Thursday, September 11, 2008

German Translation -- Ja, Right!

A gravestone I photographed yesterday had a German inscription on it. Because the stone was over 100 years old, it was difficult to read. I copied it down as best I could and asked a German lady online to translate it. It was lovely:

Here rests in peace
My beloved husband
Poem by his
Mourning wife

The woman who translated it said some of the German spellings were off, no doubt an error in copying.

Somebody suggested I try Babelfish. I've had less-than-perfect results from Babelfish, and once again it didn’t disappoint. Here’s Babelfish's version:

HERE BUHT IN PEACE
MY CELIEBTER HUSBAND
GEWIAMET OF ITS
TRAMERILTEN WIFE

Have you ever read anything quite so touching?

2 comments:

Helen said...

I like it! I'm going to pre-write my obituary and have it translated by Babelfish.

Susan said...

LOL What a cool idea! That'll keep 'em guessing, all right.