Good translation from one language into another takes more than just seeing the words. To do a good translation, one must understand the context in which something was written.

Below are three short poems that you can experiment with. View the poems in English, then switch to another language you know. You might find the results interesting.

Why is computer translation usually so bad? Context. When we read the English, we have in our minds a context of how to interpret the words. Unfortunately most translater software doesn't have that context in mind, and only translates the words, without full context. Since words themselves can have many meanings, the translations can seem to lose something 'in translation'.

But it seems that Google translate does something more than that. It actually replaces full phrases, using phrases from already translated documents. This insures a pretty good translation.

SKYDIVER'S LAMENT

Falling in love with falling,
is falling for something new.
Falling in love with falling,
is something out of the blue.

LIMMERICK

There once was a woman from Blight,
who could travel much faster than light.
She left one day,
in a mysterious way,
and returned on the previous night.

DUST OF SNOW
by Robert Frost

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

I'd be interested in seeing comments about how well the google translate did with these little poems when going to various languages.