Show HN: See what happens when you translate a phrase through 20 languages

4 points·pamelafox··4 comments

I made this "Translation Telephone" game as a demo for a Google APIs talk a few months ago, and people seemed to get a kick out of it, so I've fixed it up with a backend, share-ability, and statistics: http://www.translation-telephone.com/

Try it out, you can get some amusing results.

Let me know if you have spot bugs or have any feedback. Thanks!

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You should run the phrase through Chinese more often. Google Translate is horrendous with that language. I just had two Taiwanese exchange students over at my house for a few weeks, and they had a game of watching Google return garbage even with simple phrases.

In particular, "I am happy" gives back "I'm happy" in every case -- except when Chinese is part of the loop. Then, it translates to "I'm very happy."

Nice web app, though. It reminds me of Translation Party, which went viral on Reddit a while ago.

Trying out the classics ...

http://www.translation-telephone.com/#7014

"Out of sight, out of mind" -> "In addition to the heart."

http://www.translation-telephone.com/#3012

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." -> "But, as the flying flesh is weak."

Clickable: http://www.translation-telephone.com/

Also check out recent phrases: http://www.translation-telephone.com/recent

"I love you." is idempotent. <3

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