Not precise the vomit but with aspect similar
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I'm not sure whether this is a joke or a genuine example of problematic machine translation, but either way, it's funny.
It appears to be a question put to the "shibboleth-users" mailing list, starting with an apology:
This is question, engish is faulty therefore the right excused is requested. Thank google to translate to help. SORRY!!!!!
Rarely has an apology for poor translation been more appropriate, because it continues:
At often, the goat-time install a error is vomit. To how many times like the wind, a pole, and the dragon? Install 2,3 repeat, spank, vomit blows
14:14:01.869 – INFO
[edu.internet2.middleware.shibboleth.common.config.profile.JSPErrorHandlerBeanDefinitionParser:45]
– Parsing configuration for JSP error handler.
Not precise the vomit but with aspect similar, is vomited concealed in fold of goat-time lumber? goat-time see like the wind, pole, and dragon? This insult to father's stones? JSP error handler with wind, pole, dragon with intercourse to goat-time? Or chance lack of skill with a goat-time?
Please apologize for your stupidity. There are a many thank you
There is indeed a shibboleth-users mailing list, "Used for discussion of Shibboleth deployment issues". And this message does indeed seem to have been posted to it by 松本武 on 9/21/2010 at 3:02 p.m.
I conjecture that "vomit" means "error message". As for the goat, the wind, the pole, the dragon, and father's stones, I apologize for my stupidity.
[Hat tip to Thomas Thurman.]
Pflaumbaum said,
September 23, 2010 @ 7:25 am
I think it's a parody. "Please apologise for your stupidity" is the giveaway.
Nanani said,
September 23, 2010 @ 7:30 am
A machine translation would not have spelling errors like "Engish". This sounds human made.
fs said,
September 23, 2010 @ 7:31 am
Judging from the email address of the sender, his name is probably Matsumoto Takeshi, and so his message was possible translated from Japanese, in which case vomit would probably be "spit out", as in "to spit out an error". The same Japanese word (吐く) is used for disgorgement as well as the speaking of lies or other distasteful words, much as "spit" is used in English.
Pflaumbaum said,
September 23, 2010 @ 7:45 am
I'm not sure the 'Engish' is a sign of fabrication – at face value, this is by someone who has a little English, which they used for the intro before going to Google Translate for the technical stuff.
The presence of goats, though, does makes me suspicious – goats have wandered over the years from pastoral settings and nowadays tend to congregate in satirical ones.
That and the vomit. If it was one or the other…
unekdoud said,
September 23, 2010 @ 7:49 am
The second response: google translate is lousy.
(But it isn't that lousy!)
My guesses, in decreasing order of confidence:
goat: start/first
vomit: error, popup
precise: clear
2,3 repeat: 2-3 times
chance: perhaps
lumber: log (in the sense of record)
wind/pole/dragon: yes/no/cancel (or something similar)
intercourse: reference, relation? dialog?
fold: pages?
inter, spank, father's stones: I really have no idea. Perhaps some of thee represent the words in the error message: 'parsing' and 'configuration'.
Most probably, the original message was written entirely in Japanese kana, which usually causes trouble for translation programs. (the email address confirms that the writer is Japanese)
Joe said,
September 23, 2010 @ 7:52 am
Couple of clues: "lumber" may mean "log" and "goat-time lumber" may mean "idp process log" which is the main error log of shibboleth. The error message seems to occur when he's trying to install the idp process.
Jon Weinberg said,
September 23, 2010 @ 8:58 am
So far, two folks on the list have posted responses urging the questioner to repeat his question in Japanese.
Henning Makholm said,
September 23, 2010 @ 8:58 am
My bet is on parody, but it could also be that the asker is using Google Translate as a dictionary (that is, one word at a time, and getting a single result for each). That could conceivably give results this bad.
Janice Byer said,
September 23, 2010 @ 9:48 am
It's a joke, imo, and a very funny one. A writer with such poor command of English would've had to use a dictionary to have spelled all the words correctly, in which case, it follows it'd be a dictionary translating from the writer's native language. In that case, the number of inadvertently suggestive, silly, and clever phrases seems to exceed what's conceivable in a seriously crafted business communication.
