NationStates Jolt Archive

I figured I'd pop into the Finnish thread for a lark and see if I could actually understand any of it, with the little knowledge of Finnish I have. I encountered some words I didn't understand, so I tried to use an online translator.

Bad idea.

It turned a phrase having something to do with Finnish into one having something to do with marshlands, and translated "englantia" as something really odd. There were most likely even more errors that I didn't catch because I don't know much Finnish.

So, next I decided to go look at an online dictionary. Strike two! Every dictionary I found was written entirely in Finnish.

Grr. Is there not one useful website on it in existence?

Oh, Goddess above, did I just say "pop in for a lark"?
How odd.

whats wrong with "pop in for a lark"?

anyway, yes, internet translators truly suck

http://www.travlang.com/languages/
http://www.kamous.com/translator/s.asp?l=1187
http://www.yourdictionary.com/languages/uralic.html
http://www.freedict.com/onldict/fin.html



And for the other side of their culture, which is very prevalent:
http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlang/ht/Finnish.1.html

vittuperkele!

Don't blame your translator alone. Finnish isn't the easiest languages to translate.

Don't blame your translator alone. Finnish isn't the easiest languages to translate.
Like Australien.
^Intentional

Whoa, I just realized that when I learned basic Finnish phrases, it siad "Puhutteko englantia?" was "Do you speak English?", but from what I just saw, on the sites Randomea supplied, it's "Puhutko".

Interesting.

"puhutteko" would be more formal OR when asking if more than one people speaks...

"puhutteko" would be more formal OR when asking if more than one people speaks...
Ah, so the little guide pamphlet thingy wasn't totally wrong afer all.

Point one: Finnish is a fault-tolerant language, like English. Observe: "Me fail English? That unpossible." The meaning got thru. It's not much different. Correctness is a whole another issue...

Point two: You will be writing to English-speaking people. We can see the original English behind the translation.

That "marshland" bit is not incorrect; that's what it means. (Baltic "zheme" means "ground", and that's the basis for modern "suomi", cf. "suo" "marsh")

The problem with online translators is that they work with the assumption that the languages are similar. When they aren't, you'll end up with weirdness. Try translating direct commands in a Japanese online translator. Interesting results...

That "marshland" bit is not incorrect; that's what it means. (Baltic "zheme" means "ground", and that's the basis for modern "suomi", cf. "suo" "marsh")
That's interesting, I hadn't known that, although I suspected something of the sort. The thing I thought was that it would have made sense for it to pares the statement before it and check which definition made sense there, but now that I think back to trying to write a parser for a computer language, that was sheer hell and I'd bet it's even worse between human languages.
I now understand just *why* online translators don't work all that great.

The problem with online translators is that they work with the assumption that the languages are similar. When they aren't, you'll end up with weirdness. Try translating direct commands in a Japanese online translator. Interesting results...

OR...
"The structure in the line of the question of the interpretation, of
that the popolano in the beginning of the language of the percentage
of history repaired to employee. Of the accreditation of this person,
the summary, that disowned. The immediate nature of the interpretation
represents a value measured in the Japanese line of one. The result,
that one is recovery"

Lost in Translation (http://www.tashian.com/multibabel/)

This translator seems to work fine.

This translator seems to work fine.
Okay, that was hilarious.

I remember I had to take a recipe and translate it into spanish then we were suposed to read it out loud in front of the class well me being the lazy slacker that I am went to a translator sadly as I was reading it out loud I stated that I needed a half pound of a womens Breast for my recipe rather then a half pound of chicken breast

Like Australien.
^IntentionalAs an Australian, I say "Bah".

I remember asking for chicken fillet in a brasserie in France and having my pronunciation vigorously corrected for the next fifteen minutes.

As an Australian, I say "Bah".

I remember asking for chicken fillet in a brasserie in France and having my pronunciation vigorously corrected for the next fifteen minutes.
When I first read that, I thought you said "I remember asking for chicken fillet in a brassiere".

I had to read that four times before my brain made sense of it.

