Interesting or funny links

[Fjgrogan]

.......... but they didn't succeed in digging up Cardinal Newman, did they? He had the last laugh!

[mvgrogan]

I regularly use google translate on finnish documents or news items and that is just scary!

We had a bridge in Turku that fell down last year. It is near a windmill and was called "Myllysilta" literally Mill (Mylly) Bridge (Silta). Google translate persistently translated it as Myllys Evening (evening being Ilta!) Grrrrrrrr.

[sejintenej]

I regularly use google translate on finnish documents or news items and that is just scary!

We had a bridge in Turku that fell down last year. It is near a windmill and was called "Myllysilta" literally Mill (Mylly) Bridge (Silta). Google translate persistently translated it as Myllys Evening (evening being Ilta!) Grrrrrrrr.

Be carefull Google does not prosecute you for libel.
What you saw is one of the problems of translation, not only by machine but also by humans. The problem appears to be (and German would be similar) working out which two separate words have been pushed together.
Having spent 20 years having to translate between languages it can be a near impossible task and especially so if you are not an expert in the subject matter. My secretary, a Portuguese national and graduate with marvellous English, freely admitted she could not translate our Head Office messages from Brazilian Portuguese!). Some words simply cannot be satisfactorily translated into English such as "gemutlich" (?sp), "simpatico" and "simpatetique". Style can also cause problems - I once had to translate some bovine effluent about a new petrochemical plant in western Europe - an A4 small print glossy brochure, extremely flowery, with just 3 full stops and multiple adjectives ( I noticed one noun had 11 adjectives!). My translation had (from memory) 5 paragraphs and took half a page to say the same thing! Our Head Office sometimes used a phrase which translated was that it was "inconvenient at the present time"; the true translation was along the lines of "No, and thrice no, not only now but until the sun crashes into the earth" . Just don't blame the translation machine for failing to do do the impossible.
That is going into English; English can be very specific whereas at least one Latin based language is so "flexible" in that it is difficult to word the translation so that there can be no "misunderstandings" or room for manoeuvre.

I'm sure someone can come up with a Googleism even more silly than yours .

(edited for spelling)

[jhopgood]

I have always refused to translate the word until I know the context. I prefer to translate phrases or sentences.
Google hasn't got that far yet.
Neither has the dictionary, which frequently has a choice of translations, dependent on the context.
This is a bit deja vue.

[Jo]

They say one of the real tests of a translation engine is whether it can make sense of "time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana". I love that sentence

I also heard once how "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" had been rendered through automated translation and back again as "the drink is strong but the meat is rotten".

[J.R.]

Who says the Catholic church supports child labour?
http://breakingnewsdir.com/pope-puts-st ... 20992.html

I see the Catholic Mafia is alive and well !

[mvgrogan]

A little something for the season.... BEWARE - those of you who are particularly fond of the old guy with the big white beard* might find this a little disturbing... enjoy!

This first one was on TV here late last night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei69bYwwCvc

and I found this one while searching for the other one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqODDF-LU&NR=1

*Mum, I don't mean Dad!

[Fjgrogan]

H'm - I don't remember our Father Christmas undergoing training of that kind - I might have volunteered to join in as a 'trainer'! We should explain for the uninitiated that my husband (Maria's Dad) starts around August each year to grow a bushy white beard in order to play Santa at Christmas both at our local primary school Christmas fair, and in recent years at the Finnish-American Playschool in Turku. You could say that we export Santa to Finland - touch of the 'coals to Newcastle'! Anyway it keeps him out of mischief and ensures that he is in Finland for our granddaughter's birthday on 2 December. This year Hanna has changed playschools and his services are no longer required, but he flew out today anyway. However on 30 November Finnair cabin crew are threatening to start an indefinite strike, which may leave 'Santa' trapped in Finland - I can visualise that as a newspaper headline 'Santa trapped in Finland by striking cabin staff!'

[Barnes Mum]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1-SPnNO1Mg&NR=1

The priest some of you may recognise as Jeff Mayhew. Retired from head of drama earlier this year - obviously keeping busy!

[sejintenej]

They say one of the real tests of a translation engine is whether it can make sense of "time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana". I love that sentence

Just got my son to try that one on a free app on his new apple. The result, in French, got the real meaning perfect.

[mvgrogan]

A little something for the season.... BEWARE - those of you who are particularly fond of the old guy with the big white beard* might find this a little disturbing... enjoy!

This first one was on TV here late last night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei69bYwwCvc

and I found this one while searching for the other one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqODDF-LU&NR=1

*Mum, I don't mean Dad!

So they have now made a full length version.... be afraid!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401143/

[AKAP]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5zld2 ... tres-d_fun

Ha ha!! Good old Freddie Frinton. Never got much recognition in the music halls over here, but what a great physical comedian. Despite a fondness for playing drunks he was a teetotaller all his life.
This sketch is, apparently, broadcast every New Year's Eve in Germany and many other European countries as a form of popular ritual.
For those who may be puzzling over the empty chairs, the lady is celebrating her 90th birthday with her now departed friends.

Radio 4 PM programme did a report about this sketch and it's popularity around Europe, last night. If anyone wants to hear the report on listen again it comes on at about the 25 minute mark.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 01_01_2011

[mvgrogan]

Dinner For One - Freddie Frinton

This sketch is shown every Christmas on YLE (finnish equivalent of BBC). When I spent my first Christmas in Finland, my in-laws all assumed I knew it as it is "British" but it is in fact a German production of an old English Music Hall act. Now it is part of our Christmas Tradition, too!

Good for a giggle!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVd_VLO9xcc

if you don't want to listen to the german introduction - skip forward to about 2mins 30sec

[jhopgood]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... ood-health

There's hope for me yet.

[sejintenej]

http://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/aer ... toshopped/

http://www.barnorama.com/unbelievable-photos/

http://2leep.com/news/117233/1172/

and finally something to bring on the nightmares (sleep tight everyone)


http://www.weirdexistence.com/last-photo/