Well here's a funny thing...
(oh, before I forget: Merry Winterval/Solstice/Christmas/Hannukakah etc.,whatever floats your boat!)
...I was saying; something funny happened the other day. I posted some pictures of the local winter PET crop the other day (you'll find them under 'My life in Romania and UK' with some agriculture-related title or other) and the weirdest thing happened; I clicked to save an explanatory comment which I had just finished writing and - to my disbelief - as the screen renewed, a bizarre translation appeared below my comment. Take a look - I'll see you back here in 2 minutes!
Ah, welcome back! Enjoy that? Odd, innit?! It cannot be described as pure Englanian since it's syntactically more akin to Babelanian or Yahoonian. I suppose it must be Googlanian but this is my first encounter with it in the wild, and certainly the first time that I have ever heard of it making an unprovoked attack on a member of the cybercommunity.
The big question of course is how to stop it taking over. My attempts to delete its work have been without success, and I fear it may put an end to my translation career should any clients or colleagues pass by, see its writings and attribute them to me. I could try to domesticate it, I suppose, and put it to work as a subcontractee, but in the unlikely event that I ever succeeded in such an improbable endeavour, there is a finite chance that it might set up its own agency and price me out of the market!
Such a 'rise of the machines' is of course probably a long way away (and will most likely start with digital telephone systems and robot operators, which are already getting way too smug for my liking): translators and linguists probably have less to worry about than secretaries and factory workers. The unsolicited intervention of translation software is a new phenomenon, and exceptionally annoying, but for now I recommend we take no direct action towards the termination of the Connor family. Hasta la vista!
STOP PRESS! WITHIN ABOUT 72 HOURS OF THIS POSTING, THE MYSTERIOUS AUTOMATIC TRANSLATION DISAPPEARED AS IF IT HAD NEVER BEEN! COULD IT POSSIBLY BE THAT THIS ANONYMOUS ROBOT TRANSLATOR CAN ALSO READ MY POSTS AND EXPERIENCE SHAME, EMBARRASSMENT, SELF-LOATHING, GUILT.....? (MAYBE WE REALLY ARE IN TROUBLE!)
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