Something lost in the translation?
Something lost in the translation?
(OP)
As Dave says, be gentle because as, for many, english is not a first language.
The advent of the computer has meant that there are a number of online translators available.
It is rumoured that some of them are not all that could be desired.
I haven't tried this but i am told there is some fun to be had with them by translating from one language to another and then back again. The result is then offered for others to guess the original phrase. For example, the re-translated phrase "water-sheep" appranetly started life as "hydraulic ram".
Does anyone have any other examples?
The advent of the computer has meant that there are a number of online translators available.
It is rumoured that some of them are not all that could be desired.
I haven't tried this but i am told there is some fun to be had with them by translating from one language to another and then back again. The result is then offered for others to guess the original phrase. For example, the re-translated phrase "water-sheep" appranetly started life as "hydraulic ram".
Does anyone have any other examples?





RE: Something lost in the translation?
Induction stroke: cause of apoplexy ?
Stud bolt: a dashing breeder horse ?
RE: Something lost in the translation?
TTFN
RE: Something lost in the translation?
Good Luck
johnwm
RE: Something lost in the translation?
TTFN
RE: Something lost in the translation?
RE: Something lost in the translation?
The use in America in Britain
in-depth study study in depth
riders passengers
toward towards
hikes walks or increases
dumb speechless
program (noun) programme
perception belief, view
run for office stand...
attorneys lawyers
physicians doctors
neighbourhood district
constituency supporters
rhetoric speeches or grandiloquence
lay off make redundant
additionally and
transportation transport
corporation company
figure out work out
meet with people meet people
outside of America outside America
cut back cut
found on Harley St. found in Harley St.
rest on weekends rest at weekends
regular ordinary, normal
expect anticipate
cricket is a sport ...is a game
the last issue the previous issue
last month past month
lifestyle way of life
A rain-check doesn't imply checking on the shower activity. Alibi is the fact of being elsewhere, not a false explanation. Alternative is one of two, not one of three, four or more. Examples abound.
RE: Something lost in the translation?
The US Army was aware enough of this "two nations divided by a common language" problem to prepare a booklet for the troops posted to Britain during the second world war. If i can find my fathers i will look up a few terms in it: "Muffler" for example is in England the term for an item of clothing to keep warm. On a car it is called an exhaust pipe.
Windshield = windscreen.
Fender = bumper.
Fawcett = tap.
Pavement = sidewalk.
My most perplexing moment was the problem realising that trouser (pants) "turnups" (UK) are "cuffs" (USA, at least, in Georgia they are).
Don't lets forget that even between the outside world and any industry there are terms of confusion and bafflement. When a pharmaceutical engineer talks about "brine" he today means ethylene glycol solution.
RE: Something lost in the translation?
I think you mean the following :
fender (US) = wing (UK)
bumper (US) = bumper (UK)
I have noticed that boot(UK) (=trunk US) may be creeping into US use for sports car trunks. Not sure why.
RE: Something lost in the translation?
Mini Cooper?
RE: Something lost in the translation?
Trashcan=dustbin
Asphalt=bitumen (In the UK asphalt tends to mean bitumen with stones added)
Resume(res you may)=CV
Aluminum=Aluminium
Color=Colour (That US spell checker is a pain)
Politician=crook (in any language)
RE: Something lost in the translation?
Collision is the best term for two automobiles (or pedestrians, etc.) contacting each other.
The element with symbol Al has a colorful naming history, including Alumium. Aluminium is the correct name, even recognized by the American Chemical Society recently. Good luck getting Americans to change - we won't use the SI, why would we use one of those "furren" words.
Regards,
Cory
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Something lost in the translation?
from http://paul.merton.ox.ac.uk/language/southernspeak.html
RE: Something lost in the translation?
Anyway, this question of translators led me to discover this site which makes my original post a bit redundant now:
http://www.tashian.com/multibabel/
JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
eng-tips, Pro bono publico
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"Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses"
"If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher"
RE: Something lost in the translation?
http://www.ffgb.presscentre.co.uk/corp/Releases/release.asp?ct=5&ReleaseID=9376&NID=Press%20Releases
JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
eng-tips, Pro bono publico
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
"Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses"
"If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher"
RE: Something lost in the translation?
