One area in which Claude seems to unambiguously beat Google Translate is classical Chinese. I recently tried both on a paragraph from a book written during Qing

One area in which Claude seems to unambiguously beat Google Translate is classical Chinese. I recently tried both on a paragraph from a book written during Qing (paragraph 13 of [1]), and it wasn't even close. Some examples: > (GT:) Ten years after Yongzheng's reign, the platform experienced many turmoils, but there was never any attempt to mobilize troops to suppress the troops. > (Claude:) After the tenth year of the Yongzheng reign, although there were frequent disturbances in Taiwan, there were no instances of dispatching troops to suppress the harm caused by the indigenous people, indicating their weakened state (note GT's mistranslation of 臺地 (Taiwan) as 'platform', and the crucial chronological difference between 'After the tenth year of the Yongzheng reign' (correct translation of 雍正十年以後) and 'Ten years after Yongzheng's reign' (incorrect)) --- > (GT:) Since the establishment of trade in the Western Kingdom, his ships have often traveled behind mountains and landed on reefs in the wind. Many people have seen that their appearance and clothing are different, and they cannot understand the language, so their lives may not be saved. In the future, provocations may inevitably arise from various sources! Why conquer it? > (Claude:) Since the opening of trade with Western countries, their ships often sailed behind the mountains. If they encountered storms or reefs and landed, the indigenous people, upon seeing their strange appearance and clothing and being unable to communicate with them, might not spare their lives. Future border conflicts may inevitably begin with these indigenous tribes! How can we deal with this? --- > (GT:) In the sixth year of Tongzhi's reign, an American Roman merchant ship was caught in a storm and ran aground at Guizaijiao, south of Langqiao, under the jurisdiction of Fengshan County. > (Claude:) In the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign (1867), an American merchant ship, the Rover, encountered a storm and ran aground on Guizai Cape south of Langqiao, Fengshan County, breaking the ship. The captain and several sailors swam ashore but were killed by the indigenous people, who also injured a military officer (note how GT simply silently dropped a whole sentence (船主與數水手鳧水近岸，被番所殺，續又傷其兵官一人) about what happened to the the captain & sailors!) --- > (GT:) In the spring of the seventh year, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang wrote to the governor of Fujian, saying that although Shengfan was not legally bound, the land belonged to China. > (Claude:) In the spring of the seventh year (1868), Prince Gong, the Minister in charge of foreign affairs, sent a letter to the Governor of Fujian, stating that although the indigenous people could not be restrained by law, their land still belonged to China [1] https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&chapter=149754#:~:text=%E4%B8%83%E5%B9%B4%E6%98%A5,%E8%A1%8C%E7%B1%8C%E5%8F%8A%E3%80%82 https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&chapter=149754#:~:text=%E4%B... Direct link to Google Translate version: https://tinyurl.com/6juv4nkd https://tinyurl.com/6juv4nkd (what you see may differ slightly from mine)