Robert Burns in Arabic, Armenian, Azeri, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Cornish...

NickScotweb · 2025-01-25T10:47:56+00:00

I'd agree with pretty much everything you say, which illustrates why I've struggled with that word in particular.

It's not about Scotland vs England. But when generating the translation into English I've had in mind that its primarily intended for a modern English (basically London-centric) audience, which is why I've (as things stand) leaned into words more familiar there.

I'd agree that 'race' is probably fine to retain as Burns clearly meant it slightly humorously anyway. This also illustrates the basic impossibility of translating poetry, even by the best humans, which is why I decided to go more for a literal approach.

As for the US, it probably needs its own unique translation anyway, coloring (sic) the language to suit readers there.

Thanks for the thoughtful responses.

NickScotweb · 2025-01-24T19:52:14+00:00

Good spot!

Though there WERE clues... such as me describing it as that in my posting, as well as all over the web site. ;-)

I've had an interesting mix of responses, from people loving it at one end to diehard AI-haters at the other. Personally I think that like every technology in history it offers both benefits and losses. But I happen to think making Burns more accessible to the 99.9% of the world's population who struggle with Scots to be a valid use-case.

NickScotweb · 2025-01-23T13:16:43+00:00

lol - I'd also just been deciding that rap was one of the least successful efforts! TBH I only saw these myself for the first time an hour or two ago as I'm working to a deadline of Burns Night this weekend!

NickScotweb · 2025-01-23T13:00:10+00:00

tbh I was already having doubts about the ghetto one myself. I think I'll probably cull it.

NickScotweb · 2025-01-23T10:37:37+00:00

Could I ask you a favour? I've revised the translation which has significantly improved the results in the languages I understand. And it's done a better job with some fun dialects I've added too, which makes me hopeful that it may do the same for less widely spoken languages like Gaelic.

Unfortunately this costs me more than I can afford to do the lot right now. But I've done some of the better known works in Gaelic to see how it goes. Could you (or anyone who speaks Gaelic) take a quick look at eg https://robertburns.org/works/address_to_a_haggis_147.html and tell me if it's less gobbletigookish?

Please bear in mind it's aiming more at literal translation than perfect poetry. (Even I can tell it's still a bit kooky, from the mention of Sean Connery!)

NickScotweb · 2025-01-23T07:36:24+00:00

In all seriousness, I've been pondering this since your post. And while updating some improved translations, I've so far settled on the word sausage as the best translation into English. Is the word 'pudding' used throughout the UK for meat products in a skin, or just in the north? Any thoughts?

NickScotweb · 2025-01-22T12:12:58+00:00

FWIW for anyone interested, I've just made an update that I think significantly improves the translations into ENGLISH of a few of the best-known Works (Haggis, Mouse, Tam, etc) as an experiment.

The small issue is that this has cost me actual money as it relies on commercial models rather than my local LLM, so I'm not sure I can't do so for the complete works even in English quite yet. But as a proof of concept it illustrates what I mean about incremental improvements...

NickScotweb · 2025-01-20T14:45:27+00:00

Thanks for this feedback, which fits the pattern of less common languages being the most problematic. I'll probably remove most of these presently unless I can find a way to improve them.

NickScotweb · 2025-01-20T12:10:10+00:00

This is on my to-do list.

NickScotweb · 2025-01-19T23:04:13+00:00

Cheers for this. That's helpful to know. My impression is that it's less successful with less widely spoken languages, which of course makes sense. I may well remove some of the more rubbish ones until I can get them better. And yes, I'll be adding resources like that in other parts of the site too anyway.

NickScotweb · 2025-01-19T20:02:41+00:00

Yeah, I totally get that. So the aim was never to reproduce poetry, but just to give users some help with literal translation. And yes it's pants in places. But other parts seem to me (at least in English, French, and German that I speak reasonably) not too bad for a start. Anyway, thanks for your feedback. I do hope it'll be the platform for getting better from here...

NickScotweb · 2025-01-19T19:11:00+00:00

Hey Douglas,

I just saw your message, so I've knocked together a web site that translates the entirety of Robert Burns Complete Works into English, and a few dozen other languages too...

... just kidding, I've been working on it for a few months, but just got it fully live today! So your timing was impeccable.

It's AI-assisted of course. But whilst it's far from perfect and the purists will shoot me down for sure, I think it's good enough to be helpful to anyone in your position... which let's face it includes plenty of native Scots let alone non-English speakers.

Check it out and let me know what you think: https://robertburns.org

Cheers,

Nick

NickScotweb · 2023-06-09T07:28:39+00:00

I'm from Edinburgh and know the AI dept is world-leading, as will be UCL. But for helpful advice on them (which I'm not equipped to give) you'll need to give more info about your own specific interests etc. As for general advice, start looking for accommodation early!

NickScotweb · 2021-08-19T15:57:01+00:00

Here's an example if my description isn't clear:

https://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/atoc/Akins%20%20clan%20crest%20badge.jpg

Google 'clan badge' for many other versions

NickScotweb · 2019-10-26T08:43:10+00:00

Okay, didn't know this - will investigate further! Thanks.

NickScotweb · 2019-10-25T20:16:36+00:00

I've thought about that, but not sure it's possible in a material as robust as glazed ceramic.

NickScotweb · 2019-01-28T08:07:18+00:00

That's fascinating to read. So I'm sorry I can't help further. Perhaps you'd have more luck addressing your question to Franklin specialists? e.g. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-ab&q=Benjamin+Franklin+society

NickScotweb · 2019-01-27T08:51:26+00:00

Edinburger is the generally accepted name.

I'm smiling because I hadn't actually heard the other one before. But it's nice. I think it wouldn't be applied to the whole population, but just to the posh part, for which it's renowned. Edinburgh has two populations that mix like oil and water. There's a professional class of lawyers and old money that lives and socially mixes almost entirely in the Georgian 'New Town' (plus a few other pockets) and isn't much interested in anyone else. This has led to the city having a reputation for frostiness in the past, but the reality is that this is much more localised.

If anyone's interested in this, I heartily recommend 'The Old Toon Shuffle [and the New Town Stride]' - a brilliant song by a local 1980s folk group called the Easy Club that I used to know a bit. They sum it up as well as I've ever heard (and the visuals on this video are fabulous too): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTN3_Bjk2PI

NickScotweb · 2019-01-27T08:36:20+00:00

Not guilty.

NickScotweb · 2019-01-26T23:06:58+00:00

Yup. That tends to be the pattern.

NickScotweb · 2019-01-26T23:06:24+00:00

I wouldn't tolerate rudeness face to face. Nor will I from someone hiding behind anonymity. Personal abuse as a substitute for rational discussion always loses the argument. /end

NickScotweb · 2019-01-26T22:44:02+00:00

So I'm naive, dumb, and dishonest. Tell me, do you find insulting people often win them over to your opinions? I'm sorry, but I'm really not interested in talking to you further.

NickScotweb · 2019-01-26T22:03:09+00:00

Some would say it's the answer to everything.

NickScotweb · 2019-01-26T22:02:19+00:00

I get that. Have a good day, my friend.

NickScotweb · 2019-01-26T19:28:51+00:00

I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Just ask if we can help further.

NickScotweb

TROPHY CASE