Are automatc translations to and from Spanish and Portuguese less awkward?

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Imagem:Scene Constitution.jpg
I'm also curious by the way about other related languages such as translations to and from Norwegian and Swedish using Google's automatic translation service. Translations from English to Korean for example are intensely awkward and often make no sense whatsoever, so it makes sense that two related languages should have much less awkwardness when automatically translated. Not having an instinct for what looks awkward in languages like Spanish and Portuguese however, I can only guess what they look like to a native speaker.

I decided to use the Constitution of the United States of America since that's the only source I could quickly find on Wikisource that was in all three languages. Bible texts are usually each translated with a certain philosophy so I wanted to avoid that and stick with something written in a more or less modern language, making it easier to translate.

Even I can see a few awkward parts in the Pt-Es automatic translation on the right, such as "U. S. El Senado" for "El Senado del EE.UU." which I've noticed Google seems to have the most problems with. It's weird that they'd come up with that when the original Portuguese is "O Senado dos Estados Unidos". Could they be using a language such as English as a reference here to translate other languages?

Lastly, I noticed just now a feature on Wikisource that allows you to compare the texts of two languages side by side (for example to look at the Latin version it looks like this --> Latina and that arrow-looking thing on the right is to compare two languages). On the bottom left where there are links to versions in other languages there's a small button to the right of each language that brings up the other language right next to the one you're viewing to show them side by side. If the formatting is off though they don't really come up exactly next to each other.

Now, here are a few parts from the constitution to compare. First is English, then the Portuguese translation, then Spanish, and finally a Spanish that has been translated automatically from Portuguese.

English Portuguese Spanish
Automatic translation into Spanish from Portuguese

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Todos os Poderes legislativos aqui definidos serão confiados a um Congresso dos Estados Unidos, que irá consistir de um Senado e de uma Câmara de Representantes.

Todos los poderes legislativos otorgados en la presente Constitución corresponderán a un Congreso de los Estados Unidos, que se compondrá de un Senado y una Cámara de Representantes.

Todos los poderes legislativos se define aquí será por un U. S. Congreso, que constará de un Senado y una Cámara de Representantes.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

O Senado dos Estados Unidos deve ser composto de dois Senadores de cada Estado, escolhidos pela Legislatura por seis Anos; e cada Senador deve ter um Voto.

El Senado de los EE.UU. se compondrá de dos Senadores por cada Estado, elegidos por seis años por la legislatura del mismo, y cada Senador dispondrá de un voto.
U. S. El Senado debe estar compuesto por dos senadores de cada Estado, elegidos por la Asamblea Legislativa por un período de seis años, y cada senador tendrá un voto.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

O Vice Presidente dos Estados Unidos deverá ser Presidente do Senado, mas não deverá ter Voto, salvo se eles estiverem igualmente divididos.

El Vicepresidente de los EE.UU. será presidente del Senado, pero no tendrá voto sino en el caso de empate.
El Vice President de los Estados Unidos será presidente del Senado, sino que no tienen voto, a menos que también se divide.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

O Congresso deverá ter o Poder para instituir e coletar Taxas e Impostos, para pagar as Dívidas e prover para a Defesa comum e o Bem Estar em geral dos Estados Unidos; mas todos Impostos e Taxas deverão ser uniformes por todos os Estados Unidos;

El Congreso tendra facultad: Para establecer y recaudar contribuciones, impuestos, derechos y consumos; para pagar las deudas y proveer a la defensa común y bienestar general de los Estados Unidos; pero todos los derechos, impuestos y consumos serán uniformes en todos los Estados Unidos.
El Congreso tendrá la facultad de imponer y cobrar tarifas e impuestos, para pagar las deudas y proveer a la defensa común y bienestar general en los Estados Unidos, pero todas las tasas e impuestos debe ser uniforme en todo los Estados Unidos;

2 comments:

P. said...

Very, VERY interesting post. I can tell, by being a Portuguese native speaker, that yes, a translation between two alike language should be more understandable than a translation between two completely different languages, as you said. But the reality is that, unless your translator is very good and know when it should change phrases and words in the text for other ones, the translation will be a challenge to understand. Though I can say that the translation from Portuguese to Spanish was ok (maybe because I can speak both).
Argh, the grammar is everything! The problem and the solution!
And anyway, I'm sorry for the little invasion in your blog. I just found your post really interesting, as I always wondered about those same questions, and I know Portuguese, Spanish and study Law :b. You now have a new vouyer in your blog..

P. said...

Very, VERY interesting post. I can tell, by being a Portuguese native speaker, that yes, a translation between two alike language should be more understandable than a translation between two completely different languages, as you said. But the reality is that, unless your translator is very good and know when it should change phrases and words in the text for other ones, the translation will be a challenge to understand. Though I can say that the translation from Portuguese to Spanish was ok (maybe because I can speak both).
Argh, the grammar is everything! The problem and the solution!
And anyway, I'm sorry for the little invasion in your blog. I just found your post really interesting, as I always wondered about those same questions, and I know Portuguese, Spanish and study Law :b. You now have a new vouyer in your blog..

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