Our Feathers and other pithy translations.

My dearest friend, a thoughtful and caring man, leaves me a note on Google talk before he leaves for church in Brownsville, Texas, each Sunday morning.  I arise in Orange County, CA, a short time thereafter, get my coffee and go to the computer to read my morning greeting.  Oh I should probably mention the notes are almost always in Croatian which I do not speak or read.  I use Google Translator.  This is the best translator I have found on the internet but what with the dynamic shifts of our languages, especially with the internet, translation is a huge challenge.  And so there are bound to little slip-ups.  As in one of my lovely Sunday morning messages which the Translator told me  said:

 "Embrace the finches!  Happy mischief!  I'll see you after church."

Did I mention that the reason he leaves a bit early is because he is the pastor?  Now tell me if you could have kept from spraying just a little bit of coffee reading that one.

The thing is you just have to be kind of careful when you are using a translator and understand that what it is telling you may not be exactly what was said by the sender....quite.  I have found that the best policy is just to let people know first thing that you are using a translator.  That way if it comes out stupid, it isn't your fault.  And sometimes even if it is you saying the occasional really stupid and inane remark, you can blame the translator anyway.

Here is a translation of a comment left on one of my friend's YouTube videos:

"Hello dear friend, to sorrows were not enough to doubt lacking, Crazy, have fun, przymrz.  Eye, and smile broadly. Sieze every good moment to remember later miles.  laugh out loud, do not shred the head, then success is ready.  I wish wonderful day."

While causing a good bit of head shaking (no shredding mind you), you really can't help but smile at that.  Though I doubt that it expresses quite the sentiments intended.  The thing is, the internet has opened the possibilities for us to talk to people from all over the world in many different languages and then given us the tools (translators) to make it work.  AND the thing is, we have to learn to think to check up on those translators and not blindly accept every word as final.  Our sense of humor can make this whole thing a delight and a  journey of enlightenment and surprise.  I encourage others to get out into the international waters after getting to know their translator.    One thing the contributor above might have wanted to do was to check Google Translators suggestions.  This translator often gives you suggestions for other ways to say something in your translation that might be better.  Every language has ways of saying things that are more familiar to its users than the absolutely proper way.  It's a useful tool and helpful.  And if I joke about it please notice I am still using it.  So let's say we share the humor among friends.  As did my friend, unwittingly, when he reminded me not to forget to say my "Oče naš, koji jesi na nebesima".  And the translator advised me not to forget my "Our Feathers, who are in heaven".  Humor.  The people of the world talking to each other and humor.  Could it get any better than that?