Babelfish Sparks Minor Diplomatic Row

Stony Stevenson writes with a link to a cautionary tale on the ITnews site. A group of journalists heading to The Netherlands were gathering some information prior to the trip. They sent off an email to the Dutch foreign ministry asking some questions, but as they weren't native speakers they needed some help. Unfortunately, they turned to Babelfish for official correspondence. "The beginning of the email read: 'Helloh bud, enclosed five of the questions in honor of the foreign minister: The mother your visit in Israel is a sleep to the favor or to the bed your mind on the conflict are Israeli Palestinian.'"

Comments

The question we're all thinking.

[SnoopJeDi]

Which babelfish are we talking about here?

Re:The question we're all thinking.

[caffeinemessiah]

Babelfish sparks minor diplomatic row

Morons trusting the legendary untrustworthiness of Babelfish for official work spark minor diplomatic row.

There.

Re:The question we're all thinking.

[MBCook]

I saw this yesterday and chuckled a little, but it just raised a bunch of questions for me.

1. How good a journalist can you be if you trust Babelfish to translate stuff for you?
2. How could you rely on the answers you got since you'd have to run them through Babelfish also?
3. Could the interviewees not tell that it was a terrible machine translation? Are you telling me it was all perfect up until that sentence?

The first two are the ones that really puzzle me. Even if it were just a journalist at a high school paper, I would expect them to do better. Go ask for help from the local university or something. Babelfish? Really?

Re:The question we're all thinking.

[SatanicPuppy]

The real hilarity of it is, in the Netherlands, of all places, you can find tons of english speakers. Hell, the people who got the letter probably spoke decent english. Why, in gods name, would you do such an amatuer translation, and not just assume that someone will be able to read it.

Re:The question we're all thinking.

[torako]

Idiots who trust legendary untrustworthiness of Babelfish for the official less important diplomatic file of the work spark. There, I translated it to Dutch and back using Babelfish for some added clarity.

Re:The question we're all thinking.

[WormholeFiend]

Moreover, why not go ahead and pay a translation service? professional translation with proofreading is usually less than $0.30 USD per word.

My guess is A) they did not want to spend any money and/or B) they were in a hurry.

Plus, for people in a hurry, rush translation orders usually (at least) double in price.

I remember one time, one of my translator colleagues got a call from a client in a hurry, asking why the translation was taking so long and if his [translation] machine was broken.

My colleague explained that translations are done by people, not machines, which also explained the cost. He added in jest/sarcasm that if someone wanted an instantaneous and free translation, one simply needed to use Babelfish.

Five minutes later, the office admin came to his desk, saying that translation order had been cancelled.

We laughed our collective asses off when we took that cancelled document and had it translated by Babelfish.

"Helloh Bud"

[baldass_newbie]

I thought that was a new strain of Dutch hydro at first...
Silly me.

They're only journalists

[iknownuttin]

"How could this email possibly have been sent?" an Israeli diplomat told the Jerusalem Post. "These journalists have sparked a major incident."

How can journalists spark a major diplomatic event?

Re:They're only journalists

[Volante3192]

William Randolph Hearst?

Muhammed cartoons?

Watergate?

Re:They're only journalists

[owlnation]

How can journalists spark a major diplomatic event?

Absolutely. I do not believe this story for one single second.

Firstly, diplomats are diplomats because they are smart and non-reactionary. They would not react like this to mails that presumably came from a domain that identified the senders as foreign journalists -- or otherwise identified the journalists as being just that.

In addition to this, (having lived in Holland myself) the Dutch are generally pretty good with the fact that few people speak Dutch. They are also used to dealing in a number of languages, and the sometimes accidental comedy that ensues. It's clear that the senders of this mail were not native speakers -- thus why would anyone overreact?

Truth is -- they wouldn't.

I call Bullshit.

Re:They're only journalists

[Anonymous Coward]

There was no overreaction.

According to local reporters here is what happenened: 5 Israeli journalists were preparing to go to The Netherlands. One of them, who (it turned out) didnt speak any English, was tasked with sending questions ahead. He used Babelfish to translate the Hebrew. Unfortunately, in Hebrew the word for "of" is close to the word for "mother". So, lots of "mother" in the text. Dutch diplomats were puzzled (I've read the text, it looked a bit like "all your mother belong to us") and asked for clarification. After which the other journalists found out and it was reported.

All in all, no big incident (just mild curiosity), but the journalists involved were very ashamed when it all came out and seem to have postponed their trips for the moment. Too bad, could have been fun having them on talkshows :)

Huh?

[R2.0]

1) Why does anything involving a bunch of journalists have to do with diplomacy?

2) Does the country in question have a stick so far up their colective asses they couldn't laugh this off?

