Five speaks Japanese!

Well, speaks????….LOL

Most of the time Five meets people who speak English. But there are large numbers of German and French speaking persons. Five has met Spanish and Portugeese. A few days ago, Five was explaining something to somebody who only spoke Italian. Well, ok, with a vocabulary and some of the other languages Five speaks the thing he asked was answered. English, French and German, with a bit of Italian, a bit of Spanish, this must cover the world!

But then Five said “hello” to somebody and the answer came back in Japanese!

[9:09] You: hi
[9:10] Sin Nagy: こんばんは
[9:10] Sin's Interpreter: Good evening
[9:10] You: hi where are you from?

[9:10] Sin Nagy: 日本です
[9:10] Sin's Interpreter: It is Japan

He was typing in Japanese and had a HUD who translated it. When translated meanings were wrong, he said that it produced “noodles”, which is a very nice (and eastern) metaphor.

[9:13] You: i am showing second life to a friend
[9:13] Sin Nagy: フランスからですか
[9:13] Sin's Interpreter: Is it from France?
[9:13] You: yes from france north of paris
[9:14] Sin Nagy: そうですか。私は東京です
[9:14] Sin's Interpreter: So. I am Tokyo
[9:14] You: is your engine also speaking french ?
[9:14] You: est-ce que il peut parler francais?
[9:14] Sin Nagy: そちらにも翻訳機があるのですね
[9:14] Sin's Interpreter: There is an interpreter there
[9:15] Sin Nagy: ごめんなさいフランス語は無理なのです
[9:15] Sin's Interpreter: Do it, and it is impossible for French to do noodles.

Lol! English is ok but the French was not. Quickly I realized: can I trust it? How can I see if the interpreter is doing ok. I mean what are my words producing in Japanese? Wasn't it von Neumann who defined intelligent life as being able to produce a normal and versatile conversation?

[9:15] You: ha ha i think it made an error!!!!
[9:15] Sin Nagy: 麺ってでましたね
[9:15] Sin's Interpreter: Noodles appeared
[9:15] Zipp3r Hax: hi
[9:15] Sin Nagy: 笑い
[9:15] Sin's Interpreter: A laughter

Of course, when talking with SIn Nagy, other people appeared, interested by the event of having all the languages together. Dutch and Germans formed a group around us. I had to chase a few guys who wantd to buy or sell guns for the maffia. My German did the job. Then we could go on exploring the translator.

[9:17] You: i am very impressed by the translator
[9:17] Sin's Interpreter: I understood it.
[9:17] You: it must be a database connection?
[9:17] Sin Nagy: いいえ。
[9:17] Sin's Interpreter: No.
[9:18] You: how then is it done?
[9:18] Sin Nagy: wearで、画面の横にコンソールが出ます
[9:18] Sin's Interpreter: In wear, a console appears beside a screen
[9:18] You: ok what is called a HUD, i suppose....
[9:18] You: you bought it in second life?
[9:18] Sin Nagy: はい。そうですね。
[9:18] Sin's Interpreter: Yes. Well.
[9:19] You: where can I buy it?
[9:19] Sin Nagy: いいえ。R246という島です
[9:19] Sin's Interpreter: No. It is an island of R246
[9:19] Sin Nagy: フリーです
[9:19] Sin's Interpreter: I am free

Well then a Dutch guy came along, and he tried Babbler, an other free translator as a HUD. But this thing certainly produced noodles. Babbler comes with a notecard explaining that you should talk like a simple 10 years old kid. I already figured this out. And at the same time my enthusiasm was tempered. Again: how is Five to check what is said, what is translated at the other side?

And maybe the Japanese language is too poetical itself, see for instance the fight with the wall:

[9:28] You: i think we see noodles from the babbler
[9:29] Jaco Schaffner: so babbler is no good
[9:29] Sin Nagy: 日本人には第二の人生は言葉の壁との戦いです
[9:29] Sin's Interpreter: The second life is a fight with a wall of words to a Japanese
[9:29] You: very poetical text
[9:29] You: you mean it is difficult for the japanese?
[9:30] Sin Nagy: そうです。難しいです。
[9:30] Sin's Interpreter: So. It is difficult.

Anyway, expressions must be avoided too, and metaphors, but what will remain that is interesting? But it was great to have, for a moment or two, the experience of being able to talk to people who don’t understand the language you speak, nor the second languages. Five decided to give them a present. A dodeka present you can find at Contrechoc. In the style of Five, it is built with pentagones. It is just a simple thing Five built to try out scripting in SL.

Five showed it first by putting it on the ground. Then Five presented it to the people attending the conversation. But these people were inexperienced and wanted to “wear” it like a dress or a skirt. SO they were quickly captured in the web of the dodeka. Funny situations!

(By the way, in the text of the conversation you can see that Five tries out the French version of the Second Life interface, this French sentence is produced by the acceptance event...)

[9:32] You: here is a gift
[9:33] You: a gift fro france
[9:33] Sin Nagy: そうかもしれませんね
[9:33] Sin's Interpreter: It may be so
[9:33] You: a gift from france
[9:33] Sin Nagy: dodeka gift
[9:33] Sin's Interpreter: dodeka gift
[9:33] Sin Nagy a accepté votre offre d'inventaire.
[9:33] dodeka gift: see you!
[9:33] You: that is the gift
[9:33] You: i built it
[9:33] Sin Nagy: ありがとうございます
[9:33] Yuuki Dagger: あ
[9:33] Sin's Interpreter: Thank you
[9:34] You: just a present for the japanese
[9:34] You: and one for jaco from holland

It was all very exciting somehow. We were talking all five at the same time, which for Five is a very interesting thing. Later on Five searched for the interpreter, but didn’t find it. Only the Babbler of Jaco was free to get on an island with a lot of flamingos.

Are we ever going to be able to talk to each other with the richness of our mother tongue, or shall we end up with an all too simple mix of bits and pieces of all languages?

Sometimes I russian I spoke to, said that russian was very difficult. She was right of course. But then she added, English is simple. Well, English is certainly not simple, but the foreigners are talking a simple English. This is quite a difference!

And then, after departing it was important to save the conversation with Sin Nagy from the “history” in the menu,

and save the text in a document on the computer. Five has lost a few interesting talks by forgetting to save the text before deconnecting!