Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

English as She Is Spoke

en.wikipedia.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 137 posts

Re: English as She Is Spoke

#71

Post by m463 »

hooande wrote: post #53
madrox wrote: post #24

A similarly unintentional comedy in translation was a book I found several years ago that I believe was an autotranslation: "How to Good-bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?". The amazon reviews are similarly hilarious. https://www.amazon.com/How-Good-bye-Depression-Constrict-Eve...

well? ...did the anus constricting work??

Well, I tried it and now my hovercraft is full of eels.

Re: English as She Is Spoke

#72

Post by adrian_b »

meristem wrote: post #60

I highly recommend the book “The cow went to the swamp”. It is illustrations of Portuguese sayings paired with literal English translations. If you speak Portuguese, it is precious. If you don’t, it is so bizarre you cannot help but laugh.

Thanks for the recommendation. I have found it and it is indeed hilarious.

Re: English as She Is Spoke

#73

Post by AussieWog93 »

joshspankit wrote: post #32
russellbeattie wrote: post #21

An interesting cultural phenomenon is taking place because of automated translation services like Google Translate. I learned of it in another thread on HN a few months ago. People are realizing that what they write will be translated by machine and are adjusting their written language accordingly. This is one of those interesting side effects of tech on culture that is not immediately obvious, I think. It's basicall…

This seems like a dangerous short-term tactic. What happens when the translation software gets better or just changes? Suddenly your text comes out wrong again.

You've misunderstood the parent. He's not suggesting that you speak in order to attain some predicted Google Translate output, but instead it's helpful to use precise language that doesn't rely on a shared contextual understanding.

For example, you'd use the phrase "upload it to the server" rather than "put it on the server" - the verb "upload" is unambiguous and lets both the recipient and the translation software know that "server" is referring to a computer system.

Re: English as She Is Spoke

#74

Post by superdisk »

joshspankit wrote: post #27

I hope this is not too off-topic, but I really wish there were more (excellent) “literal translations”. Yes: it would be tricky and unpalatable for much of the audience, but I personally find it fascinating to get in to the “mind” of a language and would like the opportunity without having to memorize (something I find particularly challenging) the “words” of a language. Movie and TV subtitles especially.

An interesting case of this is the localization of the original Pokémon games. Before they were released officially in North America by Nintendo, a group of Chinese software pirates "translated" them into English first and sold them. The official translation came out later. Needless to say the unofficial translation is totally screwy in a hilarious way. What's even more interesting though is that it's a hyper-literal translation, so things that were localized out in Nintendo's translation (alcohol, death, gambling) are presented in full glory. Team Rocket is known as "The Regiment of the Guided Missile" and the Pokédex is known as "the illustrated handbook of PET," spelled out fully every time. Pokémon are referred to as PETs in general. There's an item called sulfuric acid.

I had a great time playing it and noting the differences/absurd translations with my friends.

Re: English as She Is Spoke

#75

Post by hermitcrab »

I have never understood why Chinese companies often have such hilariously bad English translations of their product instructions. Often the product quality is pretty good and the illustrations in the instructions are fine. But the English translation is terrible. There must be millions of Chinese people that speak decent English (in Hong Kong alone).

Re: English as She Is Spoke

#77

Post by tim333 »

hermitcrab wrote: post #75

I have never understood why Chinese companies often have such hilariously bad English translations of their product instructions. Often the product quality is pretty good and the illustrations in the instructions are fine. But the English translation is terrible. There must be millions of Chinese people that speak decent English (in Hong Kong alone).

I think they tend to be more expensive and thin in the ground in mainland China - Hong Kongers or native English speakers. That said Google translate does quite a decent job.

Re: English as She Is Spoke

#78

Post by Al-Khwarizmi »

hermitcrab wrote: post #75

I have never understood why Chinese companies often have such hilariously bad English translations of their product instructions. Often the product quality is pretty good and the illustrations in the instructions are fine. But the English translation is terrible. There must be millions of Chinese people that speak decent English (in Hong Kong alone).

This is just something that I read somewhere so don't take it at face value, maybe someone who knows the issue better can confirm or deny it. But I remember reading that in Asian countries like China and Japan, they tend to base the selection of translators on knowledge of the source language, not the target. That is, they get the translator with the best knowledge of Chinese even if their English is broken.

Re: English as She Is Spoke

#80

Post by wruza »

hooande wrote: post #53
madrox wrote: post #24

A similarly unintentional comedy in translation was a book I found several years ago that I believe was an autotranslation: "How to Good-bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?". The amazon reviews are similarly hilarious. https://www.amazon.com/How-Good-bye-Depression-Constrict-Eve...

well? ...did the anus constricting work??

I tried doing that ten times in a succession and it’s hard. Can someone please explain shortly the essence of this method? Or what’s the joke is, at least.
Post reply on HN