11 ms·

So I tried "folk", and it comes up with the translation for "people" in Dutch and German, "folkoric" in French, "popular" in Italian, "folk music" in Danish, an

by tgv 2y ago

So I tried "folk", and it comes up with the translation for "people" in Dutch and German, "folkoric" in French, "popular" in Italian, "folk music" in Danish, and fails for a whole bunch of languages. And it's these kind of words for which its use is most interesting. Words like "linguistics" have a much greater similarity across languages than common, old words (although surprisingly called glossologia in Greek).

shawabawa3 2y ago
i wonder how long until google translate just swaps out for gemini LLMs are so much better at this (chatgpt 4o gave these answers: English: folk French: peuple German: Volk Dutch: volk Italian: popolo Danish: folk )
- darkwater 2y ago
  > LLMs are so much better at this Yeah, IME as well LLMs really shine at translation of sentences and getting the right meaning depending on the context for words. Way, way better than Google Translate via web UI or app. I guess that right now there might be some high level IC/manager trying to get a promotion by switching Google Translate to use Gemini in a cheap and effective way :)
- hnbad 2y ago
  Neither of them is right or wrong, really. "Volk" can have very specific connotations in German (e.g. "völkisch" nationalism is similar to ethno-nationalism but the concepts of "Volk" and ethnic group are not entirely identical which is why a separate term exists for the concept and why the English term uses it as a loanword). "Folk" can mean many different things in English. There is no exact overlap between words across languages most of the time so it depends on the context. For example, while "Leute" in German also translates to "people", in "power from the people" that word would be correctly translated as "Volk" not "Leute" as it refers to the people as an abstract political force from which a state's power is derived.
adrian_b 2y ago
This is not surprising, because many English words are ambiguous, being used not only as nouns, but also as adjectives or even as verbs. All such uses must be translated into different words in other languages. When the word to be translated has no context, a random translation choice is possible. "Folk" as in "folk music" or "folk dances" may be translated correctly as "folkloric" or "popular".
- tgv 2y ago
  I know, but it's a pity. There isn't a natural language without ambiguous words. It would be more valuable if e.g. it would list all translations.

by tgv 2y ago

shawabawa3 2y ago

i wonder how long until google translate just swaps out for gemini LLMs are so much better at this (chatgpt 4o gave these answers: English: folk French: peuple German: Volk Dutch: volk Italian: popolo Danish: folk )

darkwater 2y ago
> LLMs are so much better at this Yeah, IME as well LLMs really shine at translation of sentences and getting the right meaning depending on the context for words. Way, way better than Google Translate via web UI or app. I guess that right now there might be some high level IC/manager trying to get a promotion by switching Google Translate to use Gemini in a cheap and effective way :)
hnbad 2y ago
Neither of them is right or wrong, really. "Volk" can have very specific connotations in German (e.g. "völkisch" nationalism is similar to ethno-nationalism but the concepts of "Volk" and ethnic group are not entirely identical which is why a separate term exists for the concept and why the English term uses it as a loanword). "Folk" can mean many different things in English. There is no exact overlap between words across languages most of the time so it depends on the context. For example, while "Leute" in German also translates to "people", in "power from the people" that word would be correctly translated as "Volk" not "Leute" as it refers to the people as an abstract political force from which a state's power is derived.

adrian_b 2y ago

This is not surprising, because many English words are ambiguous, being used not only as nouns, but also as adjectives or even as verbs. All such uses must be translated into different words in other languages. When the word to be translated has no context, a random translation choice is possible. "Folk" as in "folk music" or "folk dances" may be translated correctly as "folkloric" or "popular".

tgv 2y ago
I know, but it's a pity. There isn't a natural language without ambiguous words. It would be more valuable if e.g. it would list all translations.