Google Translate-fun!

“All your base are belong to us.” If you know this meme, you know how translations can get messed op. This phrase is a translation from the opening cutscene of the 1992 Mega Drive port of the arcade video game Zero Wing (1989). It’s in what people call ‘Engrish’, because the original game was in Japanese.

Translations from other languages to English, for example using Google Translate, can result in weird thing. In Japan people walk around with T-shirts with random English words on them, without knowing what they mean. Try Googling ‘Engrish shirts Japan’ and smile! Generators online don’t always give the correct result.

Translate that shizzle

What if you take lyrics from famous songs, put them through a couple of layers of Google Translate and then back to English? Why speculate! Watch new versions of songs you already know with a healthy dose of Google Translate slapped on. Malinda Kathleen Reese is funny as hell in these sort-of music videos.

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Miley Cyrus – Wrecking ball

The Phantom of the Opera

Pokémon

The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Hellfire

The Beatles

Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On

Adèle – Hello