The diamond necklace · Sibylle Esposito

The concept of this project is based on a comparison between an original text, its “official” translation done by a human translator, and an automatic translation done by a computer such as Google translate.

This comparison is meant to show the lack of fidelity found in automatic translations done by a computer, and emulate the problems encountered in front of an international text.  Inaccuracies, syntax and grammar errors, as well bugs and limitations make a text less accessible to a wider international audience.

This project focuses on a classical text: The Diamond Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, which has gone through many translations over the years.  

Automatic translation usually happens in articles on the internet, or on social media, and rarely interferes with actual books. By using classic texts, I aimed to showcase the non-adaptability of automatic translations or computer-generated translations on longer and complex texts.

Using a three-layer structure, this book presents a comparison between the original text, a Google Translate version, and a human translation. Its cut-up format creates a nonlinear narrative, allowing the reader to get lost in the different kinds of translations and the “disruptions” introduced by the machine-generated text.