[Sca-cooks] Re: computer translation of recipe.

[Louise Smithson]

Several people have already explained the limitations of programs like
Babelfish, but I thought I'd demonstrate.  Here's a recipe from the
Anonymous Venetian, which is webbed on Thomas Gloning's site at:
http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~gloning/frati.htm

It's a recipe for Agliata, garlic sauce

First, the Italian
Agliata a ogni carne, toy l'aglio e coxilo=0F
sotto la braxa, poi pestalo bene e mitili aglio=0F
crudo, e una molena de pan, e specie dol=E7e,=0F
e brodo; e maxena ogni cossa insema e fala=0F
un pocho bolire e dala chalda.
Now, let's see what Babelfish makes of it:
Garlic sauce to every meat, toy the garlic and coxilo under the braxa,
then steps on it well and mitili raw garlic, and one molena de pan,
and
species dol=E7e, and brodo;  and maxena every cossa insema and it
makes
it a pocho to bolire and give it chalda.
I don't read Italian, but my knowledge of Spanish lets me see enough
to
know that the untranslated words are basic words with archaic
spelling.
For example (quickly checking an online dictionary), "chalda" is
probably "calda" (warm).  The last phrase would be "serve it
[literally
'give it'] warm.  If I didn't know any Romance languages, I'd either
be
lost, or making some big mistakes.
Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann

I do speak italian and I would translate it as
garlic sauce to every meat, tear (possibly from the verb togliere: to
tear) the garlic and cook (cuorcere) under the grill.
Then mash it well and add/mix (metere: to add, or migliare: to mix) raw
garlic, and a molena (got me on this one, a specific type or a specific
amount?) of bread (pane) and a bit (specchio, pinch, little) sweet
(could be good) broth and mix (again from migliare) all things together
and do it (fare: to do) a little boil and give it (dare: to give) warm.

This looks rather tasty, depending on how much raw garlic to cooked you
used it could end up aggresive or sweet and tangy.  Yum.
I think I need to visit italy again.  Time for a refresher, I think my
spelling of the verbs was highly suspect but I can speak it well enough
and comprehend.
Helewyse.