Take, for example, "This insult to your father's stones." It's a hoot, yet note how it has no words that relate to anything else in the letter, but even so, is perfectly phrased, spelled and punctuated.
My sense, from having taught ESOL, is it's a brilliant parody written by a native speaker of English.
Dan T. said,
September 23, 2010 @ 10:14 am
One might refer to a system "throwing up" an error message, which could be where references to vomit came in.
Alex said,
September 23, 2010 @ 10:36 am
This may not add anything material to the discussion, but here's what comes out from running it back through Google Translate (English -> Japanese -> English):
"Precision as well as the side without vomiting, or vomiting are hidden in times when the goat of the timber? Time is like a goat, poles, please see the dragon and the like? This insult to the father's stone? The wind, the time Paul and fuck a goat and a dragon JSP error handler? Time and skills you have no chance of a goat?
Please apologize for your stupidity. Many thanks."
rpsms said,
September 23, 2010 @ 10:38 am
Surely someone familiar with japanese can dig up a "Jargon File" for the japanese language?
if this is the real deal, then "goat-time lumber" must surely mean load(boot)-time log
Geoffrey K. Pullum said,
September 23, 2010 @ 11:27 am
Laughing till the tears ran down my face (I'm a sucker for a good giggle) I couldn't resist taking what Alex got (two comments above) and running it through Google into Japanese and back out again. I got this:
"Not only accurate, no vomiting, side of the timber when the goats are hidden with the times or vomiting? Time like goats, poles, etc. Please refer to the dragon? This insult to his father's stone? Wind, and the dragon and goat sex JSP error handler Paul hour? Time and skills, there is no possibility of a goat?
We apologize for your stupidity. Thanks."
Still no sign of any sense. And I apologize for wasting your time with this stupidity. But it did make me laugh. And I need that at the end of a hard teaching day.
Mark F. said,
September 23, 2010 @ 11:41 am
If it is a joke, then we have experienced the rare phenomenon of finding an internet joke at its origin, since this one was quite clearly at least customized to the Shibboleth list, and looks like it was written for it.
I'm guessing it's real.
groki said,
September 23, 2010 @ 12:05 pm
"This insult to father's stones?" is like a combination of "god's balls!" and "WTF?"
and "Thank google!" is a nice modern euphemism for "Thank god!"
here's a plug for translationparty.com, which I first heard about on LL: enter a phrase, and translationparty will iterate repeatedly between Japanese and English in Google Translate until it finds equilibrium (or decides the process probably won't converge). plenty of time-wasting giggles there.
Cameron said,
September 23, 2010 @ 12:13 pm
I suspect it's not an "error message" that is thrown (up) but an exception, which is a language-level entity that in response to which a system might write an error message to a log file or screen. The common idiom for English-speaking programmers working in languages like Java and C# is that a method "throws an exception". The metaphor continues insofar as the object that calls a method and attempts to handle the error condition the exception represents is said to "catch an exception". It seems in this case that "Exception" has been translated into Japanese using a word meaning that-which-is-thrown, and if the word for throw can also mean throw-up, them it makes sense that it could be re-translated into English as "vomit".
Will said,
September 23, 2010 @ 12:23 pm
Probably real. Google translate tends to vomit on jargon.
Perhaps the writer meant:
Often, I get a program error on install. How much do I have to configure? I tried a re-install 2 or three times, and it brings up errors.
Not the same error, but similar: are errors hidden in the program log? A problem with the calling object? JSP error handler configuration connection at runtime? Or perhaps a misunderstanding of the program?
Note that I've translated "with the wind, pole and dragon" as "configuration" and "with intercourse" as "connection".
I'm not intimately familiar with shibboleth – I thought it was an authentication program – but I've read a lot of software help emails.
