Machine translation

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
You would have to give examples of the descriptions so that each word can be examined in the context of the description.

Otherwise, I'd only be guessing that the word 'fever' may relate to temperature and the word 'bile' could relate to harshness or sharpness.

P.S. I do not speak Mandarin! :)
 
Looks like 'hot' (referring to the thermionic valve) and 'sharpness' (with the meaning of 'precision') would fit in.

I would just ignore these words, which are simply embellishment!

I've seen the same words appear in the description of cables and op-amps, so not about heat I suspect.
Yes, I do ignore them, but I'm just intrigued as to the reason for their inclusion. I guess we need a native language speaker to enlighten us.
 
The use of the word bile may be a cultural reference.

"The usage of animal biles in China for the treatment of a wide number of disorders in human beings enjoys a three millennial history."
For example, python bile is used to treat high fever in children.

So, by my interpretation, bile is a word associated with something that is good.
 
C'mon guys, it's just snake bile!

(Goes down well with some added rice liquor.)
 

Attachments

  • Snake Bile.jpg
    Snake Bile.jpg
    62.4 KB · Views: 145
I have seen the word "fever" used as a superlative for electronic constructions several times. The word seems used as replacement of "superb" or "exceptional".
Whereas "fever" is normally bringing less attractive associations, in particular in these unfortunate corona times, I recall the song "Fever" by Peggy Lee which uses "fever" as a state of excitement rather than a reason to visit the doctor.
Weird translations -> get used to it. On the north American continent I guess your main challenge is various versions of English against Spanish. Imagine how many substantially different languages that are found in continental Europe. Then, in order to allow "competition on equal terms" and save on budgets, the administrations often tend to seek a low common denominator and abandon work of a well educated trade of translators. The results are texts that a machine will not understand at all and many persons performing translation neither. Sometimes reverting to an original text, if of political or managerial nature, leaves the impression that even translated by a highly skilled translator and not a machine, the final text will not have much meaning anyway. We live in times where the bombardment of us with messages and information by large exceeds the past but the quality of the information is much lower than before.
 
Last edited:
Two words that constantly crop up in eBay and Aliexpress hardware descriptions, I guess via Google Translate, are 'fever' and 'bile'. Can someone who speaks Chinese tell me what the real translations are?

I'm a Chinese. I don't know what 'bile' refers to here but hope my answer helps you understand 'fever' better.
'Having a fever' in Chinese we say "发烧“(fa shao), and in China we call audiophiles as "发烧友"(fa shao you), ‘友you' means friend. The story behind this word is said that in the 1950s amplifiers are all velve which were hot and made sweat dripping from the forehead of the audiophiles in HongKong and their face were red in hot summer like getting a fever. So they jokingly called themselves as 'fashao'. But nowadays this word has extended its meaning to someone who has enthusiasm for sth like car, electronic devices,etc.

Then back to hardware descriptions, there is a popular phrase "发烧级”(fa shao ji) —’ji‘ means Grade—among ads of hardware products, trying to impress customers that it is with high quality, like faster in the context of GPU, and it is in Hifi Grade in audio products. Or sometimes they just use fashao as an adjective, like fashao DAC, fashao amp.

At the present time, fashao is the way to test and see if you have caught COVID-19. So one audiophile in my wechat groupchat did remind us days ago not to mention fashao or call yourself fashao these days because it is no good luck.:D
 
Thanks for your insight.
Of course Translator has no way of getting those nuances, people writing ads and brochures should have final text read/proofed by a native speaker.

It goes both ways, of course; I wonder what would be the chosen Chinese translation be for "tranny", used in this Forum both for transistor and transformer ... let alone the slang word meaning ... ummmm ..... female dressed guys, to say it politely.
 
Many thanks for this elaborate explanation which makes a lot of sense. I once spoke to a Japanese who used "stone" for a transistor. It was the silicon chip that was linked to "stone" as an element in much sand. Not obvious to me. English words, like "bobby", may also appear weird for foreigners who are not closely acquainted with that culture.
 
Member
Joined 2015
Paid Member
Thanks for the explanation. I have always had an interest in the Chinese language. Years ago I also tried to learn the basics, but I quickly concluded that I am too old to learn it now. My hope is on automatic translators, but it will take a long time to have one working because it will have to be able to understand the context. The so-called "artificial intelligence" available today is pattern recognition, and it is not enough for the type of translation that would be needed. Regarding the word "bile" that we often see associated with valves, While browsing on Chinese sites such as Taobao with the Chrome translation feature turned on, I noticed that 胆机 is translated as "bile"; as example: 老兵胆机发烧hifi becomes "Veteran bile machine fever hifi". I believe that the correct translation should be "tube amplifier"; this is the Google translate result. Baidu translation is "amps". "veteran" is another weird translation and I believe that on this context should mean "traditional". I was puzzled about the "fever" word, but you explained it pretty well.
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.