City Girl - Kevin Shields #Googlespam #LostTranslating

Fa unes dècades ens van dir que els robots acabarien fent tota la feina i natros estaríem descansant tot el dia en una hamaca. Pos, resulta que no ha sigut així. No obstant això, hi ha diversos àmbits de la vida on si que han fet espai els robots ... per exemple, en el tema de la traducció. Hi ha mil i un programes informàtics que pretenen poder fer la feina del traduir d’una llengua a una altra. 

Pos, avui només us volia avisar que serveixen de ben poc! És difícil apreciar el malament que encara funcionen (suposo que aniran millorant) si no domines les dos llengües però de veritat us puc assegurar que fan traduccions fatals. Evidentment entre dos llengües d’un mateix arrel, com poden ser els que un dia van sortir del llatí, poden tenir més èxit – però encara així, haureu vist que les traduccions del castellà al català més bé semblen estar redactades en catanyol.

Però el tema és més greu quan mirem les traduccions entre dos llengües totalment diferents com són el català i l’anglès. L’estrany, per mi, són aquestes empreses que continuen usant el Google Translator per traduir les seves pagines webs, menus, fulls d’informació – fins i tot cartes i emails! Em diuen, no cal ser purista Brian, que l’important és comunicar. Pos, jo els contesto: (1) de vegades ni s’arriba a comunicar correctament per culpa dels errors i malentesos que poden haver-n’hi, (2) si arribes a “comunicar”, potser el client/empresari pensarà que està comunicant amb un idiota (la gent rarament entenen les dificultats per parlar la seva llengua i així cada petit error es magnifica en la seva opinió de tu), (3) en un món on tots estem competint, creus que el client anirà a una empresa que no ha pres la molèstia de fer la feina ben feta, o a aquella que ha tingut cura de la llengua i presentació de la feina?

Aquí un parell d’errors que hem vist en pocs dies: un artista parlant de que “mima cada detall”, pos, a la pagina web en anglès diu “spoiling every detail” – malmetre tots els detalls!

O aquesta frase en un altre web que bàsicament no té cap sentit! "The easiest way to back up if you fall into the water where they touch the ground standing”

En una altra pagina web que està venent kayaks i canoes, la versió anglesa parla de “cars” – cotxes!! Gràcies a Google.

O simplement una frase agafada a l’atzar de les noticies d’avui en anglès:

"Tour trucks for Bruce Springsteen were given parking tickets ahead of his concert in Leeds."

En català ens dona: "Camions turístic de Bruce Springsteen rebre multes d'estacionament abans del seu concert a Leeds."

Es pot entendre? Potser si, però vols que la teva pagina web “només” es pot entendre?

...

Remember those black and white films where they told us the future would be ours for the taking, watching the robots do the work while we sip a cocktail? Well, it ain’t so. However, the few odd machines and gadgets have crept into our lives. I have a bone to pick with one such “robot”, though, and believe its inventors have been reading too much Douglas Adams. The (in)famous Google Translator.

OK, maybe between two languages with a common Latin root (French and Catalan etc) it can throw up an acceptable job - though far from perfect -, but in most cases (English to anything, and visa versa), it’s not worth the bytes it takes up. It’s hard to appreciate just how bad a job it does (hopefully it will improve) if you do not have a good understanding of the two languages you are working with, but believe me, it leaves a lot to be desired. The funny, or sad, thing is how many people believe this is good enough for the foreign language versions of their websites, tourist leaflets, menus, even letters and emails!

They say, well Brian, at the end of the day it’s all about communication, not grammar accuracy. To which I answer (1) yeah, but with some of the confusing options it throws out, I’m sure communication is often not achieved or it can even lead to misunderstandings, (2) yeah, communicate – but you may be giving the impression to your client that they are communicating with an idiot, and (3) which company would you choose? The one who can’t be bothered to show a basic respect for other languages or the one who’s offered a mistake-free easily understandable and well-presented service?

Today’s rant has come about after seeing a few Big Mistakes recently – for example, a Catalan artist’s web page talks about him “taking care of every detail” in his work in the Catalan version, but the Google-translated English web page says “spoiling every detail”!

Checking out another web page about buying canoes and kayaks, in English they talked about buying a car!

Taking a random sentence from today’s Catalan news, Google translator offers me this in English: “After last year the Venice has some of the heavyweights of American cinema of the season, the festival runs Alberto Barbera still no sacred cows edition of the classic Hollywood stamp cosmopolitan festival, by force must return to limelight charge.”

Understand it? Maybe. But do you really want people reading this level of English on your website?

More Than This - Bill Murray

Encara que penses que coneixes els partits politics, sempre guarden una sorpresa a la recambra per a donar més color a les nostres vides. Avui m’han sorprès ERC, PSC i PP recolsant la moció de CiU a favor de regular i, així, mantenir els “corre-bous” a Catalunya – o sigui, a les Terres de l’Ebre. Per contra-pes de la ràbia que em fa aquesta decisió, suposo que hauríem d’estar contents que avui ens conten com a part de Catalunya quan en altres ocasions sembla que les decisions del Parlament Català no ens afecten aquí baix!

Espero que realment només hi estan a favor perquè tenen temor de perdre vots, ja que si realment pensen que és una “tradició” no-cruel que no fa mal a cap animal, pos, ja poden esborrar el color verd dels seus discursos – per a mi.

Una altra gent que no entenien res del que veien eren els protagonistes de Lost In Translation, i d’aquesta forma arribarem a la banda sonora d’avui! Aquesta pel·lícula, del 2003, és increïble - Bill Murray i Scarlett Johansson són immillorables. I la directora, i l’historia, els diàlegs, la música, la fotografia ... he triat el vídeo de l’escena del karaoke amb Bill Murray cantant More Than This (Ferry), originalment dels Roxy Music del seu LP Avalon, 1982. A més a més, un vídeo de la pel·lí amb la mateixa cançó versionada pels 10,000 Maniacs - aquesta no surt a la pel·lícula però val la pena sentir-la.

There are two bull issues in Catalonia. The (in)famous bull fights where the matador eventually kills or is killed – the former option much more frequently seen than the latter – are fortunately on their way out here, although still common in Spain. The other bull “sport” is the one carried out in the south of Catalonia, in an area around the river Ebro known as the Terres de l’Ebre. This one involves a smaller, and much less dangerous, bull, or, more often, a cow. There are various “games” to be played; chasing them up and down the street, and being chased; fastening a rope around their horns before playing tug-of-war with them; draping flaming oil-soaked cloths around their horns before setting them loose around the village at night; setting up a makeshift bullring and running around with them, jumping over them, provoking them etc.

Personally I share the view of animal-welfare groups that, even though the animal does not die, this is a cruel tradition which should be abolished. Well, surprisingly, today’s news was that nearly every major political party in Catalonia had voted to regulate and support this tradition – with only the Greens against it! Presumably this is because these “corre-bous” are very popular, and vote-winners, here in the Terres de l’Ebre. It never fails to amaze me what politicians will do for a handful of votes!

Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson did not understand the world around them either, in Lost In Translation, which brings us neatly, and none too subtly, on to today’s soundtrack. Bill Murray singing the Roxy Music track, More Than This (Ferry) in a karaoke bar. Excellent film, acting, direction, photography, music, by the way!

Also including another video with clips from the film and 10,000 Maniacs' version of the same song.