rylxyc
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2008–2023
4:31 · 2.8M views · Nov 21, 2006
The Monty Python sketch in which a man uses a mistranslated Hungarian phrasebook with absurd results, followed by the courtroom scene.
Used purely as a joke reference to bad translation and phrasebooks.
4 comments from Hacker News
This is the beginning of one of the essays: "I love icecream very much. Normally people wuld like to eat icecream in summer, few people were seen eating icecream in winter. But I will, and I found that is very excited to eat icecream in winter." There are grammatical errors and misspellings all over this. Here's the Monty Python sketch I'm referring to: this video Maybe the problem is that people are writing essays in the language they are learning instead of in their native language like it suggests on the home page. If that's that case, then this could be a good tool for essay writers to get feedback on their work. It needs to be clear, though, whether people should write essays in their native language or in the language they're learning. Maybe there could be different sections for each type of essay? Then you could also read essays in your native language written by students of the language and give them feedback, or you could read essays written by native speakers of the language you're learning.
Oh, I'm sure there would be a few unfortunate "drop your panties, Sir William; I cannot wait until lunchtime" incidents, but with an automated Hungarian Phrasebook[1], we'll eventually learn to get by. More to the point, though, we have no reason to assume that dolphins, any more than, say, apes, have the ability to "chat" -- to communicate about things displaced from the here and now. It's worth a go, of course, but our expectations shouldn't be too high going in. [1] this video
In case you were thinking the spelling mistakes come from a dirty phrasebook [1]: the German part of the website is just as awful. [1]: this video
That’s a old Monty Python sketch. It’s called “Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook”. My hovercraft is full of eels. this video