Harald & others, just give it up. Sean is, unfortunately, a little on
the paranoid side, and is totally convinced that Google is "out to get
the Irish." I seriously doubt that Sean (like myself) is really all
that savvy about the algorithms used in a translation software, as
that kind of stuff is a little on the "techie" side; dunno what Sean
knows, though, so I can't really speak for him. For all I know, he
might have a PhD from Oxford in computer language translation...if
there is such a thing.
Personally, I love the Irish; they're great and everything about their
culture is great (except maybe the Protestant-Catholic hatred
problem). Their country's beautiful, their music is great, their
humor is great, and their folklore is beyond compare. And, to be
honest with you, I'm a little less than proud of my own culture, by
comparison, in many areas. But if Google translated "The Star
Spangled Banner" as being something little "Chicken Little," I really
wouldn't get all that upset, because it's just not that important, in
the long run; I'd realize that it's just a computer program glitch,
that's all. No big deal. Relax. What're you gaining by feeding
yourself a lot of unhappy, unhealthy thoughts? Even if the people who
program the Google Translate site were that evil (and I'm sure they're
not), then that would be their problem, not yours; why would you want
to lower yourself to that level?
And, anyway, would such a purposelful, nasty translation change
anything about Ireland and the good Irish people? They'd still be
great, so just forget it.
On Dec 30, 4:19 am, Ian Parker wrote:
> There is one very simple fact. Irish Gaelic is an EU language and most
> of the training set will be political. It would seem therefore quite
> natural that one national anthem should be translated, partially at
> least, as another.
>
> Arabic is used in the UN and Google is far better at translating
> political texts than (say) scientific.
>
> - Ian Parker
>
> On Dec 29, 2:42 pm, Mike Duffy wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Dec 28, 2:14 pm, Harald Korneliussen wrote:
>
> > > Ever heard of Godwin's law?
>
> > I believe it applies in this case.
>
> > > This happens. This is what failed GT translations look like. And it's
> > > nothing new. Bad translations can always offend people, bad machine
> > > translations are no exception. But you would do well to remember: It's
> > > a _machine_. It has no feelings or attitudes, so it's a pointless
> > > thing to get offended at.
>
> > I agree with Harald. If you look at old entries in this forum, you
> > will see mistranslations much more egregious than the one that bothers
> > you, Mr. Ó Briain. Usually, the people who complain the most are those
> > who feel that their race or religion (not simply a nation or
> > geographic region) has been disrespected.
>
> > As Harald points out, that is not possible unless the translation
> > databases have been deliberately tampered with by a human, and you are
> > a long way from providing any sort of evidence of that. If Google had
> > to add filters to protect the sensibilities of anyone who might feel
> > offended on the grounds of religion, race, nationality, geographic
> > region, gender, sexual preferences, politics, endianism, etc., the
> > whole system would become unworkable.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
