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Google translates German “halb zwei” to French “deux heures et demie”: 1h off

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Re: Google translates German “halb zwei” to French “deux heures et demie”: 1h off

#21
post #14
post #9

To help my fellow English-speakers: "halb zwei" ("half two") is the German idiom for "halfway [between one and] two o'clock" "deux heures et demie" ("two hours and one half") is a much better cognate for the English "half past two o'clock" We're all used to off-by-one and fencepost errors. To be honest, this is probably a less interesting one of Google translate's mistranslations. But it's one that's very mechanical…

To make things even more confusing, “half two” means 2:30 in the UK and Ireland.

[deleted]

Re: Google translates German “halb zwei” to French “deux heures et demie”: 1h off

#25
post #14
post #9

To help my fellow English-speakers: "halb zwei" ("half two") is the German idiom for "halfway [between one and] two o'clock" "deux heures et demie" ("two hours and one half") is a much better cognate for the English "half past two o'clock" We're all used to off-by-one and fencepost errors. To be honest, this is probably a less interesting one of Google translate's mistranslations. But it's one that's very mechanical…

To make things even more confusing, “half two” means 2:30 in the UK and Ireland.

Unlike the German and French versions, that doesn't make any sense at all.

Re: Google translates German “halb zwei” to French “deux heures et demie”: 1h off

#26
i hate this kind of time communicating

in austria there is

"viertel zwei" - quarter two

which in one part of austria (vienna) means 1:15pm (or 1:15am), in the other half (90% of austria) it is understood as 1:45pm (or 1:45am), sometimes as 2:15pm (or 2:15am) - but never as 1:15pm/am

"viertel [vor/nach] zwei" - quarter [to/after] two. the [] are optional.

Re: Google translates German “halb zwei” to French “deux heures et demie”: 1h off

#28
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To make things even more confusing, “half two” means 2:30 in the UK and Ireland.

Unlike the German and French versions, that doesn't make any sense at all.

It does. It's a contraction of "half-past two".

Re: Google translates German “halb zwei” to French “deux heures et demie”: 1h off

#29
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To make things even more confusing, “half two” means 2:30 in the UK and Ireland.

Unlike the German and French versions, that doesn't make any sense at all.

It's a shortening of "half past two". Or half the hour past two of the clock.

Re: Google translates German “halb zwei” to French “deux heures et demie”: 1h off

#30
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To make things even more confusing, “half two” means 2:30 in the UK and Ireland.

Unlike the German and French versions, that doesn't make any sense at all.

It's a colloquial contraction of "half past 2". To me, the German makes no sense - half of 2 is 1.

Agreed though that the French is the most easily understood internationally.

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