Tim Silverman said,
September 23, 2010 @ 12:26 pm
OK, here is the Google translate English->Japanese->English, starting with Geoff Pullum's version, and iterating until it stabilises:
As well as vomiting, the goat timber is hidden exact times and vomiting? Time is like a goat, and the pole, you see the dragon? This insult to his father's stone? Wind, dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu time in JSP? Time and skills, or there is no possibility of a goat?
We apologize for your stupidity. Thank you.
************************************************************************
As with vomiting, wood and goat, which is to hide the exact time and vomiting? Time, Paul is like a goat, please refer to your dragon? This insult to his father's stone? The wind dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu JSP time? Time, skills, or there is no possibility of a goat?
We apologize for your stupidity. Thank you.
************************************************************************
As with vomiting, goats, wood and What to conceal the exact time and vomiting? Time, as Paul goat, please refer to What is your Dragon? This insult to his father's stone? The wind dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu JSP time? Time, skill, chance or there is no goat?
We apologize for your stupidity. Thank you.
************************************************************************
As with vomiting, goats, and wood to hide the exact time and vomiting do? Time, Paul goats, please see the dragon are you? This insult to his father's stone? The wind dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu JSP time? Time, technology, What is the chance he or goat?
We apologize for your stupidity. Thank you.
************************************************************************
Vomiting, as well as goats, wood, do you want to hide the exact time and vomiting? Time, goats Paul, you please see What is a dragon? This insult to his father's stone? The wind dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu JSP time? Time, technology, what chance do his or goat?
We apologize for your stupidity. Thank you.
************************************************************************
Vomiting, as well as goats, wood, do you want to hide the exact time and vomiting? Time, Paul Goat, please see the dragon you like? This insult to his father's stone? The wind dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu JSP time? Time, technology does not have any chance, he or goat?
We apologize for your stupidity. Thank you.
************************************************************************
Vomiting, as well as goats, wood, do you want to hide the exact time and vomiting? Time, Paul goat, please refer to your favorite dragon? This insult to his father's stone? The wind dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu JSP time? Time, the technology does not have a chance, he or goat?
We apologize for your stupidity. Thank you.
Tim Silverman said,
September 23, 2010 @ 12:26 pm
And here is the somewhat different iteration of just the first paragraph:
As well as vomiting, the goat timber is hidden exact times and vomiting? Time is like a goat, and the pole, you see the dragon? This insult to his father's stone? Wind, dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu time in JSP? Time and skills, or there is no possibility of a goat?
***********************************************************************
Vomiting, as well as wood and goat, and vomiting are hidden exact time? Time is like a goat, if Paul, please refer to the dragon? This insult to his father's stone? The wind dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu JSP time? I have the time or skill, there is no possibility of a goat?
***********************************************************************
Vomiting, wood and goats, as well as vomiting, are hidden the exact time? Time is like a goat, if Paul, please refer to the dragon? This insult to his father's stone? The wind dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu JSP is the time? I have the time or skills, or there is no possibility of a goat?
***********************************************************************
Vomiting, wood, as well as goats, vomiting, that are hidden to the correct time? Paul, like the goat time please see if the dragon, what is? This insult to his father's stone? The wind dragon and goat sex JSP Erahandoraporu What is time? I could have a goat or not the time or skills?
***********************************************************************
Vomiting, as well as wood, goat, vomiting, that are hidden in the correct time? Time as a dragon and goat please, what if, Paul, please see? This insult to his father's stone? The wind dragon and goat sex Erahandoraporu JSP What time is it? I'm also not a goat, would have the time or skills?
***********************************************************************
Vomiting as well, trees, goats, vomiting, are hidden right time? Time as a dragon and a goat, what if, Paul, please see please? This insult to his father's stone? Dragon and goat sex when something like JSP Erahandoraporu What is it? I am not a goat, I'll have the time or skills?
***********************************************************************
Well, trees, goats, vomiting, vomiting that is hidden at an appropriate time? What time, Paul, please see if your dragon and a goat? This insult to his father's stone? Dragon and goat sex JSP Erahandoraporu What is it like? My Goat, I guess I'll have the time or skills?
