| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Off topic: Witty response for client who ran your translation through Google Translate Thread poster: Mirja Maletzki
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I have an App-developer who ran my translation through Google Translate and is now asking me to comment on stuff like this.
The translation is Korean-German.
I wrote: Einstellung - Datum
Google Translate: Hire date
Client: Wouldn't "set time display" sound better than "hire"? Please check and comment.
I wrote: Moechten Sie xxx Pro kaufen?
Google Translate: If you buy xxx Pro?
C... See more I have an App-developer who ran my translation through Google Translate and is now asking me to comment on stuff like this.
The translation is Korean-German.
I wrote: Einstellung - Datum
Google Translate: Hire date
Client: Wouldn't "set time display" sound better than "hire"? Please check and comment.
I wrote: Moechten Sie xxx Pro kaufen?
Google Translate: If you buy xxx Pro?
Client: "If" sounds wrong to me. I would suggest: "Would you like to buy..."
I wrote: Achtung!
Google Translate: Oops!
Client: I think oops is not right. Please find a different translation which emphasizes "caution" more.
Now I am looking for a witty response for this client. I thought about starting off by comparing Google Translate to one of those App-making softwares, saying: Well, how would you feel as a professional App-developer if someone ordered an App from you and after you're done, the client runs his original idea through an App-making software to then come back to you and ask you why this or that looks different than with the software.
I remember reading lots of witty stuff to educate clients on ProZ but just when I need it I can't find the threads anymore.
Does anyone have something that might help me? ▲ Collapse
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I liked the 'Oops' part. Very colloquial, and maybe Google Translate has more wits than human translations.
| | | | OlivierParrot 
France
Local time: 18:44
Member (2012)
Japanese to French
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This is so crazy I'm totally speechless.
As we say in French : les bras m'en tombent.
Google translate : arms me fall !
| | | | Emma Goldsmith
Spain
Local time: 18:44
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
| Careful with witty responses | May 21, 2011 |
I know you've posted this off-topic, but I would respond to your client with a serious, concise note, not a witty one.
If you give a witty response, he might well get the wrong end of the stick (and he seems to be expert at this).
Thanks for posting, it's really very funny.
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| Simple instead of witty | May 21, 2011 |
I would keep it simple. It is clear that this customer is not familiar with translation or even languages, I don't think he would grasp any subtleties.
If you just want to make a quality check, the review of say 100 words would cost you around 10€. He could also request a back-translation that wouldn't be very expensive.
| | | | Krzysztof Kajetanowicz (X)
Poland
Local time: 18:44
English to Polish
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| along the lines of | May 21, 2011 |
"Google Translate is the going joke in the translation world. It just doesn't do the job. It's like having a German play cricket."
Or something like this. A poke at your own nationality is safe, I think. Whatever works.
| | | | Mirja Maletzki
Germany
Local time: 01:44
Korean to German
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TOPIC STARTER
While I'm not sure if the client in question gets the cricket part, I just remembered that about a year ago Google Translate used to translate the country name "Korea" into "Japan" (translation from Korean into Japanese). With the Korean/Japanese historical background, that was really a major issue. Maybe the client gets that one...
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Mirja Maletzki wrote:
While I'm not sure if the client in question gets the cricket part, I just remembered that about a year ago Google Translate used to translate the country name "Korea" into "Japan" (translation from Korean into Japanese). With the Korean/Japanese historical background, that was really a major issue. Maybe the client gets that one...
That's the most amazing translation story I've ever heard of. I could understand if Korea and China got mixed up in Google translate since they end in the same characters written in kanji, but I wonder how come Japan (historical background aside) would be mixed up with Korea.
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Jan Willem van Dormolen (X)
Netherlands
Local time: 18:44
English to Dutch
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| Statistical translation | May 21, 2011 |
Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote: Mirja Maletzki wrote:
While I'm not sure if the client in question gets the cricket part, I just remembered that about a year ago Google Translate used to translate the country name "Korea" into "Japan" (translation from Korean into Japanese). With the Korean/Japanese historical background, that was really a major issue. Maybe the client gets that one... That's the most amazing translation story I've ever heard of. I could understand if Korea and China got mixed up in Google translate since they end in the same characters written in kanji, but I wonder how come Japan (historical background aside) would be mixed up with Korea.
