“Translate this paragraph into another language, then back into English, and post it to this thread. Since language structures can be very different, this should quickly become incomprehensible. Also, idiomatic expressions are very different from one language to another, so this will show that the proof is in the pudding, in regards to that issue.”
I started out by translating it into French, then back into English. It seems that Google Translate has gotten very good-- it seems to have actually improved upon my English:
“Translate this paragraph to another language, then back to English, and post it on this thread. As the linguistic structures can be very different, this should quickly become incomprehensible. Also, idioms are very different from language to language, so this will show that the proof is in the pudding, as far as this issue is concerned.”
I put it into Chinese on Google Translate. It’s surprisingly good.
“Translate this paragraph into another language, then translate it back to English, and post it on this topic. Since the language structure can be very different, it should quickly become difficult to understand. Moreover, the expression of idioms varies from one language to The other language is also very different, so this will show that the proof of the problem is in the pudding.”
Hebrew:
Translate this paragraph into another language, then back to English and upload it to this thread. Because language structures can be very different, this should quickly become incomprehensible. Also, idiomatic expressions are very different from language to language, so it will show that the proof is in the pudding, in relation to that issue.
Slovak:
Translate this paragraph into another language, then back into English and publish it in this thread. Because language structures can be very different, this should be quickly incomprehensible. Idioms also vary greatly between languages, so this shows that the evidence for this issue is in the pudding.
I’m sure the Slovak is worse, because it is not a very common language, and Google translate in crowd-sourced. The more input from a wide variety of people correcting usage, the better the translations will be. I’m going to look for an even less common language, and see what happens.
Yup. Here’s Welsh:
Translate this paragraph into another language, then back to English, and post it to this thread. Since language structures can be very different, this should quickly become unintelligible. Also, idiomatic expressions differ greatly from one language to another, so this will show that the test is in the dessert, for that matter
“Translate this sentence into another language, then go back to English, and submit it to this language. Since the language structure can be very different, this should become misunderstood. Also, idiomatic speech is very different from one language to another, so this would indicate that the evidence is in the pudding, about that issue. "
Hmmm…it seems Google Translate has become effective enough to make this exercise not as amusing as I expected. Also, this being thread games, I was kinda intending for this to be a translation of a translation of a translation, and so on… But rereading my original text I don’t think I made that clear. It is interesting to see how different languages interpret the baseline English, though.
Now, if you guys HAVE been doing English → Chinese → English → Hebrew → English → Slovak → English → Welsh → English → Hmong → English and it’s still that close, well…mind blown
To Swahili and back:
“Translate this verse into another language, then return to English, and paste it into this thread. Since language structures can be very different, this should quickly become incomprehensible. Also, the wording of the words is very different from one language to another, so this will indicate that the proof is in the pudding, in relation to the subject.”
Portuguese:
“Translate this paragraph into another language, then back to English, and post it in this topic. As the structures of language can be very different, this must quickly become incomprehensible. In addition, the idioms are very different from one language to another, so this will show that the proof is in the pudding, as far as this issue is concerned.”
I’m not convinced that the idomatic part is as perfect as it seems here.
“the proof is in the pudding” became “a prova está no pudim”, a literal translation.
The expression is not used in Portuguese, but since the words were translated correctly, it made it back into English unharmed.
It reminds me of seeing safety warnings on plastic bags saying not to leave the bag in a “caneta de brincar” which was head scratcher until I realized that they had translated “play pen” into “ink pen that is used for play”
Mine was a translation from your original paragraph TO Hmong, and then back to English. It wasn’t the old childhood game of “Operator” where I wanted to see if/how much the error compounded across multiple translations through multiple languages.
“Translate this verse into another language, then into English, and put it on this page. Because of the wide variety of language structures it is impossible to understand them immediately. Also, idiomatic words are very different from one language to another, so this would show that there is proof in the pudding, about that problem. "
To Klingon and back, via Google Translate:
"“Perhaps the Earth begins to block your head. Without seven wife, his wife died without a spirit of his wife. A buffalo dog is not in business, but the business cannot be exceeding.”
Looks like the Universal Translator needs fresh batteries.
