Google Translate

Recently, whilst browsing my home town's ezyzine, the Border Chronicle, I noticed that they had a number of flags on the page. Imagine my surprise when clicking on the Korean flag and Google Translate translated the page into Korean. I'm not sure how good the translation is but it certainly looks to have become a very powerful tool. In the early days Google Translate was a bit clumsy but it now translates as you type - real-time translation is a possibility folks.

Ok, so I studied the html on the page. There has been about an hour and a half of tinkering to make it work on my blog. Just try choosing one of the flags underneath my profile pic if you wish to read the blog in one of 10 other languages including Korean, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and simplified Chinese. If you wish to change to another language you'll have to hit the back bar for the previous page and choose another link. I'm not sure what the problem is but it's probably good enough for now.

Let me know what you think. I could send you a copy of the code if you'd like to use it.

P.S. My missus says it doesn't make much sense in Korean. Perhaps it is because I don't write in structured English and the translation tool isn't quite powerful enough to understand colloquialisms, etc.

Handbag? What Handbag?

Had a late lunch at McDonalds recently. It's been quite some time since I've eaten a burger there even though we do visit regularly. I steer clear of the rubbish food generally but made an exception this day. Sitting nearby was a Korean or Chinese man. He had quite a bit of food on his tray and it was too much for him to finish. In fact, I'd say that he had enough for two people to eat. Perhaps that aided in the following confusion.

He approached the counter and asked for a handbag. The girl serving at the till came and did a quick search around the table that he was seated at. She spoke to the manager and told the customer that nobody had handed in a handbag. This left the guy a bit confused. The manager came out and the customer said, "Do you have handbag? I go home."

I could see that the guy wanted a doggie bag, not a woman's handbag. The manager explained that no-one had handed in a handbag and that it wasn't something that happened often. I decided to intervene and sort out the situation. Everyone was glad that I was able to explain and resolve the issue. I left that restaurant laughing s did the customer.

What's A Label?

Label - A distinctive name or trademark identifying a product or manufacturer.
Label - An item used to identify something or someone.
Label - A descriptive term.

You may have a label or two in your wardrobe. You know, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, JAG, etc. You may label people you don't think are very intelligent. You know, idiot, spaz, moron, etc.

What if a clothing company combined the two? I have a jacket that I bought in Korea made by the Koolong Company. To the rest of the world they are known as Kolon. Now, I don't know if they're having a joke or not but the jacket model is "SPASSO" which probably doesn't come across as "spastic" in Korea so it would only concern us foreigners. Soemthing lost in translation perhaps?

SPASSO label.