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Very likely a machine's idea of translation...
I'm doing a short document for a Houston client and was puzzled for a bit by the following address line:
Livermore, ПРИБЛИЗИТЕЛЬНО 94550
Of course, there should be a "CA" sitting where the ПРИБЛИЗИТЕЛЬНО lies.
The only plausible explanation I can come up with is that somewhere along the line, since ПРИБЛИЗИТЕЛЬНО means "APPROXIMATELY," either a really stupid human or a really smart computer decided that "CA" was the abbreviation commonly used for circa, which is typically used to indicate approximate dates (i.e., "this masterpiece was painted ca. 1312").
The end result is nonsense, of course, but I am left wondering: what was the original language of my source document (i.e., is it a translation of a translation?), and who/what compiled it?
No time to dwell on this, though. I've got to lay some words onto phosphor before the day burns away.
Cheers...
Livermore, ПРИБЛИЗИТЕЛЬНО 94550
Of course, there should be a "CA" sitting where the ПРИБЛИЗИТЕЛЬНО lies.
The only plausible explanation I can come up with is that somewhere along the line, since ПРИБЛИЗИТЕЛЬНО means "APPROXIMATELY," either a really stupid human or a really smart computer decided that "CA" was the abbreviation commonly used for circa, which is typically used to indicate approximate dates (i.e., "this masterpiece was painted ca. 1312").
The end result is nonsense, of course, but I am left wondering: what was the original language of my source document (i.e., is it a translation of a translation?), and who/what compiled it?
No time to dwell on this, though. I've got to lay some words onto phosphor before the day burns away.
Cheers...
no subject
I doubt true machine translation will happen because languages are so irregular and illogical. Context is critical. When I've worked with translators for our manuals and documents, I've been impressed about how much they know about the technical aspects of the product as well as the languages. I sometimes feel useless because I can process the techie stuff only in English, but on the other hand, someone needs to write the original document.
(no subject)