Machine Translation Samples

In this pair of machine translation samples, I will specifically be picking examples that include Japanese nonstandard dialects. While reading the article, "With AI translation tools so powerful, what is the point of learning a language?" by Elba Ramirez, I found the section discussing the limitations of AI translation and the consequences of those limitations to be the most interesting to me. While the example in the article is referring to the translation of speech, I'd like to focus on written non-hyoujungo Japanese.

Example 1

おばんでがす。し、なげぐなったなや～。

My first example is a short example of heavy Sendai-ben from kokesu.com. I will also pair it with the translation of the standardized Japanese equivalent given on the site, 「こんばんじゃ。日が長くなったね～。」

DeepL:

Sendai-ben: Good evening. Man, I'm exhausted.

Standard: Good evening. The days are getting longer, aren't they?

Google Translate:

Sendai-ben: Good evening. I'm so sad.

Standard: Good evening. The days are getting longer.

ChatGPT:

Sendai-ben: Good evening. Gee, you’ve started lamenting (again), huh.

Standard: Good evening. The days have gotten longer, haven’t they?

As it seems, none of the machine translators were able to accurately translate the second sentence of the Sendai-ben line, though the DeepL one kind of came close by portraying a similar feeling, likely by coincidence. I'd like to note as well that ChatGPT did actually correctly identify the Touhoku dialect and identify it as a regional dialect within Miyagi/Akita before giving a detailed incorrect translation.

Example 2

「最近、全然会ってくれないじゃん」

「したって、忙しいんだからしょうがないべさ！」

This second example comes from the site hokkaidolikers.com. The dialect is not as strong in this example, with only したって（だって）and ～べさ（よ・だよ）．

DeepL:

“You haven't been meeting up with me at all lately, have you?”

“Well, I'm busy, so what can I do about it?”

Google Translate:

"You haven't seen me lately at all."

"But I'm busy, so it can't be helped!"

ChatGPT:

“Lately, you never meet up with me.”

“Well, I’m busy, so it can’t be helped!”

This example worked far better, likely due to how similar it is to standard Japanese and how the sentence ending particles do not translate much into English. Actually, the most notable issue I have with the translations is DeepL's decision to add a question to the first phrase, when the じゃん doesn't necessarily warrant one (in my opinion). Though, for Japanese-English translation it translated the messages accurately, even if some sentences sound a bit unnatural.

Darian