English - Chinese - English

The results of translations from Chinese to English are quite often hilarious, and so are translations performed by automatic translation tools. So why not combine the two for some fun?

Reportedly, when the first bi-directional English-Chinese translation computer was finally completed, the computer scientists and electrical engineers fed the phrase "Out of sight; Out of mind" into the machine, then fed the output Chinese translation back in. The response was "Invisible idiot".

Translation technology has likely improved since then, and has thus unfortunately become less funny. To test this, I ran a bunch of English sentences through Yahoo's Babelfish English-Chinese translator, and then ran the resulting Chinese back through the Chinese-English translator. Here are some funny results that came up:

Out of sight, out of mind
Outside line of sight, outside brains

I had a gut feeling that something was up.
I have an intestines feeling which something rises.

The sunset took my breath away.
The sunset makes me be dumbfounded.

To be or not to be, that is the question.
The survival destroys, that is a question.

When the smoke cleared, they were gone.
When the smoke eliminated, they go.

They are in dire need of organ donors.
They are the urgently needed organ subscribers.

It was a heart wrenching sight.
It is the heart wailsome sight.

All the while, the president had been lining his pockets.
President has been situated his pocket.

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer.
Becomes richly richer, becomes poorly poorer.

Reluctantly, she opened the fridge.
She has turned on the refrigerator reluctantly.

The visitors did not behave well at all.
The visitor simply does not have well to display.

She was very pretty, and did not look her age at all.
She is very pretty and simply has not looked at her age.

He had never done this before, but now he was finally going to realize his life-long dream.
He has not made before the surface, but he plans the experience life-long dream now finally he.

He vowed to undo the damage he had caused.
He pledged that cancels other party has become damage.

Obesity is an increasing problem among teenagers and young adults.
The obesity is in the youth and a young adult's growth question.

Too little too late.
Too few queen mothers.

He did not like it when other people would put words in his mouth.
When other people in his mouth, will invest the word he not to like.

In many cities, parking space has increasingly become an issue.
In many cities, the parking spot has become the question more and more.

Suddenly the lights went out.
The light closed suddenly.

Our research of the living cell has barely scratched the surface.
Our survival cell's research has not grasped the surface nearly.

By xorbit, last changed on January 22, 2009 // E-mail to a friend //