Just weeping with laughter

[dianeduane]

Or: How Babelfish will not necessarily solve all your translation problems

(It's a menu. But what a menu. Some of the dishes in it sound more like attack moves from Sailor Moon.)

Tags: menu, restaurant, foreign, translation, laughter, astonishment, cowboy leg??

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

What's with all the cowboy meat? Have they got a copy of To Serve Man back there in the kitchen?

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Always a possibility, I suppose...

*scratches brain-case in puzzlement*

[nelka35.livejournal.com]

and the rest sound like.. I can't even imagine what... )))

I was laughing as hard as possible, and slapping the table; and I do not do that.. it really had me rolling.)))
Thanks, DD!

[posicat.livejournal.com]

It sounds like the kind of interesting translations you get using Googles translator. This page goes from English to German to French and back to English through Google. I had loads of fun cutting and pasting snipits from my stories into it to see how they mutated. Sometimes I really liked the changes, sometimes it was just plain bizarre.

http://douweosinga.com/projects/poetryintranslation

babelfish

[(Anonymous)]

you can do the same on babelfish - we tried 'make me a channel of your peace' and got

"Master concession by Oh, which I can
look for never so much, in order to be GET-ROASTED, which concerns the
console; to be understood, what, to understand; over to be liked, what
concerns the love with all my soul".

Christmas carols are even funnier...

[syberghost.livejournal.com]

But do they serve beef sushi (http://syberghost.livejournal.com/80842.html)?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

The fragrant spring onion sauce explodescow son especially intrigues me ...

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I had to pause half way through, I was choking on the laughter (and couldn't see)!

I wish I could find the recipe for Pina Colada which I found on Google once, in Portuguese. I used Google's translator (at that time not as good as Babelfish but a lot more fun), it started out by telling my to take one fragmentation hand grenade and six stones, that drink would really blow your head off! (A 'pineapple' and cherries...)

[nelka35.livejournal.com]

thanks for another laugh! :)

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

Wow! This makes the menu of the Thai place near my Dad's first post-divorce apartment seem tame.

They had "Beef and Broccoli in Customer Sauce" on the menu. I was always careful to leave a good tip there, I didn't want to end up as tomorrow's dinner.

[kengr]

I've used babelfish to assist with my high school french (whgich has 30 years of rust on it) for a bit of French I needed for a story.

I ran it past fiolks who spoke French anyway. But left ion some clinkers since it was *supposed* to be a high school French class (with some differences).

Had more fun when I needed some French of the sort that they don't teach in class. Babelfish's translation both from English slangf, and back into English from the French slang my proofers supplied left a lot to be desired.

if you like this...

[(Anonymous)]

i've been lurking awhile - found you via ursula v and couldn't quite believ it as i used to read your books...

if you enjoyed that menu, check out www.engrish.com - much, much more of the same...

Re: if you like this...

[dduane.livejournal.com]

(grin) I know Engrish.com well, and stop in there often. But thanks for the tip!