January 6, 2008

Babelfish phrase game — Round 1

Babelfish is a machine-translation service offered at a few websites, like these at Yahoo and Yahoo property Altavista. These translations can be somewhat amusing. Indeed, they can be source of a guessing game. A well-known English phrase — say a quote, or idiom, or song lyric — is translated into a foreign language and back a few times. The result is presented, and the challenge is to guess the original.

I’ll start with five; please feel free to post your answers in the comment thread. You can check them before posting, at the second link above. 🙂

  1. Attach me and me become to the bottom more effective than you can to indeed present you (English –> German –> French –> English)
  2. A law was returned to the moon loine makes here (English –> Italian –> French –> English)
  3. It is not for the sake of, ask those which your country can ask those which can make because of your country and do (English –> Japanese –> English)
  4. Whose of wood these will be me think 4 he knows (English –> Russian –> English)
  5. Sincerely I do not give my expensive, with swore (English –> German –> French –> English)

Comments

5 Responses to “Babelfish phrase game — Round 1”

  1. Jay on January 6th, 2008 4:59 pm

    3. Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

    No clue about the others. 🙁

    Here’s a related tool/site I just found: http://www.blahblahfish.com 🙂

  2. Curt Monash on January 7th, 2008 12:34 am

    Nice link, thanks!

    And congrats on getting the first answer!

    CAM

  3. Ron Pasko on January 7th, 2008 12:11 pm

    5. Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.

  4. Linda Barlow on January 7th, 2008 12:44 pm

    Number 4: Whose woods these are I think I know (Robert Frost)

  5. Curt Monash on January 7th, 2008 1:02 pm

    Well done, both of you!

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