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Google Translate: the remix
May 17, 2011
When we built
Google Translate
we thought it was a cool tool, but we have to admit we had fairly straightforward ideas about what it would be useful for (lowering language barriers and making more web content available to people around the world). As with many inventions, though, it turns out people have found uses for the tool that we never imagined. Recently, two clever Translate trends caught our eye—perhaps one of them will inspire you to come up with a fun Translate trick of your own.
First, some creative folks translated strings of consonants into German to create a new beatboxing tool. The phrase “pv zk bschk” didn’t initially make much sense to us, but a quick listen got us nodding our heads along to the beat.
Now it seems there’s a similar trend in Taiwan: using the spoken output of Google Translate as the vocals for self-composed songs or video spoofs. Recently, a video called “Google Translate Song” ratcheted up over half a million views and became one of the
most popular YouTube videos
in Taiwan this month.
Whether you’re laying down your next track,
ordering take-out
or
communing with animals
, we hope you’re having as much fun using Translate as we have building it.
Posted by Jeff Chin, Product Manager, Google Translate
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