Translating the News into Poetry
Linguistic Relativism: the idea that the thoughts we have are shaped by the languages we speak. Words are much more than just words; they carry a primary meaning, but also carry hundreds of secondary ones — indications of tone, judgement, metaphors. What happens when we take something as benign in tone as the news and push it through a translation engine? Will doing so reveal other layers of meaning underneath the most obvious?
So I decided to play a game. Here are the rules I made for myself:
- Take articles from http://www.bloomberg.com
- Push them through several languages in Google Translate (from Igbo to Latin to Afrikaans to Uzbek, whatever) then finally translate them back into English
- No words can be altered or added
- Words may be removed and punctuation can be changed
Here’s what came out.
Isle of Man Tax, Haven with Tailless Cats, Becomes Bitcoin Hub
Everyone wonders how it is.
Cat background in the middle of the Irish Sea,
in the four corners of the stone and the good
and the Victorian engine
and TT national motorcycling men
and unknown risks,
and the best on the island.
Mercedes-Benz S-Class at the airport —
a place to take care of 70 minutes.
A woman waiting to meet with the audience:
Yes, well, well, the gray suit, Kate, my surprise.
Welcome to the growing field of digital cash.
Wikipedia arc taking London, New York
and San Francisco into account.
Union Jack minors and time capsule,
and I think that it looks like tomorrow.
The Place Where Being a Nuclear Waste Dump May Be a Good Option
Rust Belt State
60 percent of the desert, staring
into the abyss.
Keep the unemployment rate.
GM will close its plant
(more than 50 automakers)
when a third of the population has no function.
The Government decided the recession is shrinking,
and he looked at all of the country as a landfill,
—nuclear waste in the world —
even possible.
The State is the center of the continent.
The hard choices.
“They know that there is a crisis,
or even when it will come,” said Trade.
“This is a laboratory that matters.”
The Sensible Case for Totally Ignoring All the E-mails You Miss on Vacation
Less than a week in the summer,
Lake George lay in wait for him.
When he returned:
596 unread messages.
They are wasted. “This has been cleared.”
There is no way to avoid wasting postage.
All these hundreds of millions of workers
are especially interesting news.
Work, production of hundreds,
empty,
unless you decide?
Why do you jump his absence,
even forever?
He went over Labor Day weekend.
After three days, the software people can email
in the footsteps,
depending on the location.
It’s that simple.
The first address happy to reconsider,
not get us more of a distance.
Summer job, but do not worry.
Poverty is no input.
Maintain power.
A certain level of noise.
“We were able to respond,”
It’s a flood or a basic responsibility.
E-mail is often the most easily overlooked.
Merger between the lover and e-mail,
there somewhere looking for Maia Maia.
2040% e-mail and 6:00 half-life,
when people sit announced in your inbox.
Some people think of a few.
Our old mail is foolishness at other times,
trying to whisper.
Way of the application,
I have a very old times for new jobs
(or at least scan).
E-mail us the most important.
How lazy and play ball,
internal communication.
It said
that the signs of the change of summer
collected for use.
An example: the benefits of pressure,
or word of this instrument,
need help.
The main event,
television.
Daily bucket fall.
End, most of us believe,
it is measured at the time.
Avoiding it has some sense.
A survey carried by the American Psychological Association:
344% in the performance check email.
If you care to work or study,
you may be able to consume the entire corridor.
“If you want, or to reflect”.
“Just relax, and at the same time
they are in the effort.”
East vs. West as EU Pushes Refugee Distribution Plans
Greece, Italy, Hungary
permanently moved to
the Second War of the Worlds
Announced plans for the refugee problem
the 120,000 immigrants
in the European Union this week.
Finland and the northern and southern Spain –
Block 28 countries
on Monday by the European Commission.
Syria, Africa and the Middle East,
North and war and poverty
and to improve the welfare of the prophet.
—the fight against the spread —
more than 40,000 people in the end of July,
the government and
the election of 32 256 people.