3) Or is the headline total flamebait, and I'm a sucker?

What do you expect?

[AltGrendel]

They used the "English to Dutch Jive" setting.

Could be worse...

[Kelson]

At least the words, "I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle" didn't drift across the conference table, resonating across time and space.

It's not like this hasn't happened before...

[jspenguin1]

Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.

could have been worse

[Rezazur]

Well, at least they didn't use the Vista speech recognition. That could end up as some MAJOR diplomatic misunderstanding...

Old saying...

[Sique]

"To err is human, to really screw up, you need a computer."

That said I remember a story I heard once from a neighbour. He was in Moscow for a conference, and in the morning he spilled coffee on his tie. So he was wondering i) where to get a necktie in the morning around the hotel and ii) what the hell the russian word for "necktie" is. He remembered: It was similar to the german word for the same thing. So he just tried, walked over to the nearest kiosque and asked the russian lady: "Kravat?" She was killing him with her stare, and he suddenly realized: kravat = bed. galstukh = necktie.

The translation was "flawed"

[vux984]

FTFA:

The beginning of the email read: 'Helloh bud, enclosed five of the questions in honor of the foreign minister: The mother your visit in Israel is a sleep to the favor or to the bed your mind on the conflict are Israeli Palestinian.'

The translation was flawed as Babelfish confused 'ha'im', the Hebrew word for 'if', with 'ha'ima', which means 'mother'.

Oh!!! Of course, that makes sense. Lets fix that right up: s/mother/if

Helloh bud, enclosed five of the questions in honor of the foreign minister: The if your visit in Israel is a sleep to the favor or to the bed your mind on the conflict are Israeli Palestinian.

I don't know about you, but I suspect there might be additional flaws.

Mod Parent Up!

[explosivejared]

So true! Journalists are a powerful group. They are the eyes and ears of the public and have a tremendous influence on public opinion. The lead up to the war in Iraq. No journalists asked questions, no politicians. Journalists wield the power to shape perception, and perception might as well be reality for most people.

Re:Mod Parent Up!

[lgw]

Journalists write fiction related to current events. It astounds me that they have any credibility left. Have you ever read manistream journalism about a technical issue that you were expert in? Total crap right? Do you think that's unusual somehow? Have you ever been interviewed, or read about events in which you participated? Total fabrication, right? Do you think that's somehow unusual?

Even when people complain about the press, they usually complain about the press failing to mislead the public in the correct direction. Amazing.

Oblig.

[rock217]

Jive Lady: Oh stewardess! I speak jive.
Randy: Oh, good.
Jive Lady: He said that he's in great pain and he wants to know if you can help him.
Randy: All right. Would you tell him to just relax and I'll be back as soon as I can with some medicine?
Jive Lady: Jus' hang loose, blood. She gonna catch ya up on da' rebound on da' med side.
Second Jive Dude: What it is, big mama? My mama no raise no dummies. I dug her rap!
Jive Lady: Cut me some slack, Jack! Chump don' want no help, chump don't GET da' help!
First Jive Dude: Say 'e can't hang, say seven up!
Jive Lady: Jive ass dude don't got no brains anyhow! Hmmph!

English As She Is Spoke - Twain is Proved WRONG!

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

"Nobody can add to the absurdity of this book, nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect."
--Mark Twain, on English as She Is Spoke

We have bested the Portuguese masters of muddle! It took the brilliance of a near-passing grade on the Turing test.

Babelfish Doesn't Translate Hebrew

[Slashdot Parent]

I can't find any Hebrew translation option on the babelfish website.

Furthermore, in the Jerusalem Post article, they point to a site babelfish.com, which appears to be a SEO site and doesn't do translations at all.

Compound that with the question of "Why would the Dutch Foreign Ministry care about an email from some random Israeli reporter?", and I'm guessing that this entire story is a hoax.

Yes, I realize that the Jerusalem Post is supposedly a high-quality paper, but the fact that they linked to a site (babelfish.com) that doesn't even do online translations makes me think that this wasn't their most well-researched and well-substantiated work. If this is really causing such a fuss in Holland, how come there is nothing in the Dutch press about this?

Re:Babelfish Doesn't Translate Hebrew

[zmooc]

It's not a hoax for sure; the Dutch government responded that it was real and that it didn't really bother them. They cancelled the trip the interview was about, however, since the journalists didn't speak english well enough for it to be of any use;-)

The translation with babelfish was from english to dutch - probably they used other software to translate from hebrew to english first.

But the part about the dutch government giving a fuck was definately a hoax.

