Decoding Accommodations on Gronze: Literal Translation Challenges

[MARSKA]

I finally figured out at least 1 reason why making sense of accommodations on Gronze is so hard for me! So google translates Gronze to English, yes, but..... it is a literal translation.

For instance Hunto is named by Gronze '"honest"
I have no idea what town is "mocked" but apparently Hotel Burlada is there

Puenta de la R is "Queen's Bridge" in Stage 4 but in Stage 5 it is "Bridge the Queen".​

Stage 6 has a village called "the arches".
Before one arrives at Vianna in Stage 7, one must pass through "tricks".
Between Sotes and Najera is a place called "sucker".
In Stage 9, after Najera comes "crocus" and "plum".
"Snood of the Way" is interesting in Stage 10.
As is "Stove of the Way" in Stage 13.
In "work it" there are several hostels, one called Casa Susi.
"The goose" is in Stage 23.
"Both months" in Stage 26 also has several hostels
Stage 28a has a village by the name of "baldness"

 

[thejoker]

I finally figured out at least 1 reason why making sense of accommodations on Gronze is so hard for me! So google translates Gronze to English, yes, but..... it is a literal translation.

For instance Hunto is named by Gronze '"honest"
I have no idea what town is "mocked" but apparently Hotel Burlada is there

Puenta de la R is "Queen's Bridge" in Stage 4 but in Stage 5 it is "Bridge the Queen".​

Stage 6 has a village called "the arches".
Before one arrives at Vianna in Stage 7, one must pass through "tricks".
Between Sotes and Najera is a place called "sucker".
In Stage 9, after Najera comes "crocus" and "plum".
"Snood of the Way" is interesting in Stage 10.
As is "Stove of the Way" in Stage 13.
In "work it" there are several hostels, one called Casa Susi.
"The goose" is in Stage 23.
"Both months" in Stage 26 also has several hostels
Stage 28a has a village by the name of "baldness"

Woop woop!

 

[Flog]

Gronze is a wonderful free resourse, and for the most part, gives very accurate and up to date, useful information. It's about the only website I bother with when checking out distances, elevations and accomodation.

Unfortunately though, google translate has it's limitations and will translate the page indiscriminately so it's up to you to do a little cross checking, but it's simple enough:

The accompanying map and profile of the stages aren't translated, so a little detective work can be used and comparing them against the text will help you figure it out. Otherwise, you might try to just open it in Spanish. The information is basic enough and the format doesn't change so you should soon get used to it..

 

[Esperanza]

That’s why I only use it in Spanish.

 

[Kathar1na]

Yes, despite the progress that machine translation has made in something like 25 years now it still produces funny results, in particular for the names of people and towns; especially software like Google Translate that is cheap namely free to the user and not very sophisticated when it comes to learning/expanding its context-based vocabulary database to avoid previous blunders in future.

Software/apps are tools and the smarter the user the better the result.

 

[Gringazolana]

I speak Spanish, so I don’t use the English translation. But now I’m curious how they translate the word “mojón”!! (The signpost things … but this word can also mean ) *giggling*

 

[Kathar1na]

I speak Spanish, so I don’t use the English translation. But now I’m curious how they translate the word “mojón”!! (The signpost things … but this word can also mean ) *giggling*

By “they” you probably mean the automatic translation that is built into your browser?

In my case the browser is Safari. I picked the first appearance that turned up in a search for mojón on Gronze.com. Here is the result:

​

Mojón kilómetro cero, Cabo Finisterre gets translated as:​

Zero-kilometer cairn, Cape Finisterre​

Meaningful translation requires an understanding of context and modern translation apps are programmed to deal with this and are already pretty powerful for this purpose. DeepL.com is significantly better at this than Google Translate, btw. I don’t know what Safari uses. “Real” professional translation systems handle this even better of course as they have much larger memory databanks that are constantly updated.

 

[lt56ny]

I finally figured out at least 1 reason why making sense of accommodations on Gronze is so hard for me! So google translates Gronze to English, yes, but..... it is a literal translation.

For instance Hunto is named by Gronze '"honest"
I have no idea what town is "mocked" but apparently Hotel Burlada is there

Puenta de la R is "Queen's Bridge" in Stage 4 but in Stage 5 it is "Bridge the Queen".​

Stage 6 has a village called "the arches".
Before one arrives at Vianna in Stage 7, one must pass through "tricks".
Between Sotes and Najera is a place called "sucker".
In Stage 9, after Najera comes "crocus" and "plum".
"Snood of the Way" is interesting in Stage 10.
As is "Stove of the Way" in Stage 13.
In "work it" there are several hostels, one called Casa Susi.
"The goose" is in Stage 23.
"Both months" in Stage 26 also has several hostels
Stage 28a has a village by the name of "baldness"

I know you are starting your first camino this fall and like all of us we have alot of questions, doubts and fears. Trust me once you begin and in a few days they will all melt away. As someone else suggested look at Gronze in Spanish and then when you want to check out a particular albergue you can then translate to English but everything is really straightforward and easy. Gronze is an excellent resource and have no worries and go with the flow.
My motto is think less and do more and you will see everything will be just fine. Remember you will probably rarely be alone going in September. You will not have to look very far to find someone to help.
Also an FYI Casa Susi is a wonderful place to stay. Buen Camino

 

[chego]

I think the best is translating "al loro" down near the bottom as "to the parrot." Which of course is literal. It means pay attention, or things to watch out for.

 

[Rita Flower]

Hi @MARSKA
I only use gronze on my iPhone. When I highlight a piece of text there is a translate option which is pretty good. Sometimes the pronouns or tenses get a bit mixed but generally it’s very clear.
Even in the best translations the meaning can be changed or even lost. Such is the nature of languages. A bit of intuition is needed - and don’t take all of the translation literally.
Buen Camino

 

[Sheesh]

@MARSKA, if the device you are using will do a split screen, you might trying loading the site in English one side and Spanish the other. Or, try using an 'incognito' screen for the Spanish version and just toggle between the two.

 

[MARSKA]

Great idea sheesh!

 

[MARSKA]

I think the best is translating "al loro" down near the bottom as "to the parrot." Which of course is literal. It means pay attention, or things to watch out for.

I love "to the parrot" as well