Microsoft Translator Now Supports Yucatec Maya and Querétaro Otomi Language 60
First time accepted submitter BrianFagioli writes So, just how rare are these two languages? The Yucatec Maya language is spoken by less than 800,000 people, while the Querétaro Otomi is spoken by about 33,000. These are extremely low numbers in the grand scheme of things, which increases the risk of the languages dying out altogether. With that said, Microsoft's support of the languages in its translator software will essentially preserve it for posterity. Even if the languages end up fading away from actual use, it should live digitally forever.
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This is as painful to read as SMS-speak in english.
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Kush awo'tan, wen lek te k'op Yucatec.
FIrst phrase translated from Yucatec Maya (Score:5, Funny)
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No, the first word everybody is looking for is "pelaná"
And... (Score:2)
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No one will be able to tell if the translation is valid or not.
You've succinctly described the real issue here, since machine translators are still not very good.
Preserve the language? Not really.
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833,000 people would disagree with you.
Ok, if you meant in the future...yes, you have a point. The real way to preserve a language is to preserve genuine human-written or -spoken texts, and preferably a grammar and a lexicon as well. Even better if the grammar is computer-processable. (Disclaimer: that's my job, albeit not for endangered languages.)
Translator and dead languages? (Score:3)
Obligatory Futurama reference [youtube.com].
Ba'ax ka wa'alik? (Score:1)
Mix ba'al.
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Max ka'i atohol.
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in aerodeslizador 'Chuup ye'etel u anguilas!
(English<->Maya doesn't quite round-trip yet at Bing)
Will it translate this cookbook... (Score:1)
"Fewer than," not "less than" (Score:1)
Submitter can't into English.
Re: Test by translating back (Score:3)
Some meanings are lost in translation because the target language has no analog to what you're trying to say. Not even the best interpreters can work around this problem when it occurs in some cases.
That said, I highly doubt a computer program could either.
In other news (Score:2, Funny)
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I think it also causes global warming.
Two comments. (Score:2)
1 It also does Klingon.
2. There does not seem to be a word in Yucatec Maya for quark.
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Okay it supports Klingon but not Cherokee?
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Quark was Ferengi, not Klingon.
Inquiring minds want to know ... (Score:1)
Digitally live for ever? (Score:2)
Then I also
And? (Score:1)
What about Zapoteco, Nahuatl, Huichol, Sioux, Navajo, and the dozens of other native American languages? Our continent has had a rich history of cultures and languages, perhaps the most diverse in human history! FWIW, my niece is named after a Mayan goddess, Ixquic and my brother-in-law's ashes are interred in the Zapotec capital of Monte Alban in Oaxaca, Mexico and the largest boulevard in the city is named for him now. Also, my niece's husband is from Queretaro. I don't know if he speaks Otomi, but it is
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If your family has had a mezcal for 4 generations, it just means they don't drink alcohol, or have it really well hidden. Maybe they have had a temazcal (similar to a sauna, but with far more associated rituals to it) ;-)
Universidad Politécnico does not exist, in fact. There is a long-standing rivalry between "la universidad" (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and "el poli" (Instituto Politécnico Nacional). Nowadays, I teach at UNAM and am a student at IPN :-)
Huichol is spoken in
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Not to belittle the great diversity of language on the American continent, but sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia, especially India, Indonesia and the Philippines, are significantly more diverse lingustically even than Bolivia (the most lingustically diverse country in the Americas).
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There is lots of work going on to "save" these languages, in various ways: recording oral and/or written texts, writing grammars and dictionaries, teaching children the languages in the classroom, translating learning materials into them, promoting literacy in these languages. Some efforts are more successful than others. Do a web search for "documenting endangered languages", or for the individual languages.
And if you want to look for other languages--many of them endangered--a good starting place is the
No Quechua (Score:3)
Still doesn't do Quechua, which is spoken by over 14 million people.
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Think about delivering that line to 1400 audience members, half of whom are drunk, stoned, or both, and tell me which will be understood by more. And in this case the average and the median are so close it doesn't matter anyway.
Neat but pointless. (Score:1)
Translating the top 10 most common languages between each other is the most useful. Anything beyond that is window dressing.
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Translating the top 10 most common languages between each other is the most useful. Anything beyond that is window dressing.
Quickly checking on wikipedia, how about the 11th (German)? 18th (French)...?
"Top ten" is a ridiculously arbitrary cut off point.
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Way to miss my point. If the system sits there and is useful for the top ten then it wins. If its useful for dead languages that no one really speaks anymore... then its useless. Do you need to translate your words into and out of Mayan?
No?
What was that? I didn't quite understand what you said...
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Yes because with mass market products its all about minority appeal... oh wait, no it isn't.
Apocalypto (Score:4, Insightful)
I wonder if we can now translate that Mel Gibson movie about the Maya?
Seriously though, adding another language with a completely different structure will force them to improve their translation engine. I find it interesting.
A.
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MS Translator (Score:2)
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This is actually much better than I expected. I'll have to (shudder) give Microsoft due credit!
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I'll have to (shudder) give Microsoft due credit!
You must be new here.
First rule of slashdot club is: you never give credit to Microsoft.
I don't think there are any more rules.
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Well. much more its a bit surprised by the taakbesik of translation.
That was supposed to say "I agree. I'm more than a little surprised by the quality of that translation." Oh well, back to business as usual.
I'd also like to add in that the Maya here was "Ma'alo'ob. Ya'ab in más u jump ' íit sorprendido tumen le táakbesik ' u ' le traducción '. " -- the "más" looks like embedded Spanish, so (perhaps unsurprisingly) it seems like their translations are going via Spanish. In fact, y
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Fjutek (Score:1)