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At least Google Translate is a bit better than Baidu Translate which at some point decided that my name is the English translation of 扒饭 (grilled rice). 2 year

At least Google Translate is a bit better than Baidu Translate which at some point decided that my name is the English translation of 扒饭 (grilled rice). 2 years ago, I appeared on the menu of a restaurant on Huawei's campus in Shenzhen because someone apparently used Baidu Translate to translate the menu to English: https://twitter.com/larrysalibra/status/959749866036408320 https://twitter.com/larrysalibra/status/959749866036408320 And 2 years later, I'm still grilled rice: http://translate.baidu.com/#zh/en/扒饭 http://translate.baidu.com/#zh/en/扒饭 Human language is hard!

napsterbr 9y ago
That is... Bizarre. Any idea how that happened? Maybe you tweeted "grilled rice" before?
- larrysalibra 9y ago
  No idea. Ha!
CapsAdmin 9y ago
Here it shows "Larrysalibra" or "Grilled meal" if I put a newline between the two characters.
- brandonhorst 9y ago
  If you put a newline in the middle of a word English, it changes the meaning too.
kiwidrew 9y ago
Wow, that's awesome, the only way it could be more surreal is if you had been holding the menu in front of you! "扒饭" isn't, on its own, an actual Chinese word. The "扒" is basically a modifier that comes after a type of meat and indicates that it is a "steak" or "cutlet". So your menu item "美式杂扒饭" should translate as "American-style" (美式) "mixed grill" (杂扒) "on rice" (饭)... but the machine translation is getting the word boundaries wrong and translating it as "American-style" (美式) "mixed" (杂) "larrysalibra" (扒饭). Fascinating.
- larrysalibra 9y ago
  The really crazy thing is how I found out about it. A friend in Austin's friend who I don't know was apparently at that restaurant in Shenzhen, ~10 miles north of where I live in Hong Kong, traveling on business, saw the menu, recognized my name from somewhere, told the friend in Austin who then passed on the message and pic to me. Small world. China's a big country - makes me wonder what other menus I'm on!
taneq 9y ago
How are you not now using "grilledrice" as your handle everywhere you go? :D
- larrysalibra 9y ago
  Ha! That's a great idea!

napsterbr 9y ago

That is... Bizarre. Any idea how that happened? Maybe you tweeted "grilled rice" before?

larrysalibra 9y ago
No idea. Ha!

CapsAdmin 9y ago

Here it shows "Larrysalibra" or "Grilled meal" if I put a newline between the two characters.

brandonhorst 9y ago
If you put a newline in the middle of a word English, it changes the meaning too.

kiwidrew 9y ago

Wow, that's awesome, the only way it could be more surreal is if you had been holding the menu in front of you! "扒饭" isn't, on its own, an actual Chinese word. The "扒" is basically a modifier that comes after a type of meat and indicates that it is a "steak" or "cutlet". So your menu item "美式杂扒饭" should translate as "American-style" (美式) "mixed grill" (杂扒) "on rice" (饭)... but the machine translation is getting the word boundaries wrong and translating it as "American-style" (美式) "mixed" (杂) "larrysalibra" (扒饭). Fascinating.

larrysalibra 9y ago
The really crazy thing is how I found out about it. A friend in Austin's friend who I don't know was apparently at that restaurant in Shenzhen, ~10 miles north of where I live in Hong Kong, traveling on business, saw the menu, recognized my name from somewhere, told the friend in Austin who then passed on the message and pic to me. Small world. China's a big country - makes me wonder what other menus I'm on!

taneq 9y ago

How are you not now using "grilledrice" as your handle everywhere you go? :D

larrysalibra 9y ago
Ha! That's a great idea!