[INDOLOGY] Google Translate for Sanskrit

Fri May 13 17:27:46 UTC 2022

Our team has been translating the Apoha Section of the first chapter of Dharmakīrti's Pramāṇavārttika. We need all the help we can get! So I typed in a sentence that I was struggling with just yesterday, PVSV (Gnoli edn.) 62,24–26:

निवेश्यमानो पि एष शब्दो यस्माद भिद्यते तं विनिवर्त्य भिदयमानानां भेदे समानरूपप्रतिभासिन्य्  आक्षिप्ततदन्यव्यावृत्तिर् निवेश्यत इति /

Here's what I got from Google Translate: "Even when this word is inserted, it is reversed from which it differs, and another inversion is inserted in the difference of those differing, which appears to be of the same form."

My own tentative translation would be (of course, we use square brackets for clarity): "This word, even as it is being assigned [at the time of making the convention], is assigned to a [common] difference – [a difference] which presents the same form – of things which [in fact] differ [individually from each other], by rejecting that from which [its meaning] differs; [being so assigned, the word] implies the exclusion of [those] other [entities]."

The context: Dharmakīrti is explaining and defending Dignāga's puzzling but oft-quoted statement, from PSV 5: śabdo 'rthāntaranivṛttiviíṣtān eva bhāvān āha, "A word expresses entities qualified by the negation of other meanings" (Cf. Pind 2015: II.140.)

My translation, a first attempt, may not be crystal clear, and even when greatly improved by the team it will still require an explanatory footnote or two, but Google's is no help at all. Note specifically that it could not construe yasmād bhidyate taṃ vinivartya; a correct passive subject of bhidyate has to be supplied. It also translates vyāvṛtti as "inversion" instead of "exclusion." It doesn't understand the technical meaning of niVIŚ - either "assign" or "apply." And it does not recognize ākṣiptatadanyavyāvṛttiḥ as a bahuvrīhi that goes with śabda (the analysis of which, however, is not straightforward). Can these sorts of glitches be corrected? Maybe. I don't know, but from my perspective the basic problem just seems to be that Google has not understood what Dharmakīrti is saying.

Best regards,
John Taber
University of New Mexico

On 12-May-2022, at 2:48 PM, Elliot Stern via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:

  [EXTERNAL]
Aleksandar’s comment is spot on:

<Untitled.png>

Elliot M. Stern
552 South 48th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19143-2029
emstern1948 at gmail.com<mailto:emstern1948 at gmail.com>
267-240-8418

On May 12, 2022, at 1:45 PM, Uskokov, Aleksandar via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:

It will be a while before it becomes a philosopher --

Aleksandar Uskokov
Lector in Sanskrit
South Asian Studies Council, Yale University
203-432-1972 | aleksandar.uskokov at yale.edu<mailto:aleksandar.uskokov at yale.edu>

Office Hours Sign-up: https://calendly.com/aleksandar-uskokov
________________________________
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info<mailto:indology-bounces at list.indology.info>> on behalf of Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2022 1:31 PM
To: Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com<mailto:wujastyk at gmail.com>>
Cc: Indology <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Google Translate for Sanskrit

This is Google Translator for the first verse of Meghadūta:

"Someone is neglected by the teacher of separation from his lover:
Shapenastangmitamahima varshabhogyaena bhartu:
The yaksha bathed Janaka's daughter in the holy waters
I lived in the hermitages of Ramagiri among the lush shady trees."

GT could not figure out the long compounds, and "guru" got translated as "teacher." The syntax of the verse is also missed.

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]

On Thu, May 12, 2022 at 10:17 AM Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu<mailto:mmdesh at umich.edu>> wrote:
<image.png>
Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]

On Thu, May 12, 2022 at 10:16 AM Dominik Wujastyk via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
It's quite remarkable:
<image.png>

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