Fun With Language

I once had a Latin instructor who drummed it into my head that Latin is not code for English, and in fact, no language translates perfectly into any other. Therefore, translation between, say, English and Farsei, or German and Russian, isn't a 1:1 proposition. No matter how similar the languages are, there will be some nuance that can't be handled by simple conversion methods. It might be a construction of grammar, a twist of syntax, a shade of meaning, cultural connocation, or a multitude of factors all conspiring to make even the simplest of meaning difficult to divine across the bridge of differing language.

This is why machine translators can give you a general idea of what a sentence from another language might mean, but only a true fool would ever trust the exact translation to be spat out by one. Provided, of course, that the translation being spit out even sounds like language in the first place. Translation is an art; machines are notoriously poor artists

Which makes some things, like, say, this website so much fun.

I mean, what could be more amusing to do than take that old game of telephone - whispering a sentence to a circle and watching it mutate as it goes around the room - with the vulgarities of allowing machines to try and do translating. Translate one sentence, back and forth between languages, and wait until meaning breaks down. Sometimes spectacularly.

This is so much fun, in fact, I played around with it for a good while. For instance, a line from the HBO series 'The Pacific':
"Oh for god's sakes, coffee is the one thing we got to enjoy around here, and we'd just like a little quiet to enjoy it. Now, you either go kill Lieutenant Larkin, or shut the f--- up."

After ten translations, that sentence became:
"Oh, God, and coffee, everything here still use it. Now, you have to kill you or f--- Lieutenant Larkin."

After fifty-four translations:
"Oh, coffee is still available. Soldiers were killed in a day or kiss."

I mean, most of the noun specifics are still there. But the meaning between the nouns is worlds different.

Go on. Try it.