Google Translate’s algorithm fools you sometimes, but when you look behind the curtain you will find it does not truly attempt to understand language. E.g. a simple round trip via Latin results in
"This article, translated into another language, as well as to Latin, and after this there is a thread. For by your words, the works themselves, and this is a mature incomprehensible. Also usage has expressed very different from one language into another, and this shows that what for him, to which the outcome. "
“Please translate this paragraph into another language, then translate it back into English and post it on this thread. The language structure can be very different, so this quickly becomes incomprehensible. Also, since the idioms are very different from language to language, I will show that the evidence is in the pudding as far as this matters.”
English>Korean>English using Bing Translate
“I translate this paragraph into another language, then translate it back to English, and then post it in this thread. Since the language structure can be very different, this should not be understood quickly. Idioms are also very different from language to language, so as far as this issue is said, we’re going to show that the evidence is in the pudding.”"
Wasn’t one of the early Youtube videos based on taking a scene from Shakespear and translating it using Babelfish through a series of languages sequentially finally translating it back into English and then actors performed the scene with that resulting translation?
اس پیراگراف کو دوسری زبان میں ترجمہ کریں ، پھر انگریزی میں ، اور اس تھریڈ پر پوسٹ کریں۔ چونکہ زبان کے ڈھانچے بہت مختلف ہوسکتے ہیں ، لہذا یہ جلد سمجھ سے باہر ہوجانا چاہئے۔ نیز ، محاوراتی اظہار ایک زبان سے دوسری زبان میں بہت مختلف ہیں ، لہذا اس سے یہ ظاہر ہوگا کہ اس مسئلے کے سلسلے میں ، ثبوت کھیر میں ہے۔
And back again:
Translate this paragraph into another language, then into English, and post to this thread. Because the structure of language can be very different, it should quickly become incomprehensible. Also, idiomatic expressions are very different from one language to another, so this will show that the evidence for this problem is in good hands.
Mighty_Mouse’s Urdu translation appears to be the only example where the translator seems to have attempted to translate the idiomatic expression “proof is in the pudding” idiomatically rather than with the literal words. Or maybe it’s just an inaccurate translation because Urdu might not have a word for “pudding”.
As minor7flat5 points out, a true attempt at translating an idiomatic expression would not be likely to retranslate to English perfectly. Reminds me of an interview I listened to by the person who translated dubbing for the movie “Good Will Hunting” into some other language, I think French. For the scene where Will says to his romantic rival “Do you like apples? Well, I got her phone number. How ya like them apples?” He had a very difficult time coming up with a similar idiomatic expressions in the language he was translating to, and had to settle for something not quite right.
I think the words for “pudding” and “safe” are spelled the same in Urdu. Like lead (metal) and lead (guide) in English. When going from English to Urdu it translated pudding to kheer (milk pudding) and then when translating back it interpreted the same letters as khair (care) = good hands. So it is a very bad translation indeed.
Your translation is very accurate. The only issue I have is with the use of “Kheer/کھیر“ for “pudding”. It’s a sort of a rice pudding. No word for pudding. And yes there is no equivalent expression I can think of.
In Urdu, since it’s been used alongside English in the subcontinent the convention is to write out an English word phonetically in the Urdu script, when no easy translation exists. An instance is in your translates “thread” as تھریڈ۔. Which is “thread” written out phonetically in Urdu script.
I would if given the paragraph to translate, not use کھیر, for pudding but write it out پودنگ.
I didn’t do any of that translation. It was Google Translate back and forth.
My Urdu is full of English “loan words”, more or less by necessity. But having watched a lot more news clips from Pakistan in the last few years, dropping English words into your Urdu seems a lot more common than I remember from the 70s and 80s. But in those days there was only PTV and Radio Pakistan so everything was very pukka. English was English, Urdu was Urdu, Sindhi was Sindhi.
I didn’t bother with all the changes back to English, and skipped Klingon because I couldn’t find it on Google Translate.
“Translate this paragraph into another language, then back into English, and post it to this thread. Since language structures can be very different, this should quickly become incomprehensible. Also, idiomatic expressions are very different from one language to another, so this will show that the proof is in the pudding, in regards to that issue.”
English > French > Chinese > Hebrew > Slovak > Welsh > Hmong > Swahili > Portuguese > Hawaiian > Korean > Urdu > English
"Now other languages have been translated into conversation. That can be very different. The other is a lot of fun and I still don’t have a sore throat. "
