What happens when an English phrase is translated (by computer) back and forth between 5 different languages? The authors of [Babelfish] probably never intended this application of their program. As of September 2003, translation software is almost good enough to turn grammatically correct, slang-free text from one language into grammatically incorrect, barely readable approximations in another. But the software is not equipped for 10 consecutive translations of the same piece of text. The resulting half-English, half-foreign, and totally non sequitur response bears almost no resemblance to the original. Remember the old game of "Telephone"? Something is lost, and sometimes something is gained. Try it for yourself!
Original English Text:
There's no business like show business like no business I know.
Translated to Japanese:
私が知っているビジネス無しように芸能界のようなビジネスがない。
There is no business which I have known there is no business like the sea urchin entertainment world.
...
Translated to German:
Ich hatte nicht gewußt, daß der Handel nicht die kommerzielle wahrscheinliche Welt der Unterhaltung des Seeigels hat.
I had not known that the trade does not have the commercial probable world of the maintenance of the sea-hedgehog.
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