
Show HN: Lost in translations – a fun app of recursive translations - Amanjeev
http://lost-in-translations.amanjeev.com
======
amatix
"My hovercraft is full of eels" [http://lost-in-
translations.amanjeev.com/lost-translations/2...](http://lost-in-
translations.amanjeev.com/lost-translations/277)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Hungarian_Phrasebook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Hungarian_Phrasebook)
&
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6D1YI-41ao](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6D1YI-41ao)

~~~
MiguelSR
My first try: "I'm not going to buy this Album, you will be disqualified."

Then I saw this post, haha.

------
Amanjeev
Note: It seems like I am about to run out of the free quota (I see the usage
as 754K characters already). I grossly underestimated.

Edit: If I run out of the quota, which it looks like I will, you can use your
own API key locally by using this package:
[https://pypi.python.org/pypi/ulit/](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/ulit/). A
neat feature is that you can use Google translate API as well but it is not
nearly as much fun.

Update: I ran out of the quota but have emailed Yandex if I can pay a few
bucks to keep it running. It seems to have under 50 mil characters, you pay
about $15.

~~~
Amanjeev
Another update: I think the quota will be reset at midnight moscow time (it is
Sept 30th today). So, hopefully in about three hours the quota should be reset
and the app shall be usable again.

------
Kiro
Same problem as [http://translationparty.com/](http://translationparty.com/),
running out of API quota. Sad since it's a funny idea.

Here's how Translation Party is supposed to work:
[https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/forcebe...](https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/forcebewithyou-1.png)
(similar to Lost in translations).

~~~
Amanjeev
Sadly, Yandex has a limit for characters in their free API. A thing I noticed
is that there is no free version of Google translate but that is not as much
fun as well.

------
stn
I tried some popular quotes, there is an example: "Whenever you find yourself
on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." was transformed
to: Every time you log on to the website of the Majority, it is Time to stop
and think.

------
metasean
Seems like an entertaining, tech-enhanced, multi-lingual, solitary version of
telephone [1].

FWIW: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" becomes "In veloce Marrone
volpe Pull lazy cane" [2]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_whispers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_whispers)

[2] [http://lost-in-translations.amanjeev.com/lost-
translations/1...](http://lost-in-translations.amanjeev.com/lost-
translations/1246)

~~~
Amanjeev
>>Seems like an entertaining, tech-enhanced, multi-lingual, solitary version
of telephone [1].

Everyone within the family I have mentioned this idea to has called it that.

------
imdsm
The following goes through and comes out the end unchanged:

"We are all Human beings. The Earth is our home. It is our World. We have to
learn to share, before it's too late."

~~~
metasean
If Amanjeev runs out of free quota, here's the link - [http://lost-in-
translations.amanjeev.com/lost-translations/1...](http://lost-in-
translations.amanjeev.com/lost-translations/1319)

~~~
Amanjeev
This thing of saving the translations paid off. So at least I wasn't as bad in
predicting but I still failed to estimate the free quota's limitations.

------
methou
Using text: "Hello, i'm trying out this translation madness, I'm hoping these
text won't lost."

Afterwards, it has corrected my grammar: Good Day, I am trying this
translation Madness, I hope that these Texts will not lose.

[http://lost-in-translations.amanjeev.com/lost-translations/7...](http://lost-
in-translations.amanjeev.com/lost-translations/788)

------
midgetjones
That's pretty cool :)

Maybe you could spin the waiting time by showing the intermediary translations
as they go?

~~~
Amanjeev
Thanks! Indeed. I am also working on allowing users to select the intermediate
translations steps and the language of choice they want to begin with (per
API).

------
okize
That's funny, I wrote a hubot script that does something similar a little
while ago:

[https://github.com/okize/hubot-garble](https://github.com/okize/hubot-garble)

~~~
Amanjeev
Neat! We should join forces: Here is mine
[https://github.com/amanjeev/ulit](https://github.com/amanjeev/ulit)

~~~
okize
That looks great!

This doesn't really qualify as multiple discovery but it is funny how common
it is for disparate people to have the same idea simultaneously.

~~~
Amanjeev
I was always sure I am not the only one with this idea but somehow never could
find a similar web project via Google searches and never looked on Github. So,
my bad.

------
0942v8653
Reminds me of
[http://ackuna.com/badtranslator](http://ackuna.com/badtranslator) which was
way better back when you could still use Bing and Google Translate.

~~~
Amanjeev
Interesting. I tried googling this before I started making this app but could
not find any. I guess my google-fu is not good enough.

------
rmxt
I think this could use some non-Indo-European languages in the language chain
for fun.

Also, looks like all past translations are available through URL modification:

[http://lost-in-translations.amanjeev.com/lost-translations/1...](http://lost-
in-translations.amanjeev.com/lost-translations/1000)

by changing 1000 to 999, 1001, etc.

~~~
Amanjeev
Thanks. Yes I want to add the ability to have users decide the intermediate
languages. And yes the past translations are available. Thats how i wanted it
to be.

------
Timucin
I managed to get "Sorry, language not supported by Yandex" error somehow. Is
the app hitting to the API limits?

~~~
Amanjeev
Yes. That is a the quota limit. Unfortunately, I never thought I'd run out
since I never thought anyone would want to use it this much. 'Tis just a small
experiment I did not invest much time in. Sorry.

------
Amanjeev
Question: Would anyone be interested in the translations (as a plain-text
dump) ?

------
pvdebbe
Isn't this more about repeated iterations than recursive calls to itself?

~~~
Amanjeev
I guess you are correct. I was trying to really find a decent phrase but I
guess I failed.

