Talking Dutch: Lost in Translation
Online translators aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, especially when it comes to local customs and idioms
Derek Blyth on dodgy language skills
I tried it out for a few weeks to see how helpful it really was, starting with a headline in De Standaard – Bret Easton Ellis verontschuldigt zich voor zware uithaal naar ‘The Loft’ – or, according to Google, “Bret Easton Ellis apologises for heavy swipe at The Loft.”
Not bad, I thought, although it sounds as if he socked someone in the face. Maybe he did.
A few days later, I read the headline in De Morgen: Belgische jobmotor sputtert. So I typed it into Google to see what came up. “Belgian jobmotor sputters,” it said. OK, but what is a jobmotor anyway?
Then I came across a business story – Stroom tot 30 procent duurder dankzij put van 1.7 miljard door groene stroom, which Google translated as: “current up to 30% more expensive thanks pit of 1.7 billion green power.”
I was beginning to see the weakness in Google’s technique. It can directly translate words from one language to another. But it struggles when it comes to expressions. One headline it really couldn’t handle was: Kan de baksteen in de maag blijven zitten? – which Google translated as “Brick in the stomach can remain.”
Which is, taken literally, pretty correct. But it doesn’t even begin to hint at what the sentence means. If you live here, though, it’s a phrase you hear often. Elke Belg wordt geboren met de baksteen in de maag – Every Belgian is born with a brick in the stomach.
The expression means that every Belgian wants to build their own house. You can see the results of this when you drive through any Flemish suburb. Every house is different from its neighbour. Some look like French renaissance castles. Others resemble Texas ranches with a touch of Barbie’s dream house.
“Not the crush”
Google was again no use at all with another headline I read in De Morgen – De baksteen in de maag van de Vlaming is niet aan het verpulveren, maar wordt kleiner – “The brick in the stomach of the Fleming is not the crush, but smaller,” the mighty search engine suggested.
The article that followed was based on a study of changing lifestyles in Flanders. Daaruit blijkt dat het droombeeld van een grote lap grond met een eigen fermette, pastoriewoning of designarchitectuurwoning stilaan aan het vervangen is – This shows that the dream of a large piece of land with a private farmhouse, vicarage or design architecture house gradually getting replaced, Google translated, a little incoherently.
The article continued: De droomhuis van de Vlaming is vandaag redelijk compact, energiezuinig, ligt in de omgeving van gemeenschappelijk groen en gemeenschappelijk vervoer. Google handled this fairly well – “The dream house of the Fleming today is relatively compact, energy efficient, situated in the area of common green and common transport.”
So it’s getting there. But, still, Google has a lot to learn about Flemings and their stomachs of bricks.
Photo: IngImage
