Posted in Culture, Language, Translation, tagged dictionary, interview, Japanese language, JETWit, Jim Breen, language learning on 2014/03/24| Leave a Comment »
Yes, JET alum Tim Martin interviewed Jim Breen, creator of WWWJDIC, one of the most popular online Japanese dictionaries, which revolutionized Japanese-language learning technology. This was the first dictionary I used, and while I tend to use Space ALC for helping localize phrases (often to hilarious effect), WWWDIC’s multi-radical kanji and text glossing have been key tools for many of the English-speaking JSL learners of my generation.
Photo courtesy of Jim Breen. Via JETWit.
Posted in Language, Translation, tagged ALC, bilingual, dictionary, English slang, japanese, slang, Space ALC, strange translations, Translation on 2013/08/20| 4 Comments »
Space ALC: my favorite general online dictionary, that treasure-trove of excellent example sentences and entirely bizarre translation possibilities, that bright spot in the depths of translation despair. (Some are a little NSFW for language.)
Posted in Language, Translation, tagged ALC, bilingual, dictionary, English slang, japanese, slang, Space ALC, strange translations, Translation on 2013/05/07| 14 Comments »
Space ALC is one of my favorite online dictionaries, especially since it uses a lot of example sentences and words in context. The dictionary also has a huge database of English-language slang terms, both historical and modern, and as the dictionary is more directed at English-to-Japanese translation (read: Japanese speakers inputing English terms, including slang), sometimes the results I get are nothing short of hilarious. My other translator friends and I like to swap screenshots of some of the weirder terms we get, and so I wanted to share some of my favorites with you all.
Just a note: none of these entries is wrong; this is not Engrish. If I had to deal with the sheer amount of slang that English has as a non-native speaker, I would be glad to have a place that could explain what buck wild means. However, going from Japanese to English turns up a lot of results that have odd slang terms listed as the first entries, which is why I find it so funny.
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