Signal? par le hrm ? 14:25 heures 20 novembre, 2004 "
overacuppa in Google's German
"auf der Weise zur?ck, lese ich eine andere kurze Geschichte "vom Elefanten und andere kurze Geschichten" durch Raymond Carver , ein Autor (und Dichter), das ich anfange, in... m?glicherweise mich ziemlich vernarrt zu wachsen, teilt meine Gedanken auf ihnen eines Tages..., aber ich bin kein Experte auf solchen Sachen und ich kann nicht die gescheiten und redegewandten S?tze zum Bilden eines leuchtenden Critique... hmm aufreihen...
Bekanntgegeben durch hrm bei 14:25 Stunden am November 20, 2004 "
overacuppa in Google's Chinese
"在途中, 我读其它短故事 从" 大象并且其它短故事" 由 Raymond Carver 作者(和诗人) 我正在开始 增长相当喜欢... 或许我某天将分享我的想法在他们... 但我是关 于这样件事的没有专家并且我不可能串起聪明的和雄辩句子做一精 采批评... hmm...
由hrm 张贴于14:25 几小时在2004 年11月20 日, "
i suppose the essence and intentions remain pretty much the same in French and not too badly in German... but in Chinese... the literal-translations don't really keep the original expressions and the paragraph reads rather awkwardly and at times, it doesn't really make sense... i guess they would have to work on their algorithms... hmm. was interesting nonetheless...
posted by ~overacuppa~ on Friday, 26 November, 2004 at 02:46 hrsthat's cool! thanks for sharing. i should try the italian version.
by the way, i'm a fan of Ray Carver's work. I studied his short stories for A Level Lit. and I'm planning to teach three of his stories to my writing class next year!
His wife, Tess Gallagher, is a poet, and I used one of her lines for the heading of my course description: "I just realize that we start out in these very awkward ways, and we do look a little stupid as we draft, and that?s all right . . . You have to be willing to go into the chaos and bring back the beauties."
Posted by: monoceros on Friday, 26 November, 2004 at 04:33 hrsoh wow... i wish i could join your class! i always do. did you read "Errand"? i was trying to grasp the meaning of the cork... i love how Ray plays with time and voices... and yes, his wife Tess encapsulated the process of writing so well in that quote.
i can't wait to get back to singapore now... i've the book "what we talk about when we talk about love" on my shelf... i just want to pick it up and read it now... alas i am some 10 000 miles away!
we'll have to chat about Carver!! :C)
hope the translation into Italian makes sense! have fun!
Posted by: hrm on Friday, 26 November, 2004 at 11:14 hrsIt's even more fun to translate back and forth... here's a little tour de force through Europe: It starts in London and takes the train to Paris. Isn't it amazing that there is a tunnel under the channel? Anyway, from Paris the journey goes on to Berlin. In Berlin a flight is taken back to London. You can do this trip in one day! Hey, how about travelling to Babel instead?
C'est bien plus d'amusement ? traduire dans les deux sens... voici une petite excursion de force par l'Europe: Il commence ? Londres et prend le train ? Paris. N'est-il pas ?tonnant qu'il y ait un tunnel sous le canal? Quoi qu'il en soit, de Paris le voyage continue ? Berlin. ? Berlin un vol est pris de nouveau ? Londres. Vous pouvez faire ce voyage en un jour! H?, que diriez-vous de du d?placement ? Babel ? la place?
Es ist sehr mehr Vergn?gen, in die zwei Sinne... einen kleinen Kraftausflug durch Europa hier zu ?bersetzen: Er beginnt in London und nimmt den Zug in Paris. Ist es nicht erstaunlich, da? es einen Tunnel unter dem Kanal gibt? Wie dem auch sei von Paris dauert die Reise in Berlin an. In Berlin ein Flug wird erneut in London genommen. Sie k?nnen diese Reise in einen Tag machen! H?, was von Reise an Babel an der Stelle sagen w?rden?
It is very more pleasures to translate into the two senses... a small force trip here by Europe: It begins in London and takes the course in Paris. Is it not amazing that there is a tunnel under the channel? As the journey in Berlin also is from Paris persists. In Berlin a flight is taken again in London. They can make this journey into one day! H?, which would say of journey at Babel in the place?
Isn't it amazing that it got one whole sentence right? Until Google gets better I can recommend to everyone: H?, which would say of more practice skill of language in the place?
hahahha!
Posted by: hrm on Friday, 26 November, 2004 at 18:03 hrs*Note: in case you were thinking of leaving a comment and the option isn't here anymore... it is because the comment section of each entry is closed after sometime to prevent malicious comments... if you are looking for the actual entry, type in the keyword(s) in the little box on the main page http://overacuppa.com where it says "fossicking pebbles & seashells" and press *search*... thank you for popping by and happy browsing!