Japanese Translation Issues with Google Translate

  • Context: Lingusitics 
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the challenges and inaccuracies of Google Translate, particularly in translating Japanese and other languages. Participants share specific examples of mistranslations and explore the implications of these errors, including potential AI involvement and the limitations of static translation methods.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Debate/contested, Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes a significant mistranslation of "jazz club" to "cannabis" and shares a nonsensical translation involving "space networks" and "amusing horse."
  • Another participant compares the performance of Google Translate with Russian, mentioning that a second attempt at translation yielded a correct result after consulting other sources, raising questions about AI influence or data retrieval methods.
  • A participant comments on the inherent difficulties of translating languages with inflection, suggesting that static translators struggle with such complexities.
  • One post includes a humorous translation of a musical piece, highlighting the peculiarities of translation outcomes.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a general consensus on the inadequacies of Google Translate, particularly with inflected languages, but there are differing views on the reasons behind these inaccuracies and the potential for improvement.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention specific instances of mistranslation without resolving the underlying issues related to AI processing, contextual understanding, or the limitations of static translation systems.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in language translation, AI technology, and the nuances of multilingual communication may find this discussion relevant.

Hornbein
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Japanese is a challenge for Google Translate. "Jazz club" was translated to "Cannabis." Hmm, maybe they've got something there.

They also produced this:

"Space networks have a strange gravity
I'm starting to think after I graduated with an amusing horse"
 
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I just found out that Russian ain't much better.



I observed an interesting side effect. After I looked up some words in a different dictionary, an abbreviation on Wikipedia, and returned to Google Translate again, it actually had the correct translation that time. AI involved or just the usual espionage from Google?

Edit: It wasn't so surprising that the second attempt gave a better translation. But that it resolved MGU correctly as Moscow State university after I looked it up on Wikipedia was what puzzled me!
 
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Unlike humans. Now I am going to drink a tall cool glass of Pocari Sweat.
 
Riyoko Takagi on Flight of the Bumble Bee, in translation:

"High-speed and superior skills for arranging tall wood"
 
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Anything that has inflection is going to be tough for static translators. Try GPT.
 

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