***********************************************************************
Well, trees, goats, nausea and vomiting that are hidden at the right time? What time, Paul, please see if the goat and the dragon? This insult to his father's stone? Dragon and Goat sex JSP Erahandoraporu What do you like? My goat, I do not think I have time and skills?
***********************************************************************
Well, trees, goats, nausea and vomiting that are hidden in a timely manner? What time, Paul, please visit. And the dragon or goat? This insult to his father's stone? Dragon and Goat sex Erahandoraporu JSP What do you like? My goat, I do not have the time and skills not you?
richard howland-bolton said,
September 23, 2010 @ 12:29 pm
I did the 'invisible imbecile' experiment for a radio essay some years ago.
In the event that it might possibly give GKP a bijou giggle here's a link:
http://howlandbolton.com/essays/read_more.php?sid=14
Tim Silverman said,
September 23, 2010 @ 12:31 pm
If you ask me, the technology does not have a chance, please refer to your favorite dragon.
I'm still trying to replicate the version in which you had to hide behind a tree while vomiting twice. I'm also having to mop tears of laughter from my keyboard.
Will said,
September 23, 2010 @ 12:40 pm
I'm going to try another one, because it's more ambiguous than reading Horace:
Every time I install the parser, it throws up an exception. I reconfigured it each time. Two or three times, I've installed it, and the error comes up.
[error]
That's not the same message, but similar. Are these messages somewhere in the parser log? Does the parser see the configuration? Is it a problem with the calling object? Is it the way the parser is configured with respect to the JSP error handler? Or is the parser screwed up?
Jon Meltzer said,
September 23, 2010 @ 12:47 pm
All Internet discussions ultimately devolve to goatsex.
Barrett D said,
September 23, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
I think it is real. There is a comment…
"Please send your question in Japanese. As amusing as this is, it cannot be
semantically decrypted
–Keith"
Barrett D said,
September 23, 2010 @ 1:01 pm
goat-time lumber is probably run-time log.
Barrett D said,
September 23, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
And vomit is probably simply "output"
"At often, the goat-time install a error is vomit"
So everytime he starts/installs the program, it outputs an error.
I could see how wind and pole might be related in the sense of "horizontal" and "vertical" but i don't know how dragon fits in with those two. Though, dragon sort of LOOKS like diagonal?
Barrett D said,
September 23, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
or maybe "wind" and "pole" is "row" and "column" (as errors usually give the row and column position of the error in your script)
Jon Meltzer said,
September 23, 2010 @ 1:31 pm
"A error is vomit" must be "an error is thrown up", which is a Java language idiom for having an error in a subroutine passed up to the main program.
Chandra said,
September 23, 2010 @ 2:59 pm
My guess is that it's not a joke. The grammar is a tad too screwy – good parody is usually just obvious enough so that most people can get in on the joke. This seems more like machine-generated randomness to me.
As for the "insult to father's stones" and "intercourse to goat-time", maybe the writer was in fact using some expletives in Japanese to express his frustration – i.e. "is this error f*ing with my run-time log", or something to that effect?
msH said,
September 23, 2010 @ 3:05 pm
Wow this is fun! I have a terrible desire to decrypt this and find the answer to his question.
I can guess that "pole" possibly should have been "flag".
I bet "lumber" should have been "log".
That gives us a clue for "goat-time". If "time" is correct then the other word should be something indicating when the log was generated. Possible candidates that suggest themselves are "run-time" or "execution-time" or "compile-time". Could any of these involve a japanese word (misspelled?) that might be mistranslated as "goat"?
Luckily he gave us the error message itself, which we can feed into Google and discover that Shibboleth is a software product that does the widely useful, mundane job of providing single-sign-on to various services on a network.
That means that the original message might have included the words "Apache" and "Tomcat" – what do these look like in Japanese?
Rubrick said,
September 23, 2010 @ 3:10 pm
I got your goat-time lumber right here.
