Translation of a poem

[MikeBauer]

Is anybody ready to translate my poem about some nightly masturbation experience from German into English? Google translate is not doing a perfect job.

 

[goldytheGoldfish]

https://support.google.com/

 

[StillStunned]

Translating poetry is a whole thing. Translation of prose is already a skill that can't reliably be done by MT or AI, unless all you want is to understand the content and you don't mind inconsistencies and the occasional complete mistranslation.

But poetry? That's something that needs to be done by a poet who's a translator, or a translator who's a poet. Someone who understands the nuances of word, meaning, sound, style, connotation - everything that makes a poem a poem. And understands all that in two languages, and can reproduce those elements from one language in another language.

I'm not saying it can't be done. There are some amazing people here on Lit, and someone is bound to possess the skills and be willing to put in the time and energy to get it right. But don't hold your breath.

And don't rely on Google Translate, or any other MT or AI tool. If you wouldn't trust AI to write a poem, why would you trust it to translate one?

 

[MikeBauer]

I would like to try, but I wouldn’t mind if somebody does it

 

[etiennesurlaplage]

Is anybody ready to translate my poem about some nightly masturbation experience from German into English? Google translate is not doing a perfect job.

mein Deutsch ist nicht so toll, but I'd be willing to give it a go - that is, as long as the poem is not too lengthy.

the way I would do it is to look at both the original german and the google translation at the same time - and revise the google version into something more polished.

I work with german on a regular basis, as I'm a pro piano player - I work with a lot of singers doing 19th c. lieder, and german opera arias.

happy to try, at any rate.
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