My life over here is terrible.
Work environment is not very good (or not very bad, too blurry for me to read), benefits are few
But don't need to worry, every day has about 10 people getting heavily injured
But I am very careful
I opened a small store, bussiness is not [unknown character]
Although I am not very familiar with English, but can still [Idk what this part says]
Can understand the words those white people speak
Hope I can [find a better life here?] I will work hard here, and
Will be careful with my body (becareful with not injuring my body)
Are you (plural) still good?
Very miss you (plural), wish we can meet again

That's my 2nd grade level understanding of Chinese 😅

(I am a former citizen of China, if you are curious how I know this. Now I am a US Citizen. Haven't spoken Mandarin or written in Chinese for 10+ years. I speak Cantonese at home not Mandarin)

[–] NorthWestWind@lemmy.world 112 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You're very close! I'll make some edits.

1  My life over here is terrible.
2  Work environment is not very good (yes you're correct), benefits are few
3  But don't need to worry, every day has only about 10 people getting heavily injured,
4  and I am very careful.
5  We opened a small store, business is not bad.
6  Although I am not very familiar with English, I can still sometimes 
7  (This line is adding a word to the previous line)
8  understand what the white people (we meant westerners) are saying. (Line 6 to 8 are parts of the same sentence)
9  Hope I can get some fame here! I will work hard here, and
10 will be careful with my health
11 Are you (plural) still good?
12 Very miss you (plural), wish we can meet again

(I am a Hongkonger, speaking Cantonese since the day I was born. The other translations using translation software aren't accurate because there is an added character at line 7.)

[–] randint@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 11 points 1 year ago

Hi there Hongkonger.

[–] Falafels@aussie.zone 72 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm impressed you remember it! Unless you're in 3rd grade now, in which case it's not as impressive.

[–] WtfEvenIsExistence@reddthat.com 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

On the internet, nobody knows you're a third-grader 😉

Hey you know what's weird. I can remember a language I haven't used for 10+ years, yet I can't remember my Bitwarden password 2 days after changing it. 🥲

[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

All this 24/7 surveillance and user tracking, they can pinpoint whether you're a 3rd grader now.

Back in the day...

[–] Dettweiler42@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Here's Google's translation. Knowing zero Chinese myself, you did very well.

I live very poorly here.
The working environment is unbearable and the benefits are lacking.
But don't worry, only about + people are seriously injured every day,
And I am also very careful. We opened a small shop, and the business is doing well.
Although I don't know English very well, I can understand a little
Understand what those white people are saying.
I hope I can get ahead! I will work hard here, and
Be careful, physically.
How are you?
Miss you very much, hope we can meet again.

[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 12 points 1 year ago

It's been so long since I studied any Mandarin that I remember almost nothing of it, but I find it really funny that Google translate somehow fucked up translating one of the easiest characters to learn.

For context, "+" is the character for 10.

[–] Ravi@feddit.de 60 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Let me Lense that for you:

[–] ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The "let me do it for you" of Lemmy

[–] randint@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 7 points 1 year ago

"lemmy do it for you"

[–] andrew@lemmy.stuart.fun 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm not a fan of Google's ad and privacy practices but damn they've built some really amazing stuff.

[–] ilost7489@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

Googles translation software is definitely pretty cool. I've been able to use it to talk with people who couldn't speak English before (although not the most coherently) which is pretty cool when the alternative is not being able to speak to each other

[–] XTornado@lemmy.ml 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The prompt sounded like someone trying to bypass ChatGPT limitations 😅

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Except it's at least 10 years old.

And also:

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2013/12/that-funny-chinese-homework-assignment.html

[–] Klear@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 year ago

Except it's at least 10 years old.

Gasp! Time travel!

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I don't understand a word in chinese, but I hope they did a good job. I'd love to know what it says.

[–] ElHopanessRomtic@feddit.de 18 points 1 year ago

[–] WtfEvenIsExistence@reddthat.com 7 points 1 year ago

I have a 2nd grade level of understanding if you want to read my other comment. 😅

[–] esadatari@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

IIRC from the reddit thread i saw it in, someone translated it, and it is 100% accurate and talks about building a life for his family out in the west, building the railroads. the work is hard but the people are good to me. i wish you all well and miss you much. that kinda thing.

[–] 30p87@feddit.de 22 points 1 year ago

I'm amazed google lens managed to actually translate it reasonably well from a screenshot of a photo of written text.

[–] qaopjlll@hexbear.net 16 points 1 year ago

The Biden administration is now investigating whether this student's homework assignment constitutes a threat to national security

[–] bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Use video, horizon readings?

[–] zakobjoa@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Horizon readings. You know, flock of ravens crossing the setting sun left to right... That means Chinese immigrants had a shit time. The omens have spoken.