Sili said,
September 23, 2010 @ 3:10 pm
Pity that goattime has nothing to do with the Australian Dreamtime.
msH said,
September 23, 2010 @ 3:34 pm
I notice that an answer has been suggested here:
http://www.musicradar.com/forum/showthread.php?p=820943
(this may well be a deadpan joke, I don't know the software so I can't tell, but it sounds perfectly plausible. It's the sort of answer someone who knew the software might be able to give in response to just the "install" and the error message, and it's the kind of answer I'd expect for an error message that looks a lot like "I can't find or parse the file that is supposed to tell me what I'm supposed to do here").
And a Finnish version exists here, although that could be someone feeding it through the translator again for amusement:
http://comnet.pastebin.com/gEvWtpDb
Will said,
September 23, 2010 @ 3:38 pm
Found a few people experiencing similar problems that give a lot of insight into decrypting this:
https://lists.internet2.edu/sympa/arc/shibboleth-users/2010-03/msg00271.html
http://shibboleth.1660669.n2.nabble.com/IDP-2-1-5-broken-on-Tomcat-6-0-26-6-0-24-td4770240.html
I think "goat-time" actually has nothing to do with time, but actually means "identity provider" (or idp).
I get the impression that "wind, pole, and dragon" means something like "execution stack". and "insult to the father's stones" means something like "further up the chain".
By making these substitutions and referencing the other threads, I'm starting to get a sense of what he's asking.
He's having a problem when trying to install the identity provider, and sees some errors in the log, but it's not clear to him where exactly the exception is originating. He's wondering if, based on the series of similar error messages like the one he posted, the error is on the IDP side, or on the JSP side.
Will said,
September 23, 2010 @ 3:51 pm
Does this forum have some sort of automatic filtering of messages — if so, what triggers it? I'm trying to post an attempt at deciphering the message and my post is just not showing up.
Will said,
September 23, 2010 @ 3:54 pm
Found a few people experiencing similar problems that give a lot of insight into decrypting this:
[two urls have been redacted to see if that allows this post to go through]
I think "goat-time" actually has nothing to do with time, but actually means "identity provider" (or idp).
I get the impression that "wind, pole, and dragon" means something like "execution stack". and "insult to the father's stones" means something like "further up the chain".
By making these substitutions and referencing the other threads, I'm starting to get a sense of what he's asking.
He's having a problem when trying to install the identity provider, and sees some errors in the log, but it's not clear to him where exactly the exception is originating. He's wondering if, based on the series of similar error messages like the one he posted, the error is on the IDP side, or on the JSP side.
Will said,
September 23, 2010 @ 4:01 pm
Here is the first of the redacted urls: https://lists.internet2.edu/sympa/arc/shibboleth-users/2010-03/msg00271.html
Will said,
September 23, 2010 @ 4:03 pm
And the second one did not post — which means it was the second one causing causing my post to be blocked. Strange, since the url doesn't look problematic in any way to me.
George said,
September 23, 2010 @ 4:11 pm
Any word-for-word translation using a dictionary with little knowledge of the target language can easily get really mangled (I suspect most foreign language teachers have seen many such examples). And, I suspect the more distant the two languages, the more mangled the translation can be.
I semi-randomly picked a sentence from a recent Egyptian Arabic news magazine and used an Arabic-English dictionary to translate:
tasrihaat ‘amriikiia ‘an misr tatajauwaz 'a'raaf dibluumaasiia
American registrations via Egypt walk pass diplomatic horses’ manes.
(A better translation: American statements concerning Egypt exceed customary diplomatic practice.)
AlexB said,
September 23, 2010 @ 4:13 pm
To how many times like the wind, a pole, and the dragon?
Install 2,3 repeat,
spank, vomit blows
To me, that looks like a translated haiku
Joe said,
September 23, 2010 @ 5:19 pm
More clues: "2;3" is the version of shibboleth he's trying to install. "Repeat, spank" might mean restart. Will's "further up the chain" for "insult to father's stones" sounds right since the kanji for "insult" also translates to "tyke" (at least in Google it does) and father's stones may mean "parent process" or "parent node".
"Wind, pole, dragon" is still a mystery. I'm guessing it's a translation of some acronym (like LDAP or UNIX).