TTFN
RE: Something lost in the translation?
RE: Something lost in the translation?
JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
eng-tips, Pro bono publico
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
"Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses"
"If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher"
RE: Something lost in the translation?
Has anyone here fed a phrase into a real translator program and then fed the result into the reverse translator? That looks like an interesting exercise, wish I had need of such a program so I could try it.
David
RE: Something lost in the translation?
courtesy of http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr
TTFN
RE: Something lost in the translation?
TTFN
RE: Something lost in the translation?
That's what jmw posted:
http://www.tashian.com/multibabel/
Example:
English: "Eng-tips rules"
To German and back again is "English slope it guidelines"
=====================================
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RE: Something lost in the translation?
to our silicon helpers. Some sentences are -- in E. --
extra difficult e.g. :
"Time flies like an arrow and fruit flies like a banana"
But ambiguity is not the privilege of E -- see the Latin:
"Quid facies facies si Veneris veneris ante?
Non sedeas sed eas, non peres per eas !"
<nbucska@pcperipherals.com>
RE: Something lost in the translation?
"Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio."
Using Babelfish, to German and back, I ended up with:
"Unfortunately, bad Yorick. I could do it, Horatio."
RE: Something lost in the translation?
I suspect this muli-babel translator is going to provide just as long a wait for a really good side-splitting multiple translation.
I found another translator which translates into red-neck, cockney, jive and something else (that cartoon with the wabbit). I am not going to post that link because again, though it sounds like a good idea, the output is less than impressive.
JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
eng-tips, Pro bono publico
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
"Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses"
"If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher"
RE: Something lost in the translation?
--ducking and running
/jlg
RE: Something lost in the translation?
Wherever did you get 'FAWCETT' from? Over the other side it's FAUCET.
You don't live in Portsmouth (Hampshire), by any chance? There's a street there called Fawcett Road. In the road there's a pub. It's called the Fawcett Inn .......
John
RE: Something lost in the translation?
JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.
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RE: Something lost in the translation?
Having worked quite a bit in Wyoming, the "relation sheep" just struck me as probably coming from a translator program, wish I knew what the input was.
David
RE: Something lost in the translation?
http://www.kli.org/
Live long and prosper, 'NGL
RE: Something lost in the translation?
JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Something lost in the translation?
I am one of those with - perhaps not minimal, but reduced - English skills. So I think that I can understand your "relation sheep" when I see it from some linguistic distance. What I see is not a furry wool-producing animal but the word "relationship". It makes sense to me. What do you think?
RE: Something lost in the translation?
I am going to open up a thread in the RT soon related to this subject. (language, not sheep)
rmw
RE: Something lost in the translation?
Harrisj,maybe this just indicates where JMW's mind is.
I certainly don't mind the reminder.
rmw
RE: Something lost in the translation?
I'm pretty sure you're right, it was meant to be "relationship". What I was curious about is what group of words in (presumably?) Spanish would mean "relationship" in the original, but the dumb computer would turn it into "relation sheep".
I have the language skills of a stone, and I'm in awe of anyone who is able to successfully communicate a technical question or answer in a language that they're not native to. Your English may seem "reduced" to you, but I sure would have guessed that you learned it as a young child and must say you communicate very well in the language I grew up with.
David
RE: Something lost in the translation?
Besides, what's not to like? Jacklyn Smith and Kate Jackson plus Farrah, making three beautiful women who could kick your butt without breaking a nail? That's what adolescent wet dreams are made of.
TTFN
RE: Something lost in the translation?
Interesting that you think that I learned English as a very young child. The truth is that I started learning English at the age of fourteen. Our schools were like that back in the fifties. German and French came many years later, mostly because my job situation forced me to use those languages. I think that it is possible to learn new languages fairly well even when you have reached a mature - even overripe - age
RE: Something lost in the translation?
The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy" spawned Earths own version (Adams was one of the creators) which can be found at www.h2g2.com where it is hosted by the BBC.
An interesting and fun site.
JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Something lost in the translation?
I have read all three versions in order, and the third version has again become hysterically funny because it makes so little sense.
RE: Something lost in the translation?