In a previous post (Progress in Machine Translation – Backtranslation samples then and now), I used the technique of backtranslation to demonstrate the progress of machine translation over the last few years. In this post, I am using the same technique in an opposite way, to show how far machine translation still has to go. It’s also a great way to make fun of machine translation for those who relish this activity.
The website translationparty.com presents a simple concept. Enter an English phrase. The site translates it to Japanese, back to English, (backtranslation) back to Japanese, etc. in a loop until either the English phrase no longer changes (equilibrium state), or else it is looping through a series of repetitive phrases. What great fun!
Let’s take a few examples of quotes from Shakespeare:
Original English: « To be or not to be, that is the question. »
Equilibrium state after three iterations: « However, it is not a problem. » (Something seems to be lost in translation!)
Second example: « Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove »
Equilibrium after 13 iterations: « It doesn’t really look love marriage HF. tamper detection change delete. » (Delete that false lover! The machine appears to have understood perfectly.)
On the other hand, I tried this phrase: « This program makes fun of machine translation ». Ironically, the first backtranslation is immediately perfect: « This program makes fun of machine translation ».
The moral of the story: at the present time, if you want to use machine translation effectively, keep it simple, and avoid Shakespeare.
