Ever wonder if you should save some money by using Google Translate instead of a professional human translator? If the text is anything important, then you probably shouldn’t.
The technology is impressive, but it’s not yet ready to replace humans. As a fun example of why I say this, consider what happens when you use Google Translate to translate the lyrics of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Takin’ Care of Business into Russian and then back into English.
Original lyrics in English |
English to Russian and back (via Google Translate) |
You get up every morning from your alarm clock’s warning |
You get up every morning with a warning on the Service in |
And if your train’s on time, you can get to work by nine |
And if your train is on time, you can get to work by nine |
And I’ll be takin’ care of business every day |
And I’ll be takin care of business every day |
If it were easy as fishin’, you could be a musician |
If it were easy, like Fishin ‘, you could be a musician |
This is taken a bit further with Adele’s “Hello” in the following video by Malinda Kathleen Reese.
Here’s her description of the process of generating the lyrics.
Please comment below if you have any funny examples of Google Translate falling short.