This was the Chinese version of the magical wolf shirt on Amazon. I translated this ad and the English translation is really weird honestly, I can’t quite follow all of it. For example, the “Suitable for: Too large” was an interesting translation. The version is “loose version” and it uses “3D effect printing, super vision effect” which just doesn’t sound right! How weird.

Browsing through possible assignments, I saw this one, and was immediately reminded of Google Translate Sings.  It’s a fun channel that takes songs, runs them through Google Translate, and then translates them back into English to see what changes ensue (most of which are pretty humorous).  I decided to run our national anthem through Google Translate.  I first began by plugging in the English lyrics, and translating them to Armenian.  I then translated the Armenian results to Norwegian, followed by Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and then back into English.  The results are below.  I think most of the major changes came when having to translate between different alphabet systems, especially in regards to Japanese, which has a very different structure than the original English.  Personally, my favorite section is where it states that we must “overnight document” that our flag was still there.

Oh, you say that you can you can see,
By the light of dawn
We welcome the fact that with pride
Finally, I will flash the dusk.
Who broad stripes and bright stars
For dangerous fight
We saw on the wall
Galant?
And, it lights the rocket red!
Bomb will explode in the air!
Overnight document
That our flag was still there.
Oh, they are the Stars and Stripes are still referred to as the wave
In a free land
And brave of the house.

This assignment gave the task of entering a word into Google Translate that could not be properly translated to English.

Link to Assignment: http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/google-translate-fail/

Stars: 3.5

Result: Cwtch (Welsh) to Hug (English)

Process: With Google Translate as solid as it is, this was a bit more difficult than I expected. After testing a couple dozen words and phrases, I eventually remembered a word/expression from my time in Wales this past summer. While Cymru translates clearly to Wales, Cwtch is a Welsh idea with no perfect translation to English. Translate offers Hug as the only Enligh alternative, but that doesn’t quite sum it up. For a clearer explanation that I can give, see http://www.southwales.ac.uk/story/926/.

This assignment is to, using google translate, find something that does not translate well across languages and give some thought to it. Given the western theme of the class, I thought I might take it just a step further, and since many western saying are idioms, mix them up and see what I come out with after translating them to a few languages then back.  I used sayings from Legend of America.

• Don’t name a cow you plan to eat. > Armenian >Corsican > Chinese > Hawaiian >English =  I found ” ship.   (Ok, maybe that was too much.)
• There never was a horse that couldn’t be rode, there never was a rider that couldn’t be throwed.  > Estonian >Esperanto > Irish >English =  It was not a horse that can not be climbed the occupier could not be throwed.  (Ok, now not enough)
• Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from any direction. > Belarussian > Hebrew > Maltese > Vietnamese > Korean > English = At the front never a good cow, horse back or a fool from any direction.
  
•  The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with watches you shave his face in the mirror every morning.  >Afrikaans > Zulu > Arabic > Japanese > Chinese > English > Maybe they are difficult to deal with, every morning shave my face in the mirror of time.  (Mirror of time seems pretty metaphysical and philosophical, that quote might have even more wisdom now if you can access it.)

And now, for one grand finale, I shall find a substantially long saying and run it through every language in translate. I don’t know if it could get more jumbled than that first result, though.  Turns out it can.
“After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you’re full of bull, keep your mouth shut. ” Turned into “Taurus dark Puma statement of value Beckett  Robert B and soul.”
I can see how a few of those words appeared… but most of that is nonsense. Natural languages are a pretty interesting and complex things. Maybe I need the time mirror to sort all this out.

I created an email advertising for tourism in Tombstone, Arizona, a town I’ve used a couple times in past assignments. This assignment uses the website Vertical Response to create this ad, and actually allows you to send it out to people, but a) I didn’t have emails to send it to, and b) I don’t want to spam random people with an ad. Tombstone is home to a lot of history: it earned the reputation as a tough western town, and boomed for a while due to its silver mine. It almost became a ghost town, but tourism has revitalized it, sustain its modest population by telling newcomers its history. I couldn’t think of a better place to advertise, especially given the context of this course.

Since this was done through a website, the process was very easy. It had a wide arrangement of templates, so I just picked the one that fit the best. I got pictures off of Google, and highlighting what I thought as majors draws, attractions, or distinguishing factors. I created the ad in context of the town’s boom period, although it could have easily been made for current attraction.