TRANSLATION METHODOLOGY

[David L. Frye]

I couldn't restrain myself on this one. I tried out the suggested
Web site:  http://www.translation.go.com/ on a paragraph selected more or
less at random from literature available from Project Gutenberg, the
first paragraph from "A Tale of Two Cities":

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of
wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was
the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of
Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had
everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct
to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period
was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities
insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative
degree of comparison only.


>>From English to Spanish and back again, this is the result:


He to be better time, he to be bad weather, he to be age wisdom, he to be
age insentatez, he to be time belief, he to be time incredulity, he to be
station light, he to be station the dark, he to be means hope, he to be
winter desperation, we to have everything before we, we to have nothing
before we, we to be everything to go direct sky, we to be everything to go
to direct another way -- in short circuit, period to be until now like
present period, that something its noisy authority to insist on which was
received, for good or badly, the superlative degree of the comparison
only.

Well, it got the last two words right!

David Frye (with apologies to all), <dfrye at umich.edu>