(500) Machine Translation

  Machine translation is very convenient these days. I found today that Google translation can translate a little bit strange English sentences to more natural and correct Japanese. When the Japanese sentences are translated into English reversely, the English sentences don’t return to original ones, but they are changed into grammatically correct ones.

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  I got a small paper napkin on which several articles about sweets were printed as design.

(Some articles of “International Sweets Weekly”are printed on the paper napkin)

  It just looked easy English to read, so I started reading but I got stuck at several phrases and words.

One of them is here.
This is about “BrandNew RollCake.”

[1] The cloth3) which kneaded4) a fresh flour full of maple syrup of California, and was crowded5) is elastic, and very delicious.

(3) cloth ？？？→dough
(4) kneaded　こねる
(5) crowded　詰め込まれた

  I spent much time to search for the meaning of “cloth”. I could imagine the meaning of this sentence. But I really wanted to know wheather “cloth” has a meaning of “dough” or not. Unfortunately I failed to get a good result. Finally an idea popped in mind.
Google translation! A Machine Translation!
The result is here. Very natural Japanese!

カリフォルニアのメープルシロップたっぷりの新鮮な小麦粉を練り込んだ生地は伸縮性があり、とても美味しいです。

Wow, Google translation is much smarter than I! But still I’m doubtful about the original English sentence!

Then I reversed the translation, from Japanese to English.
Its result is next.

The dough kneaded with fresh flour with plenty of California maple syrup is elastic and very delicious.

Now I can understand this English sentence. “Dough” is suitable here for 生地!

The other strange sentence for me is next in “THE OTHER SIDE”.

[2] a child is also eaten11) with good appetite,

(11) eaten ？？？

Again Google translation put this into Japanese for me.

子供も食欲が旺盛です

Google translation can accept this grammatically wrong sentence? Or my knowledge is wrong? I let Google translation put this Japanese to English again. The result is next.

Children also have a strong appetite.

Good translation! I agree this sentence is grammatically right.

 

Another strange sentence on the paper napkin is next in “Holiday season”.

[3] It is drilling24). A rule is easy. A ball is rolled and as ten pins are pushed down.

(24) drilling　？？？？→bowling

Now I’m quite sure. This English is wrongly translated from Japanese to English.
From ボウリング bouringu  to Boring, then changed into Drilling.
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