English-to-Latin-to-English-to-Latin-and-so-on

This shows you how bad even the best computer translators are.

Taking the Babel text, I translated it into Latin, back to English, back to Latin, and so on. But as that would just eventually put out gibberish, every time it was in English, I tried to make sense of the translation. Here's my favorite:

The whole world had only one voice, and they used the same words for the same things. A certain people found a plain in the in the east, the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

And they said to eachother: "Come, let us make brick, and bake with fire." And they had brick for stone, and slime for mortar. Then they heard a voice: "Come, let us make ourselves a city, so that we may make ourselves a name, and everyone else will be scattered across the face of the earth." It came from a tower in heaven.

The people spoke with the same voice, like one man uses the same tongue. The voice began to be seen. Put no trust in it. Then the people said: "Come, let us go down, and there confound the language so every man's voice will be unique.

The people stopped building the city. They no longer trusted Babel, because he had caused them to scatter everyone across the face of the earth.

By chance, the Lord saw the tower, and he finished building the city of the people. That place is all places all over the world.

This is kind of confusing, so here is a "retelling:"

Long ago, when everyone spoke the same language, a certain people lived in an eastern plain called Shinar. They were technologically advanced, and could make bricks and fire.

One day, they heard a voice that came from a tower in heaven: "make a city for yourself! Make yourself famous! Everyone will scatter away from you." They obeyed it.

Eventually, the Shinarites began to understand that the voice was evil. They stopped building the city, and mended their ways by giving everyone in the world their own unique voice. They no longer trust Babel (the united tongue).

Later, when the Lord saw what had happened, he finished building the Shinarite city. That city is Earth.

 May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white!