Joe said,
September 23, 2010 @ 5:22 pm
@AlexB: 松本武 is indeed a haiku poet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takashi_Matsumoto_(haiku_poet).
rpsms said,
September 23, 2010 @ 5:45 pm
I thought 2,3, repeat meant he tried installing 2 or 3 times.
The problem with the acronym possibility is that typical computer acronyms like LAMP, LDAP, apache, unix, linux, is that they are left as-is in roman type. At least it is in the japanese version of the apache documentation and a japanese apache newsgroup I came across. (Google does a much better job translating these docs by the way)
jc said,
September 23, 2010 @ 6:13 pm
"The presence of goats, though, does makes me suspicious – goats have wandered over the years from pastoral settings and nowadays tend to congregate in satirical ones."
Or they could just blend into the landscape and become normal. Our neighborhood has lots of kids, for example, and nobody thinks it at all odd or pastoral.
Jon Meltzer said,
September 23, 2010 @ 7:13 pm
I think the first sentence is
"At initialization, a run-time exception is thrown"
though I don't know how "run" became goat" …
Ian said,
September 23, 2010 @ 8:18 pm
Several people have now suggested "lumber" = "log". The problem with that is that it's a mistake in the wrong direction. The word for a bit of lumber and the word for a record kept by a computer program are homonyms in English, but in Japanese they are quite different.
Someone with a poor grasp of Japanese trying to translate from English might possibly render "log" in the latter sense as 丸太 maruta instead of the correct ログ rogu. But it's hard to see how the opposite mistake would occur; 丸太 is not used to refer to files, and ログ is not used to refer to lumber; and, in any case, the first translation any software is likely to suggest for either word is "log".
Barrett D said,
September 23, 2010 @ 8:51 pm
Could wind/pole/dragon be read/write/execute? I think insult to father stones is definitely like a conflict/permission issue with the parent node. or maybe they are just variables that aren't in scope
I'd really love some closure to this, I really want to know what the problem is.
Ethan said,
September 23, 2010 @ 10:19 pm
If this is for real, then I suggest that much of the hilarity comes from feeding the Japanese text to an automated translation tool in the form of kana rather than kanji. For example, "wind+pole" is ふうぼう which is homonymous to a word meaning "appearance", "dragon" is りゅう which is homonymous to a word meaning, more or less, "method". But I can't come up with any normal-sounding Japanese phrase that jams these together, and I don't see any homonyms for "goat-time" (やぎじ). On the other hand, perhaps "goat" shouldn't have been translated at all; perhaps it was originally ごと = "goto".
[(myl) Someone who reads and writes Japanese (you?) should write to the author of the original post (whose email address can be found here) and ask what the Japanese text of his query was.]
fs said,
September 24, 2010 @ 12:23 am
Judging by the timezone from which the OP was sent, it seems that Mr. Matsumoto Takeshi lives in one of Nova Scotia, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Amazonas, Bolivia, Continental Chile, and Paraguay. Hmm.
myl: I have sent off an email to the OP as you suggested. Hopefully mine won't be the umpteenth email he's received about this…
Neal McBurnett said,
September 24, 2010 @ 2:24 am
Sounds like a very creative and humorous bout of poetic translating inspired by a frustrating error message – especially given that the name is that of a famous Haiku poet as Joe notes.
I like combining Ethan's and Barrett's and Will's ideas. "goat-time" == "identity provider" (idp) which is what Shibboleth is all about would have been too juicy to pass up. Somehow "appearance method" may be related to a procedure-call traceback.
fs said,
September 24, 2010 @ 3:16 am
Actually, Joe is incorrect, as the person's name seems to be Takeshi, while the poet is Takashi. Indeed 武 can be read as たかし (Takashi), at least according to Jim Breen's ENAMDICT, but that is a much less common reading of 武 than たけし (Takeshi) is, and furthermore the email address of the person in question includes the string "take", suggesting to me that his name is in fact Takeshi and not Takashi.
