Apocryphal story from the Sixties:
A state-of-the-art translation program is challenged to render into Russian and back to English:
"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
The result:
"The vodka is fine, but the meat has spoiled."
Let's see how the Babelfish does:
Translated to French and back:
L'esprit est disposé, mais la chair est faible.
The spirit is laid out, but the flesh is weak.
German:
Der Geist wird ausgebritten, aber das Fleisch ist schwach.
The spirit becomes ausgebritten, but the flesh is weak.
Italian:
Lo spirito diventa ausgebritten, ma la carne č debole.
The spirit becomes ausgebritten, but the meat is weak person.
Portuguese:
O espírito torna-se ausgebritten, mas a carne é pessoa fraca.
Oops. The babel fish is being particularly unreliable right now. Perhaps try again after a cup of coffee?
My goodness. "Unreliable" isn't he word for it! Looks as though we haven't made much progress in the last forty years -- at least, not in this field :-)
