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864 Points
IMDb, please stop abusing my language
For some time now, plot outlines and plot summaries (if they don't already exist) have been automatically translated from English into other languages, in my case, German. I've almost never found such a translation that isn't flawed.
Let's take the article I just accessed as an example: https://www.imdb.com/de/title/tt38840807
The plot outline displayed is: "Der Highschooler Hibiki wird in ein gefährliches Fantasy-Reich entführt, das nur über grundlegende Fähigkeiten wie „Bewertung“ verfügt. Verloren im Grasland und in machtlosen, unerwarteten Begegnungen bringen Fähigkeiten zum Vorschein, die seinen Überlebenskampf in eine epische R..." (sic!)
The original text reads: "High schooler Hibiki is transported to a dangerous fantasy realm armed with only basic skills like 'Appraisal.'" Lost in grasslands and powerless, unexpected encounters reveal abilities that turn his survival struggle into an epic journey.
And the first thing we notice is that the translation cuts off mid-sentence. German often uses longer words than English, and there simply isn't enough space. But what's the point of cutting a text off mid-sentence? The correct translation would then be something like:
"Der Oberschüler Hibiki wird in eine gefährliche Fantasiewelt transportiert und verfügt nur über grundlegende Fähigkeiten wie „Einschätzung“. Verloren in Graslandschaften und machtlos, offenbaren unerwartete Begegnungen Fähigkeiten, die seinen Überlebenskampf in eine epische Reise verwandeln."
Clear differences, right? The previous translation wasn't just factually incorrect, but downright distorted the meaning in some places. Suddenly, it wasn't the high school student, but the world he was transported to that possessed the powers. Absurd nonsense.
Another example: https://www.imdb.com/de/title/tt41090249
Original text in English: "High schooler Yeo Eui-ju secretly writes web novels by night. When four charming new teachers arrive, they inspire her stories and shake up her school. A witty romance about teenage dreams, clumsy moments, and coming-of-age."
This becomes in German: "Der Gymnasiast Yeo Eui-ju schreibt nachts heimlich Webromane. Als vier bezaubernde neue Lehrer hinzukommen, inspirieren sie sie zu Geschichten und bringen ihre Schule auf den Kopf. Eine witzige Romanze über Teenagerträume, ungeschickte Momente und das Erwachsenwerden."
And here we come to something "fascinating." For whatever reason, the automated IMDb translation changes the gender, which is so important in the German language. The female high school student "Gymnasiastin" has suddenly become a male "Gymnasiast."
There are further inaccuracies in the translation ("awkward moments" don't exist, moments can't be "awkward," and the new teachers are certainly not "bezaubernd" but "charming"). A more accurate translation would be: "Die Oberschülerin Yeo Eui-ju schreibt nachts heimlich Webromane. Als vier charmante neue Lehrer an die Schule kommen, inspirieren sie sie zu neuen Geschichten und bringen ihren Schulalltag ganz schön durcheinander. Eine witzige Liebesgeschichte über Teenagerträume, peinliche Momente und das Erwachsenwerden."
And here again, we notice that German texts tend to be a bit longer. This wouldn't work with the character limit, even if you cut some of the filler words, which would then make the text seem less polished.
And a third example: https://www.imdb.com/de/title/tt39335776
According to the display, this isn't an automatically translated text, but it's still clearly been translated automatically. Original: "A guilty goddess slayer faces endless punishment, forced to fight waves of foes forever."
In German: "Eine schuldige Göttinnenmörderin wird endlos bestraft und muss für immer gegen Wellen von Feinden kämpfen."
Here we have the problem that translating a text into a medium that is obviously unfamiliar can go wrong. You can translate it this way purely linguistically. But here we come back to the problem of linguistic gender (and even more so, the real gender of the character). Because it is a "Goddess Killer." A man killed the goddess, not the goddess herself. The entire meaning of the statement is distorted, not to say completely twisted. And I'm not even getting started on the fact that this isn't even the correct description of the episode, but rather a description of the series itself.
I could go on and on because it affects practically every translation. It's a total disaster. So, here's my plea: IMDb, please disable these terrible translations. It's unbearable and not even remotely helpful. No reader benefits from these inaccurate descriptions. It's good that you offer the option of German (and other language) descriptions, but you'd be better off waiting for people who actually know what they're doing to create them, instead of offering this automated nonsense. Which brings us to the next problem: whenever I try to correct errors in German texts or submit summaries in German, they're rejected for flimsy reasons in at least 50 percent of cases. IMDb apparently has more faith in its incredibly flawed AI than in its contributors.





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