My two examples are from the short story 『乳と卵』, written by 川上未映子. This is an interesting example because the short story is written in the kansai dialect. The author was born in Osaka. Last semester, my class and I actually translated this story, so I will be including my translation for comparison.
Original 1: 緑子は、お母さん、ほんまのことを、ほんまのことをゆうてや、としぼりだすような声でそう云った。
Example 1 (ChatGPT): “Midori said to her mother in a voice that sounded as if she were squeezing the words out: ‘Tell me the truth, the real truth.’”
Example 1 (Gemini): "Midori said to her mother, in a voice that sounded like it was being squeezed out, "Mom, tell me the truth, the real truth."
My class and my translation: "in a strained voice she said, Momma, the truth–tell me the truth, why can’tcha tell me the truth, Momma, "
Original 2: 巻子はそれを聴いて、ちょっとの間を置き、は、ははははっはっははあ、と大きな声で笑い出した。ちょ、いややわ、なによ、ほんまのことって、いったいなにをゆうてるのんよ、
Example 2 (ChatGPT): Makiko heard that, paused for a moment, and then burst out in a loud laugh—“Ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”“Oh, stop it, that’s embarrassing! What do you even mean by this ‘real truth’ you’re talking about?”
Example 2 (Gemini): Makiko listened, paused for a moment, and then burst into a loud, booming laugh. "Oh, stop it! What's this 'real truth' you're talking about?"
My class and my translation: ...and after a short pause, Makiko burst into laughter, ha, hahahaha, HA, HAHAA! Hold yer horses, quit that, what ‘er you talkin’ ‘bout, tell me the truth, laughing up a storm, and turning towards me she laughed, didya hear that? Color me surprised, what do you really mean? Translate that a bit for her, why don’tcha,
Thoughts:
One interesting things I noticed in example 2 is that Gemini completely cut out the onomatopoeia. Another things is that both LLMs seem to translate the passage literally, so the reader would not be able to tell if the original text is in the Kansai dialect. My classmate and I decided to use the Southern American accent to portray the energy of the Kansai dialect.
Zhihe (Allen) Tian
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