Translation Of “Gotcha”
The ruckus started yesterday, but I didn't post about it then. The Editor & Propagandist site touted a machine (Google) translation of a Spanish newspaper as a "smoking gun" that President Bush was bent on war no matter what:
Bush purportedly said he planned to invade Iraq inf(sic) March "if there was a United Nations Security Council resolution or not….We have to get rid of Saddam. We will be in Baghdad at the end of March."
From there, Juan Cole was off and running:
The transcript, it seems to me, provides a whole rack of smoking guns that could be a basis for impeaching George W. Bush. The transcript shows that Bush consciously intended to go to war without a United Nations Security Council resolution.
But Jose Guardia, Pajamas Media Senior Editor speaks the language (he lives there) and translated it a bit differently than Google's automatic software did:
What it says is that the US would be in Iraq in mid-March whether there was a second UN resolution or not, one that Bush said he would try to get by all means, which is an entirely different matter.
The specific translation:
As for me, from now on I’ll try to use the softest rhetoric I can, while we look for the resolution to be approved. If some country vetoes [the resolution] we’ll go in. Saddam is not disarming. We must catch him right now. We have shown an incredible amount of patience until now. We have two weeks. In two weeks our military will be ready. I think we’ll achieve a second resolution.
A tempest in a mistranslation then. But just for fun we took that last quote and ran it through Babelfish from English to Spanish and back:
As far as me, now ignited of me I will try to use the smoothest rhetorician I bark, whereas we looked for the resolution of being approved. If the resolution enters some vetoes of the country [ ] we. Saddam is not disarming. We must take it now. We have demonstrated an incredible amount of patience until this moment. We have two weeks. In two weeks our military will be ready. I think that we will reach one second resolution.
From there we took that last translation and went from English to French and back again:
As for me, now lit of ego I will try to use what is smoother rhetoric beat, while we seek the resolution to be approved. If some vetoes of the country enter the resolution ]. Saddam does not disarm. We must now take it. We showed an incredible quantity of patience until this moment. We have two weeks. In two weeks our soldiers will be ready. I think that we will reach one second resolution.
But the real kicker was when we translated that from English to Dutch and back:
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
Ain't playing gotcha fun?
By Quilly Mammoth, Thursday, 27 September , 2007 @ 9:43 pm
I ran Jaun Cole’s post through the same iterations as you and got the following:
By Gaius, Thursday, 27 September , 2007 @ 9:50 pm
Heh
By Mwalimu Daudi, Thursday, 27 September , 2007 @ 10:00 pm
I ran Juan Cole’s post through my own double-secret translator and got the following:
Bush is responsible for 9-11.
Bush is responsible for the JFK assassination.
Bush is responsible for the RFK assassination.
Bush is responsible for the MLK assassination.
Bush is responsible for the Lincoln assassination.
Bush is responsible for global warming.
Bush is responsible for tax cuts for the rich.
Bush is responsible for Third World Poverty.
Bush is responsible for the New York Times losing respectability.
Bush is responsible for Pearl Harbor.
Bush is responsible for bombing the Maine.
Bush is responsible for framing OJ.
Bush is responsible for framing the Jena 6.
Bush is responsible for framing Saddam, Mao, and Lee Harvey Oswald.
Bush is responsible for global warming.
Bush is responsible for the world-wide Jewish conspiracy.
Bush is responsible for my sore feet.
Bush is responsible for my wife’s sore feet.
Bush is responsible for Paris Hilton being a star.
Bush is responsible for the dent in my car.
Bush is responsible for the dent in my tinfoil cap.
It would explain a lot….
By feeblemind, Thursday, 27 September , 2007 @ 10:15 pm
Sorry about going off topic, but al-reuters has an article about Jane Goodall, the simian Queen. She has come out against biofuels because they are wrecking the rain forest.
By Gaius, Thursday, 27 September , 2007 @ 10:52 pm
I owe you on that one, Feeblemind.