lost in translation...

i don't even have all that much reading for tonight, but i'm currently amusing myself (read: procrastinating) by playing around with this online translating tool.

and what specifically am i doing? glad you asked. i'm taking a simple little william carlos williams poem, translating it into various languages, and then translating it back into english to see how it changes.

first, the original poem:

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.

and now, the translations. these are all translated back to english after being translated to the following languages:

1. french:

depends so much
on
a red wheel
wheelbarrow
frozen with the rain
water
close to the white
chickens.

2. spanish:

as much it depends
on
a red wheel
wheelbarrow
enameling with rain
water
next to the target
chickens.

3. german:

depends as much
after
a red wheel
Truck
glazed with rains
Water
beside the white
Chickens.

4. russian:

so much depends
on
the red wheel
the barrow
it is glazed with the rain
the water
near the whiteness
chickens.

5. italian:

therefore a lot depends
on
one red small wheel
wheelbarrow
shining with rain
water
to the white man side
chicken.

6. japanese:

It depends so
Red wheel
Wheelbarrow
The rain and gloss can be applied
Water
Side of white
Chicken.

but here's where this gets really fun! i had to pull out the old college poetry books to make sure i had the punctuation correct for the WCW poem, and here's what i've got written in the margin next to "the red wheelbarrow", from first semester, senior year of college, in john matthias's class:

imagist poem; mimesis of external reality not an issue for WCW - importance of words regarded as things - formal relationships, pure form made object; WCW as maker rather than sayer

sigh... i love my english degree!