So even though I already know how bad Google Translate is at exact translations (especially for Latin--don't even bother attempting there), I decided to see how it worked when looking solely at general ideas and concepts. Taking the Italian Aesop's fable of La volpe e l'uva, aka The Fox and the Grapes, this is the translation I got:
The Fox and the Grapes
A hungry fox saw bunches of grapes hanging from a pergola, and tried to grab them. But he could not. "Sour crap!" then he said to himself; and walked away. Thus, even among men, there are those who, unable to inability to reach his goal, he blames circumstances.
Aesop, xxxii; Phaedrus, IV, 3.
So I'm guessing the Italian version is already shortened a little from the original, but there are definitely some striking differences due to translation error. For example, I doubt Aesop would write a fable with the phrase "'Sour crap!'" in it, haha. But the moral rings true, and the story makes sense, so I guess Google Translate succeeds in translating general concepts and ideas, if not exact statements.
No comments:
Post a Comment