Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Translator Now Supports Yucatec Maya and Querétaro Otomi Language
First time accepted submitter BrianFagioli writes So, just how rare are these two languages? The Yucatec Maya language is spoken by less than 800,000 people, while the Querétaro Otomi is spoken by about 33,000. These are extremely low numbers in the grand scheme of things, which increases the risk of the languages dying out altogether. With that said, Microsoft's support of the languages in its translator software will essentially preserve it for posterity. Even if the languages end up fading away from actual use, it should live digitally forever.
Pis le calisse de Microsoft Translator comprends toujours pas l'osti de français ben normal.
Microsoft à marde. /joke
"Why did Microsoft take away the start menu in Windows 8? Metro is worse than bat shit."
No one will be able to tell if the translation is valid or not.
Obligatory Futurama reference.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Mix ba'al.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
This may be the most useful thing MS has done!
To Serve Man?
Submitter can't into English.
The valuable bit about rare languages from a linguistics perspective is the rare and unusual constructions. This does nothing to preserve that.
Test it out by translating to one of the new languages and then translating back to English. I hope it works better than most translation software I've seen. Otherwise we may be fooling ourselves about how much of the language is being preserved.
it won't be useful until klingon is in the mix
Kaspersky lab has identified a critical vulnurability in the translator . One exploited the attackers can replace everyday use words with obscene words like fetituka and kgrojhyakta which could make people speaking these languages chop off each others heads .
What's next? Trying to preserve dying languages like French? Sometimes you just have to let these things go.
1 It also does Klingon.
2. There does not seem to be a word in Yucatec Maya for quark.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
... if Klingon and pig latin are supported.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Then I also have Watfor compiler and ChiWriter in 5.5 inch floppy disks. I have my grad student work at UT in a unix mini tape. I also have some IOmega 100 MB disks. In my basement somewhere I have the backups of my WindowsNT machine in 3.5 inch floppy disks. All of them are digital. All of them are as dead as any corpse buried in a cemetery.
This is Microsoft we are talking about. I am seriously thinking of buying a new desktop because pretty soon I won't be able to buy a new Windows7 machine. Google will keep it in beta forever. Microsoft will slap a new version number of end of life it in 10 years.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
...the only thing people will know how to say in these languages will be "It looks like you're trying to write a letter."
What about Zapoteco, Nahuatl, Huichol, Sioux, Navajo, and the dozens of other native American languages? Our continent has had a rich history of cultures and languages, perhaps the most diverse in human history! FWIW, my niece is named after a Mayan goddess, Ixquic and my brother-in-law's ashes are interred in the Zapotec capital of Monte Alban in Oaxaca, Mexico and the largest boulevard in the city is named for him now. Also, my niece's husband is from Queretaro. I don't know if he speaks Otomi, but it is possible. I'll have to send him a link to this article.
Mexico is a culturally rich and diverse land. I have always loved my time spent there (first visit in 1955). I have a sister-in-law who is a bruja/curandera (a witch/healer also from Queretaro), extended family with a Mescal still in Oaxaca for 4 generations, a brother-in-law who was at one time head of the electrical engineering department at La Universidad Politechnico de Mexico - Mexico's MIT, a sister-in-law who is a retired Catholic nun, another sister-in-law who is a professor of chemical engineering at the Technical University of Oaxaca, and more than I can express. What I am so clumsily trying to say, is that all of these languages, and cultural history, if possible, should be saved. Huichol is still spoken in eastern Mexico, and Zapotec in Oaxaca. These are important languages and cultures. If we can save them, we should.
Still doesn't do Quechua, which is spoken by over 14 million people.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Translating the top 10 most common languages between each other is the most useful. Anything beyond that is window dressing.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
I wonder if we can now translate that Mel Gibson movie about the Maya?
Seriously though, adding another language with a completely different structure will force them to improve their translation engine. I find it interesting.
A.
MS's translator is generally good, I like using it on my phone, the camera translation is a particularly nice feature, but the one language which I'm constantly having to go to google for translations is latin. Why won't they add it in? For a lot of educated disciplines, science, law, latin is a used, and sometimes it's helpful for some decent translating.
Given the relative rarity of the language, and I'll assume isolation and technical illiteracy, there can't be a whole lot of material for them to build their translation engine on. How well does it work, and on esoteric topics? This might be a playground for conspiracy theorists looking for Mayan doomsday predictions when it generates strained translations.
TFS sent through a machine translation round trip back to English...
"Less than 800,000 people, Queretaro Otomi 'and talk about it, while 33,000. This increases the risk of completely disappearing language, which, in the grand scheme is very low numbers. He said, Microsoft languages for future generations to maintain this facility allows translation of the program. Will eventually fade from the actual use of language, even if it must be to live forever Digital"
Microsoft knows that today, nor yesterday and nor tomorrow are there any living humans who could validate the accuracy and lack thereof of these "translations" will ever be called upon by Microsoft to validate these Translations.
Microsoft must be throwing all this time, money and energy into these two rare languages as they are the only remaining market for Microsoft products. There cannot be another explanation, can there?
The translation is only text, there is no spoken translation in audio format, yet.
To be, or not to be, that is the question— Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them? http://www.microsoftdynamicser... http://www.microsoftdynamicser... http://www.microsoftdynamicser... http://www.nav2015.pl/ To die, to sleep— No more; and by a sleep, to say we end The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished.