Interesting round-trip translation

[nyankoframe]

I was replying to a comment elsewhere, and I felt like replying in English words/sentences, but running it through a machine translator into Japanese.

The original reply was:

(E) "I understand your frustration and annoyance. Posters are very expensive and I had the same problem when printing my project poster out too... There was a place I went to at Selegie Centre or Sunshine Plaza, or around that area, where it was about $15 or so for an A1-size poster as opposed to $50 usually. I hope I can remember where exactly it was..."

Excite translated it into:

(J) "私はあなたのフラストレーションといらだちを理解しています。 ポスターは非常に高価です、そして、私には、また、私のプロジェクトポスターを印刷するとき、同じ問題がありました… 私がSelegie CentreかサンシャインPlazaにおいて、または、その領域の周りに行った場所がありました。そこでは、通常、それが50ドルと対照的にA1-サイズポスターのためのおよそ15ドルでした。 私が、それがいったいどこにあったかを思い出すことができることを願っています…"

which when fed back into Excite (using the Japanese->English translation option) results in:

(E) "I understand your frustration and irritation. The poster was very expensive, and when my project poster was printed again, I had the same problem … I was Selegie Centre or there was a place where it had gone to surroundings in the area in Sunshine Plaza. It was usually about 15 dollars contrasting it with 50 dollars there for A1-size poster. It wishes that I be able to recall where on earth it was."

It's much better than Babelfish in terms of machine translation accuracy (Babelfish can come up with some "interesting" translations), but it quite clearly can't compare yet to a native (or fluent) speaker's translations.

For the record, this is what Babelfish translated the original text into:

(J) 私はあなたの欲求不満および厄介を理解する。ポスターは非常に高く、余りにからの私のプロジェクトポスターを印刷するとき... 私は同じ問題を有した私によってがSelegie の中心でか日光の広場に行った$50 に対してA1 サイズポスターのための約$15 またはそう通常だったその区域のまわりに場所が、またはあった。私は私が丁度それが... あったどこに覚えることができることを望む

And the translation of Excite's Japanese:

(E) "I have understood your frustration and irritation. The poster is very expensive, and, in me, in addition, when printing my project poster, there was the same problem... me or, there was a place where it goes around the territory Selegie in Centre or sunshine Plaza. Then, usually, that 50 dollars contrast was approximately 15 dollars for A1- size poster. Me, you have asked the fact that that oh can remember high just somewhere..."

Excite didn't like Babelfish's Japanese output very much though:

(E) "I understand your frustration and trouble. Poster..very..high..too..project..poster..print..same..problem..have..center..sunlight..plaza..go..size..poster..some..so..usually..the..district..turn..place..provide.I am just its : of me . . . It is hoped to feel it for where that is. "

Edit: Updated with translation of Excite's Japanese text from Infoseek and translation of the original English text:

The original English text into Japanese:

「私は、あなたの欲求不満と不快感を理解します。ポスターは非常に高価です、そして、また私のプロジェクトポスターを印刷するとき、私には同じ問題がありました...私がSelegieセンターまたはSunshine Plazaで行った場所がありました、あるいは、その地域のまわりで、そこでそれは通常50ドルと対比してのA1-サイズポスターのためのおよそ15ドルほどでした。私は、私が正確にそれがどこにあったかについて覚えていることができることを望みます...

Excite's Japanese text into English:

"I understand your frustration and irritation. There was the same problem a poster was a high price very and when I printed my project poster to me again…There was the place that I went around in Selegie Centre or sunshine Plaza or the domain. Therefore it was usually about 15 dollars for an A1- size poster in contrast with 50 dollars. I hope that I can remember on earth where there was it…"

Comments

[giapet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had someone else point out Excite's translation tool earlier this week, too.

[meganemagic.livejournal.com]

That's the problem with iterative translations, and what more iterative translations through machines instead of humans. (And you thought just one-time translations were bad enough. :p) The message gets distorted and garbled along the way. This reminds me of another analogy related to mp3 compression, I think - photocopying the same picture over and over again, until the picture can no longer be clearly made out. By the way here's one more translation engine you can try - infoseek. :)

[nyankoframe.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's true. :) I believe nuah had talked about it on his LJ before as well.

Thanks for the link to infoseek! It seems even more accurate than Excite. *updates post*

[itsacz.livejournal.com]

It's like when you sit in a circle and whisper a message to the person on your right and repeat. When the message gets back to the original "sender", it's incoherent by then. An English teacher tried that once in class in school. ^^;;