Ah, Thursday; not a lot going on. I wrote a poem about Google Translate, then used Google Translate to translate it into Japanese. Then when I turned it back into English it made me laugh. It's strange though because I can't quite work out why it's so funny. Here it is un-re-translated... or something...
オンライン翻訳
あなたは、オンライン翻訳を使用している場合
あなたのフレーズや単語を変更するには
そして、驚くことはありません
それが供給してどのような時に
時にはそれは単にばかげている
I love language - I love the differences in languages that twist meanings and cross the wires between cultures - even within them sometimes.
Look at the elegance of those Japanese characters. They convey so much of the beauty and the complexity of Japan, even without knowing how they sound or what their names are. There are geishas and mountains, pagodas and fields, sliding roofs, fans and lotus flowers with every flamboyant stroke of the... thing that renders digital pixels. Oh, not that I'm summing up Japan with those pictograms! Heavens above; I've not even been, far be it from me to sail into a stereotype! They're just images thrown into my untravelled brain as I click the Translate button.
There is a beauty about the way every language fits together, whether it's Portuguese, Russian or Swahili or Klingon. I'm fascinated by it. I'm just not sure Google Translate always captures that beauty very well.
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