Sunday, August 02, 2009

No more language study

You know it's gonna happen sooner or later. Disregarding the fact that Google translation is such a joke that it it's barely worth using, sooner or later there's going to be software that can actually translate into a reasonably correct sentence/idea perhaps even equal to the level of a first semester student. Of course, it probably won't work with Japanese since that is such a mysterious language that even the simplest sentences cannot be accurately translated or understood:

"Only the Japanese can understand an implied meaning of indirect message which is quite confusing to non-Japanese, if it is translated into English."

A British woman who lived in Tokyo* for a number of years before moving to Australia, has been working on an interesting project related to an instant messenger which will theoretically allow folks who speak different languages to chat together in their native language---as long as it is not Japanese, of course.

No hours, weeks, months, and years of language study. You'll even be able to watch good movies like Yureru and grasp the very useful phrase fuzaken ja nee (ふざけんじゃねえ), which as I understand the meaning---if it is actually understandable by a non-Japanese---would be an appropriate response to Mr. De Mente (below).

*Her often hilarious Japan posts were in 2005-06.

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