If you can read dutch, here's a link. http://www.depers.nl/binnenland/120757/E-mail-Isra%C3%ABl-schokt-Verhagen.html

The original grammer nazi

[Joe the Lesser]

CENTURION: What's this, then? 'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'?
BRIAN: It-- it says, 'Romans, go home'.
CENTURION: No, it doesn't. What's Latin for 'Roman'? Come on!
BRIAN: Aah!
CENTURION: Come on!
BRIAN: 'R-- Romanus'?
CENTURION: Goes like...?
BRIAN: 'Annus'?
CENTURION: Vocative plural of 'annus' is...?
BRIAN: Eh. 'Anni'?
CENTURION: 'Romani'. 'Eunt'? What is 'eunt'?
BRIAN: 'Go'. Let--
CENTURION: Conjugate the verb 'to go'.
BRIAN: Uh. 'Ire'. Uh, 'eo'. 'Is'. 'It'. 'Imus'. 'Itis'. 'Eunt'.
CENTURION: So 'eunt' is...?
BRIAN: Ah, huh, third person plural, uh, present indicative. Uh, 'they go'.
CENTURION: But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the...?
BRIAN: The... imperative!
CENTURION: Which is...?
BRIAN: Umm! Oh. Oh. Um, 'i'. 'I'!
CENTURION: How many Romans?
BRIAN: Ah! 'I'-- Plural. Plural. 'Ite'. 'Ite'.
CENTURION: 'Ite'.
BRIAN: Ah. Eh.
CENTURION: 'Domus'?
BRIAN: Eh.
CENTURION: Nominative?
BRIAN: Oh.
CENTURION: 'Go home'? This is motion towards. Isn't it, boy?
BRIAN: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the... accusative! Accusative! Ah! 'Domum', sir! 'Ad domum'! Ah! Oooh! Ah!
CENTURION: Except that 'domus' takes the...?
BRIAN: The locative, sir!
CENTURION: Which is...?!
BRIAN: 'Domum'.
CENTURION: 'Domum'.
BRIAN: Aaah! Ah.
CENTURION: 'Um'. Understand?
BRIAN: Yes, sir.
CENTURION: Now, write it out a hundred times.
BRIAN: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir.
CENTURION: Hail Caesar. If it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off.

Linked story is wrong

[Minwee]

It couldn't have possibly been Babelfish, since Babelfish doesn't support Hebrew.

It may have been babylon.com, but this hasn't been confirmed.

Re:A more general saying would be

[Sique]

Computers are just like greek gods. They are capable, they are omnipotent, they just take everything you demand literally. Basicly computers are just levers mounted to your own incompetence, and they increase hundredfold every mistake you make.

Whole Story is BS

[Slashdot Parent]

I'm beginning to suspect that the whole story is a hoax.

First off, babelfish doesn't translate Hebrew, and with good reason. Hebrew is hard for a computer to translate. The three letters, Heh Aleph Mem could have just as easily been translated to "the nation" or "the nut" (as in nuts and bolts) as it was to "the mother". The only way to know the correct translation is to know the context of the word, which is not always easy.

Secondly, whomever wrote this hoax doesn't speak Hebrew very well. You don't have to go from "ha'im" to "ha'ima" to get from "if" to "the mother". In fact, the letters Heh Aleph Mem could be read as "ha'im" (if) or "ha'aim" (the mother) without having to add a letter to get all the way to "ha'ima".

Lastly, the Dutch are world-renowned for their extreme tolerance. There is no way a Dutch person would be deeply offended over something like this.

TFA is cr@p -- check The Register

[Half-pint HAL]

They translated it from Hebrew to English (not Dutch) -- hence the availability of quotes in English.

The Reg also initially made the mistake of trusting their source unquestioningly and didn't think to check whether Babelfish actually had a Hebrew option (I'm surprised how few of you checked!), but to their credit, they've updated. Check it out... there's a new culprit in the frame, but I won't name names for fear of libel suits if it's not true.

HAL.

Before they were led away...

[writermike]

Before the journalists were led away by police, one of them could be heard yelling, "My nipples explode with delight!"

Terms of service

[kryten_nl]

They should have read the Babelfish terms of service, they're probably liable now.

6. MEMBER CONDUCT
(...)
You agree to not use the Service to:
(...)
o. translate any correspondence, of any kind, which could lead to diplomatic rows, a chilling of diplomatic relations, armed hostilities, and/or Global Thermal Nuclear War.

Babelfish fun

[ukemike]

I like translating a sentence back and forth between languages.

english->spanish->english

I have taste to backwards translate an oration forwards and between the languages.

english->german->english

I may translate a sentence between languages back and forth.

english->russian->english

I love to transfer proposal back and forth between the languages.

english->greek->english

I wish a proposal back and forth between the languages.