FUN WITH GOOGLE TRANSLATE: THE MUSIC REVIEW RE-TRANSLATED!

Saturday, December 01, 2012

It is shamefully true that we Americans are well-known throughout the world for our general lack of fluency in languages other than English (and our English skills are pretty dubious, too, but that's another subject). Considering that we are hampered so in communicating, how wonderful it is that we have access to the interhaps, where we can find many free language translation sites. Just cut n' paste the text you need to understand or translate to another, and BINGO, it is done! You never need to make another call to your cranky Aunt Elbar from Yugovania to tell you how to say, "No, I cannot accept your thoughtful gift of a goat and one hundred pounds of manure, but thank you," to your Cousin Rehep.

Yet, the online language translation services are imperfect, and it may be the most prudent idea not to rely upon them for any translation that has any important use. Let us then perform a skill test on Google Translate, with a few sentences from an album review I did earlier in the year, "Track-By-Track: 'Everybody's Got It Easy But Me' by the Intelligence (2012)." I will show you a sentence composed in the English language that I use in composing all my thoughts, translate it into another language, and then take that and translate it back into English. I cannot WAIT!

"It's a great listen all the way through, catchy as hell, with a delicious undercurrent throughout of early-'60s California surf sweetness."

 Google Translate Spanish: "Es un gran escuchar todo el camino a través de, pegadizo como el infierno, con un trasfondo en todo delicioso principios de los años 60 la dulzura de surf California."

 GT Spanish-to-English: "It's a great listen all the way through, catchy as hell, with a background in all delicious early '60s California surf sweetness."

 Hmm. Not bad! Shall we try more?

 Arabic: "انها رائعة الاستماع على طول الطريق من خلال، جذاب كما الجحيم، بنكهة لذيذة في جميع أنحاء المبكر '60s حلاوة تصفح كاليفورنيا. "

 Arabic-to-English: "It's great to hear all the way through, catchy as hell, delicious flavor throughout the early '60s sweetness browse California."

 Slightly more strange, but still generally intact. More?

 Russian: "Это большой слушать весь путь до конца, броские, как ад, с вкусной подводное течение ранних 60-х сладости серфинга Калифорнии".

 Russian-to-English: "This is a great listen all the way through, catchy as hell, with a delicious undercurrent of early '60s California surf sweets."

 I'm impressed that "catchy as hell" is working each time. I wonder what a "surf sweet" might be.

 Chinese: “這是一個偉大的聽，一路過關斬將，琅琅上口的地獄，品嚐美味的暗流在整個60年代早期的加州衝浪甜頭。”

 Chinese-To- English: "This is a great listen all the way through, catchy Hell taste delicious undercurrent throughout the early 1960s California surf sweetness."

 I spoke too soon! 

 Haitian Creole: "Li se yon gwo koute tout wout la nan, Hatian kòm lanfè, ak yon kouran enferyè bon gou nan tout nan bonè-'60s dous navige California."

 Haitian Creole-to-English: "It is a great listen all the way through, alluring as hell, and a delicious undercurrent in all the early-'60s California surf sweet."

 Ooh...alluring.

 Hindi: "यह एक के माध्यम से महान सभी तरह सुनो, नरक के रूप में आकर्षक, जल्दी '60 के दशक कैलिफोर्निया सर्फ मिठास भर एक स्वादिष्ट अदेखा के साथ है."

 Hindi-to-English: "This is a great all the way through, listen charming as hell, a delicious undercurrent throughout the early '60s California surf with sweetness."

 I'm cocking my head a little.

 Czech: "Je to skvělá poslouchat celou cestu, chytlavý jako peklo, s lahodnou podtext celé z počátku 60. let, surfovat po Kalifornii sladkosti."

 Czech-to-English: "It's a great listen all the way, catchy as hell, with a delicious subtext throughout the early '60s, after California surf sweets."

 Sort of more intellectual, and food-oriented.

 And finally, I had a feeling this would be the best one, and I was correct.

 Japanese: "これは初期の60年代カリフォルニアサーフ甘さの全体おいしい底流と、地獄のようにキャッチーを介してすべての道を聞くのは素晴らしいことだ。"。

 Japanese-To-English: "This is delicious and the whole undercurrent of sweetness early '60s California surf, listening all the way through the catchy as hell would be great."