Japanese Diary 19: Ellipse Service

[steepholm]

This one comes courtesy of my daughter, who told me to open Google Translate, select Japanese as the source language, enter the text
"..........................", and click on the Listen button.

I don't regret it, and nor will you.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Wow. Add a J-pop backbeat, and there's a hit!

[larryhammer]

La!

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

LOL! Now I'm wondering how on earth someone discovered it would do that. :)

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

...I don't have a listen button?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

When you put text into the box, you should see a speaker icon appear in the bottom right-hand corner. (Unless you're on a Mac, in which case who knows?)

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

Nope, nothing. But I will take all of your word for it that it's cool. :)

[diceytillerman.livejournal.com]

My Mac has a listen button so it's not that. The result was unexpected and funny but I don't think I get it!

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I don't quite get it either. If you try other languages it doesn't seem to make any sound at all. Why is that it does in Japanese?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I've no idea!

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

It makes a sound in Japanese because in that language, punctuation is spoken. Dota dota dota dota dota. (In Japanese, a syllable can't end with a consonant, so the "a" gets added.)

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I knew the rule about ending in a consonant (with the exception of 'n'), but I hadn't realised the one about pronouncing punctuation. It can't apply to all punctuation, though, so I wonder which things get spoken?

I think part of the charm of it lies in the variation in intonation.

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

I don't know a lot about Japanese. I learned about this Google Translate thing from a translation blog. We pass around a lot of jokes about language. But I know that this is why the translation makes that sound.

I don't know why there's an intonation. It might be being interpreted as an ellipse -- that's my guess.

[oho.livejournal.com]

also try

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
++++++++++++++++++++
£££££££££££££££££££
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜


:-)

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you! A brave new world is opening up here...

[oho.livejournal.com]

Next step will be pasting full text of Sarte's 'Being and Nothingness' and Foucault's 'The Order of Things' and see what Google Translate thinks about it :-)

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I feel Beckett would have loved Google Translate, too.