Joe said,
September 24, 2010 @ 8:52 am
@fs: looks like this was yet another google translate casualty: http://translate.google.com/#ja|en|%E6%9D%BE%E6%9C%AC%E6%AD%A6
I think that there may be something else going on other than a straight up google translate – hence the suspicion of parody. Much of my suggestions come from some knowledge of shibboleth: JSPErrorHandler INFO event shown is in fact a idp process log entry and the latest version of shibboleth is 2.3.
Twitter Trackbacks for Language Log » Not precise the vomit but with aspect similar [upenn.edu] on Topsy.com said,
September 24, 2010 @ 11:58 am
[…] Language Log » Not precise the vomit but with aspect similar languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2651 – view page – cached I'm not sure whether this is a joke or a genuine example of problematic machine translation, but either way, it's funny. Tweets about this link […]
msH said,
September 24, 2010 @ 1:41 pm
I think the "log" thing makes sense if it started out in English and was translated in and out of Japanese as a joke, doesn't it? Otherwise I agree, it doesn't make sense. If it had really started in Japanese, I too would have expected a better translation as Google is usually quite sensible with technical language. I have no inkling how the Japanese writing systems affect this.
ndk said,
September 24, 2010 @ 1:55 pm
With the help of the Japanese federation GakuNin, we're trying to track down the individual in question to offer him all the assistance and (technical | emotional) support we can. It appears to be authentic.
http://www.nanoquine.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/comp-f.html
In full disclosure, I spent 3 deliriously happy months in Tokyo working with those fine folks. By month 2, they told me that Gyugaru no Honyaku completely sucks and that everyone uses Ekusaito's. I probably crafted something worse than this.
But it's fun to be briefly famous on the linguistic intarwebz. Figures my 15 minutes of fame would be tinged with vomit.
fs said,
September 24, 2010 @ 3:43 pm
I take it that you are Nate Klingenstein? Your response to the OP is honestly a bit wonky too, haha – "Google's translators [people] are incompetent, and they are inferior goods. lol Please directly mail me. You are able to write in Japanese. I intend to solve your problems." Hopefully he doesn't take it as sarcasm :P
BTW, Google Translate would be グーグル翻訳 (Guuguru Hon'yaku). Excite! does indeed have a somewhat superior 機械翻訳 service, which is based on Fujitsu's ATLAS technology.
If I may ask, what points to the 松本武 listed on the page you linked as being the OP? It doesn't seem like a particularly rare name, and I don't see his email address listed on the page…
Nickp said,
September 24, 2010 @ 3:58 pm
Re: Ian's comment above,
If lumber is derived from log, that suggests the message started as English, was automatically translated into another language via a translator which thought "log" referred to part of a tree, and was then translated back into English. Perhaps there was an intermediate translation there. If one takes computer jargon in English, translates it into Japanese and then back again to English, what does it look like.
fs said,
September 24, 2010 @ 4:16 pm
@Ian, Nickp: No – "log" is a loanword from English that has firmly established itself in Japanese computer terminology (albeit as ログ, "rogu"). It is the most appropriate word in Japanese to refer to, for example, an error log, and is used commonly for such purposes. Even supposing it was the source of "lumber", it doesn't follow that the original message was in English.
Eric said,
September 24, 2010 @ 7:19 pm
As somebody who supports a Shibboleth environment, it seems worth pointing out that the default error pages that get vomited at you for inexplicable reasons on occasion actually contain a dragon.
Well, I believe it's a griffin, not a dragon, but even native English speakers will call it a dragon or any number of other animal names…
ndk said,
September 24, 2010 @ 9:27 pm
"If I may ask, what points to the 松本武 listed on the page you linked as being the OP?"
Yes, I'm Nate. Backchannel communications; and I agree it's not a rare name. We're working on it. If so many didn't use Google's email in addition to their translators it'd be settled by now.
You're right about the mistakes I made. Here's the point-by-point review I got, just for those who enjoy language. Which, I surmise, is a few of you folks here.
">
>`Googleの翻訳者は、無能であって、下品です。 (笑) (So So.)
>I guessed your meaning, and I also add small sentence, it would be more easy understanding to him.
