Translation as negotiation
In Umberto Eco's book about translation, "Mouse or Rat?", the professor goes onto Babelfish, the online translation system by AltaVista, and plays around.
"I gave it a series of English expressions and asked it to translate them into Italian. Then I asked it to translate them back into English.
Only in the last case did I follow a more complicated path, that is: English - Italian - German - English.
"I gave it a series of English expressions and asked it to translate them into Italian. Then I asked it to translate them back into English.
Only in the last case did I follow a more complicated path, that is: English - Italian - German - English.
Here are the results: -
1. The works of Shakespeare -> Gli impianti di Shakespeare -> The plants of Shakespeare.
2. Speaker of the chamber of deputies -> Altoparlante dell'alloggiamento dei delegati -> Loudspeaker of the lodging of the delegates
3. Studies in the logic of Charles Sanders Peirce -> Studi nella logica delle sabbiatrici Peirce del Charles -> Studien in der Logik der Charlesandpapierschleifmaschinen Peirce -> Studies in the logic of the Charles of sanders paper grinding machines Peirce"
1. The works of Shakespeare -> Gli impianti di Shakespeare -> The plants of Shakespeare.
2. Speaker of the chamber of deputies -> Altoparlante dell'alloggiamento dei delegati -> Loudspeaker of the lodging of the delegates
3. Studies in the logic of Charles Sanders Peirce -> Studi nella logica delle sabbiatrici Peirce del Charles -> Studien in der Logik der Charlesandpapierschleifmaschinen Peirce -> Studies in the logic of the Charles of sanders paper grinding machines Peirce"
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