LL-L "Language proficiency" 2004.05.25 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 25.May.2004 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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Van: globalmoose at t-online.de (Global Moose Translations)
Onderwerp: Language proficiency


Gustaaf wrote:
> I'd have thought that by now computer generated translations would
> do a slightly better job than this.  Anyway, it seems your job is
> secure for the forseeable future.

That's good to know. And they'll have a hard time trying to outsource my job
to East Asia.

I may have mentioned this before, but it's my favourite example. I used to
have a permanent position as a translator with a German software company in
Mülheim an der Ruhr (I left after two years - I felt I needed a little more
adventure than that...). One of the engineers there insisted he didn't need
my services because Babelfish translations do the job just as well. His
supervisor insisted, however, that I look over an important letter he had
written to a US customer before he sent it. Not only had the program
translated "please excuse..." into "please apologize..." (in German, it's
the same word, "entschuldigen") - much worse, the address was given as
"Mülheim on the dysentery" (since "Ruhr" is also an older word for bad
diarrhea!). Heaven knows how many letters he had already sent like that. I
would have felt sorry, but the guy had been nasty and arrogant to me before
and... hee hee hee... it's a memory I cherish.

By the way, I have just finished my favourite translation job ever... I got
lucky and was picked to translate the new website of the most successful
author alive... it's all about a boy with a scar... wheeeee, that was fun!

Gabriele Kahn

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