That might have happened because Google Translate works with statistics in stead of dictionaries (as most other automatic translators do).
Basically it works like this:
Suppose you want to translate the term XXX from language A into language B.
Google then looks at which words usually surround XXX in A. Let's suppose that the most common context is: "Pppp qqqqqq XXX rr ssss". Google will then search a corpus of texts in B for the words pppp, qqqqqq, rr and ssss. Once it has found a few occurrences of those, it assumes that the word YYY which appears with those words the most often, is probably the translation of XXX into B.
This will often be the case, but not always.
Another famous GT blooper was the translation of the Italian sentence "Berlusconi looses" into English as "Berlusconi wins" (but any other name would give the right translation!). Apparently, there weren't enough sentences in the Italian corpus where the words "Berlusconi" and "looses" were near enough to each other.
Of course, the GT system is more sophisticated than that, but this is basically the gist of it.
| | | | | Friday (a la Defoe) | May 21, 2011 |
You may reflect on the proper wording of the language used Friday to communicate with Robinson:
"Me Friday. Me hungry. Me go eat"
Further, you may use ideograms or pictograms to depict the way Friday was pounding his belly when saying "Me hungry". The hungrier he was, the more vigorously he was pounding his belly.
Good luck, and welcome in the world of cyber-idiocy. I must say thanks to the Almightly, I'll be 62 this November, and I'll be getting out of business. Will be... See more You may reflect on the proper wording of the language used Friday to communicate with Robinson:
"Me Friday. Me hungry. Me go eat"
Further, you may use ideograms or pictograms to depict the way Friday was pounding his belly when saying "Me hungry". The hungrier he was, the more vigorously he was pounding his belly.
Good luck, and welcome in the world of cyber-idiocy. I must say thanks to the Almightly, I'll be 62 this November, and I'll be getting out of business. Will be enjoyable to watch you guys and gals from the sideline:)))
[Edited at 2011-05-21 09:12 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-05-21 09:13 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | nordiste
France
Local time: 18:44
English to French
+ ...
| to laugh or to cry?! | May 21, 2011 |
Mirja Maletzki wrote:
I have an App-developer who ran my translation through Google Translate and is now asking me to comment on stuff like this.
The translation is Korean-German.
I wrote: Einstellung - Datum
Google Translate: Hire date
Client: Wouldn't "set time display" sound better than "hire"? Please check and comment.
I wrote: Achtung!
Google Translate: Oops!
Client: I think oops is not right. Please find a different translation which emphasizes "caution" more.
I am not sure I understand.
You translated into German, and now the client is running your German text through GT to get it into English and he comments the English results? ??
I am afraid there is not much you can do ;-(
Why did he not use GT on the 1st place to translate Korean to English ? But maybe he will be happy with the translation he gets then ...
| | | | QUOI
Chinese to English
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| Let GT explain to your client... | May 21, 2011 |
Run your translation through GT again and results may be different, sometimes unexplainable.
For example, when I put "Einstellung - Datum" through GT, it gives:
If you put "Achtung" (without !), GT gives:
 ... See more
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Natalia Elo
Germany
Local time: 18:44
English to Russian
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| UNBELIEVABLE | May 21, 2011 |
Dear Mirja,
This is the most crazy story I have ever heard about how ignorant in terms of translation the clients can be.
I suggest writing a text in German with all words having double meaning in German (like Rammstein songs or so) and ask the client to run it though the GT.
Wishing you lots of patience, I'd be really mad and you are so kind that you are still thinking about witty reply.
Best,
Natalia
| | | | Germaine
Canada
Local time: 12:44
English to French
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nordiste wrote:
You translated into German, and now the client is running your German text through GT to get it into English and he comments the English results? ??
Or is he asking you to proofing for free a GT into English? If this is the case, the only answer I can see is an offer of services...
| | | | | Surrealistic | May 21, 2011 |
Hi!
In case he's trying to assess your translation through GT, supreme idea for QA (the most reliable possibility, isn't it?).
Instead of witty I agree with Emma and Luis that you should focus on a simple and professional response.
If this persons needs to assess your translation, why not hiring a competent proofreader or ask for a back-translation?
Good luck!
ML
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