>1.Googleでの翻訳は、意味をなしていません。私達はあなたの質問を理解出来 ませんでした。
>(It is polite, and doesn't imply the Google criticism. )
>1.The translation by google was make no sence. We did not understand your question.
>*This is my
>2.Googleでの翻訳は役に立ちません。翻訳者は、無能で、あなたの日本語を下 品な英語に変えただけです。
>(It is kind of Google criticism !:D
>*But you used “(笑)”, Therefore everyone think it imply joke!)
>2.The translation by Google is not useful.
>The translator was incompetence, The translator only changed your Japanese into vulgar English.
>
>`直接私にメールしてくださ い。(Good!)
>
>`あなたは日本語で書くことができます。(Good!)
>
>`私はあなたを助けるつもりです。(Good!)
>
>`Ja ne,
>(Right, but the this word is for friend! But I think it is good! Just in case, Here is a polite one.
>;それでは、どうぞよろしくお願いします or 以上、よろしくお願いします。) "
Timo said,
September 25, 2010 @ 1:57 am
I couldn't resist translating the Finnish version back to English by hand, trying to keep the errors in grammar and punctuation more or less intact also in my translation. The meaning seems to be is escaping further and further.
"This is a question, Engish dictionary I have failed, is liberated the justice
The requested. Thank you Google Translate. Sorry!!!!!
In many cases the Installation errors' goat vomits. You can reiterate like
Wind, Paul, Dragon? Repeat a few install, hit, Blow vomit
14:14:01.869 – Info
[Edu.internet2.middleware.shibboleth.common.config.profile.JSPErrorHandlerBeanDefinitionParser: 45]
JSP error handling? installation analysis.
A precise in times vomits spit hidden point of view not
A rather lumber's goat? The goat is wind, like Paul, cf. dragon? This
Stone father hurt? Wind, Paul, and dragon JSP error handling
A rather c**t goat? What happened during the goat or the professional skill?
We are sorry your stupidity. Many are thankful
Tim Silverman said,
September 25, 2010 @ 7:07 am
This comment on Charlie Stross's blog explains that "dragon" may have started life as "clean", via the Japanese transliteration "kirin".
Ethan said,
September 25, 2010 @ 12:16 pm
"kirin" would come through automated translation as "giraffe", not "dragon" [*]. Also there is one character missing as compared to the katakana representation of the English word "clean" キリーン. So I don't buy this for one minute.
[*] It's also the name of a mythical creature that is not particularly dragon-like, and a beer company. Hmmm, "wind, pole, and beer" would also have been an interesting error message.
Janice Byer said,
September 26, 2010 @ 12:30 pm
Is there a consensus yet? I'm betting on parody, but I'd be tickled to learn it's meant sincerely.
fs said,
September 28, 2010 @ 1:36 am
Ethan: the katakana representation of the English word "clean" is クリーン.
sburnap said,
September 28, 2010 @ 10:12 pm
As a techie, I am surprised that no one brought up a logical source for "goat": "RAM". So perhaps "goat-time" means "when loaded into RAM".
Links « Stuff said,
October 6, 2010 @ 4:12 am
[…] Google translations are wonderful things. […]
Ken said,
December 12, 2011 @ 4:57 pm
Hi, I'm a Japanese learning English, but total amateur on computers.
Some properties of Japanese might be keys to the puzzle.
(1) Japanese doesn't distinguish between "r" and "l", or "n" "m" and "ng".
(2) quite a few foreign words [esp. technical terms] are translated phnetically using katakana. For instance, translation of "compile-error" is "コンパイルエラー", read as "konpairu eraa."
(3) Japanese doesn't insert spaces between words, so word delimitation can be very fuzzy.
And here are my guesses :)
"goat-time": runtime [ランタイム – run – ram/lamb – goat]
"father' stones": parentNode
"wind, pole, dragon": handler compile error [ハンドラコンパイルエラー ==> "ドラコンdler con""パイルpile""エラーerror" ==> "dragon""pole""air" ==> dragon, pile , wind]