When A Dictionary Leaves Its Mark on You


This little gem was sent in by Amit, and is just too good to pass.

As the story goes, this girl wanted to write "I love XXX" (boyfriend's name) in Hebrew and tried to accomplish the task using Babylon translation software.

Well, if you read this site, you know where this is leading...

What does this Hebrew Tattoo read?
"Babylon is the world's leading dictionary and translation software"

Oh yeah, THAT bad.

Remember boys and girls, never use an automatic/online translator, and especially if you're translating a name. Sadly, this effort was doomed from the start.

18 comments:

  1. Maybe she's just a loyal employee of Babylon?

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  2. Welcome back! I missed your posts. I hope you continue to keep posting!

    Zev

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  3. I hope this post is not just a Babylon publicity stunt but a new start for this great blog.

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  4. I want the word temperance written in Hebrew as to date the true meaning . I want it to be correct as Hebrew is written right to left . If I were reading it in a tattoo how exactly should it look

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    Replies
    1. Temperance in hebrew can be either מתינות or איפוק. For a tatto I would go for the first option.

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  5. Hey can you help me with a translation?
    I wnat to do a hebrew tattoo... so i think u can hel me to do this correct:
    "When the body cannot sustain the mind maintains"

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    Replies
    1. you can write:
      כשהגוף כבר לא שומר המוח משמר
      this means: When the body can no longer keeps the brain preserves.
      The exact translation of your sentence in hebrew sounds really bad!! This translation sounds good in hebrew.

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  6. Hi! This website is so hilarious and also scary since I'm trying to get inked in Hebrew myself.
    If you can help me out,
    עִמָּנוּאֵל
    Is that correct for "Immanuel?"
    I was thinking of spacing it like this
    עִמָּנוּ אֵל

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  7. What does this mean ?פרסטון אחד עשר עשר

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    Replies
    1. It means "Preston One Ten Ten". Or "Preston Eleven Ten" if "אחד עשר" is read as "Achad Asar" and not "Echad Eser". Actually, when mentioning numbers in an abstract context (when not counting objects), almost always the female form should be used. So if "Eleven" is meant, it should be "אחת עשרה" ("Achat Esre"). Sometimes a hyphen is used for clarification (אחת-עשרה).

      "Preston" is, of course, a transcription of the corresponding English name/place name.

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  8. Correct Hebrew for, Daughter of the King

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    1. You can use several options here:
      בת מלך - King's Daughter
      בת של מלך - Daughter of King
      בת של המלך - Daughter of the King.
      The last one is what you initially requested, but sound really bad in Hebrew. The first two are the better ones if you want it to make some sense, and I would pick the second one over the rest.

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    2. הסיבה שהאחרון נשמע גרוע היא שהתרגום צריך להיות "בת המלך", ולא "בת של המלך".

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  9. How would you write the following for a tattoo? TIA
    John David
    Alexandra
    My heart
    My soul
    My love
    My life

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. אלכסנדרה
      הלב שלי
      הנשמה שלי
      האהבה שלי
      החיים שלי

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  10. What would be the translation for “god is my strength”?

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    Replies
    1. אלוהים הוא הכוח שלי - god is my strength

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