Posted by Jay Livingston
Dan Myers has an amusing post today reprinting the transcript from his computer's dictation software.
Here's further evidence that language still presents problems for computers.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83AwkPrsaIQolMQYSpB1Xv92abbxnh4FycyF5jHEGcZGuf3CoUpcbVWdC8429a-OAYrp0XQOJWXyzz8oLrfcfsXkMwyQI8-r6TpRcRNLrpMFklowwJaBN9fExOKI57HBNMeiQAg/s400/Gan11.jpg)
Apparently this mistranslation is widespread in China - in supermarkets (as above), in restaurants (as below), and elsewhere.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrZ5X9KJ9G9tkJMQjrHbhhhz8aUOCNiwjrieSEQHitloOzjNmLutvRRi3hEo-Iu9Z9Jr34ZEK9JYY-hMtYWrOEhnQB4xbrZtw8bqDbHo3w09gnb9BwrRpE6ieGYZYte3RP8Pe7BA/s400/Gan13.jpg)
Victor Mair at The Language Log makes a strong case that the source of the error is not human malice or mischief but the machine translation of a simplified Chinese ideogram.
2 comments:
That is just beautiful. I'll have to think up an excuse to feature it in an oh-so serious blogpost, or even better, a paper on a completely unrelated topic.
it"s just a humor, dont be so serious.
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