OR...
"The structure in the line of the question of the interpretation, of
that the popolano in the beginning of the language of the percentage
of history repaired to employee. Of the accreditation of this person,
the summary, that disowned. The immediate nature of the interpretation
represents a value measured in the Japanese line of one. The result,
that one is recovery"

Lost in Translation (http://www.tashian.com/multibabel/)

This translator seems to work fine.

When I rebabelized this, I get something that I could use for a school assignment with little corrections:

"Beginning a history 100? Line structures of the question of the
popolano the language that explains, that one that repairs near the
personnel. This official agreement of everything was a synthesis, that
one that it rejected here. Of the Japanese line value, studies this,
the quality, that if it indicates immediately, explained it. The
result is the ristabilimento"

The system shows some strong positive feedback. It seems that the critical step is at the Korean translator, which tends to totally destroy the meanings. That translation routine provides the best bits of weird feedback to the system.


Original English Text:
Don't do it.

Translated to Japanese:
それをしてはいけない。

Translated back to English:
That you do not have to do.

Translated to Chinese:
您不必须做。

Translated back to English:
You do not have to do.

Translated to Korean:
너는 해야 하지 않는다.

Translated back to English:
It spreads out and must do.

Translated to French:
Il étend et doit faire.

Translated back to English:
It extends and must make.

Translated to German:
Es verlängert und muß bilden.

Translated back to English:
It extended and must form.

Translated to Italian:
Esteso e deve formare.

Translated back to English:
Extended and it must form.

Translated to Portuguese:
Prolongado e ele deve dar forma.

Translated back to English:
Drawn out and it it must give form.

Translated to Spanish:
Dibujado hacia fuera y él debe dar la forma.

Translated back to English:
Drawn towards outside and he it must give the form.

As an Australian, I say "Bah".

Well, it's true...you have to admit, he has a point. :D

From what I vaguely remember, Finnish is unlike any other language. So it would be pretty damn hard to translate accurately.
Also words and phrases can have completely different meanings, depending on the context.
For example, in Chinese (Cantonese at least, not sure about Mandarin) the word for small is:
小
And the word for heart is:
心
However, the phrase:
小心
doesn't mean, as one would naturally assume 'small heart'. It actually means 'Beware' or 'Caution' or 'Warning', something like that. Useful to know if you're ever in China.
Makes one wonder about what they use in the Cardio ward to actually describe a small heart.
I can't really think of any comparable phrase in the English language where you get two words together and it changes the meaning of them both completely. But I'm sure there are.
But there are words in English that have no possible direct translation at all and would need to be written as a phrase that tries to describe the meaning.
Antidisestablishmentarianism for example. That can't be translated into Chinese easily. Babel fish just ignores it.

i would like to say that several times, canadians have insisted to me that they have no acent, and sound american. which i find hysterical.

whats wrong with "pop in for a lark"?

anyway, yes, internet translators truly suck

hey internet translators are really useful. they can bypass internet filters and tell you how to say "I hate my french teacher" in all kinds of different languages so respect them!

Except it will end up "I frog kiss my mother's lecturer"

Now, I don't know. In the sense of amusement, translators are rather useful, but in the sense of classwork, they can be an all-ensnaring mess.

i would like to say that several times, canadians have insisted to me that they have no acent, and sound american. which i find hysterical.

It's funny, when I moved to America I was absolutly confounded by Americans' insistence that I have "an accent" and they don't. EVERYONE has an accent. Even Steven Hawking apologizes to people for having an American accent.

Once when I was on the phone to a cousin in England she asked to be introduced to my girlfriend, so I handed over the phone and heard:

:brief pause:
"I don't have an accent!"
:brief pause:
"I DON'T have an ACCENT"
:brief pause:
"I DON'T!!"

I nearly fell over laughing.

The only people who can reasonably claim not to have an accent are the deaf who only speak in sign language. Those who do actually speak even have an accent.

Oh, I use the Babelfish translator, but the Babelfish retranslater is FAR more amusing:
http://prague.tv/toys/retrans/

Check it out: Hello, I'm in love with a donkey's rear end!
Translates from English to French back to English as: hello, I am in the love with the back end of an ass!

I personally use da Ali G translata. http://www.webdez.net/alig/