Using babelfish? You still need to proofread.

[cellio]

The sender of this description (of a recording, I think) really needs to learn to check his work:

Loving things, that they never saw...
( Alfonso X, Partidas II, 13, 14)

The recreation that Cinco Siglos offer to day, after long years of study, must be built in the land of doubt, which is unsteady but fertile. These purely instrumental versions value those diverse melodies fertilized by contamination and are extremely precious to those who would penetrate the pleasure of early music.
The 15th of may 2004.
http://www.periodrecording.com/en/nouveau.html

Maybe it makes more sense in the (original?) French? I don't know; I don't speak the language:

Aimer des choses que nous n'avons jamais vues...
( Alfonso X, Partidas II, 13, 14)

Les musiques, que nous font aujourd'hui entendre le groupe Cinco Siglos, ont été construites sur la terre du doute. Cette terre est instable, mais au combien fertile ! Ces interprétations purement instrumentales issues d'influences croisées entre le judaïsme, le catholicisme et l'islam, sont indispensables pour comprendre et aimer la véritable musique.

Err, I don't see anything about Judaism, Catholicism, or Islam in the English...

Oh, and it was spam.

Comments

[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

Actually, babelfish translates it as:

To like things which we n'avons ever seen... (Alfonso X, Partidas II, 13, 14) The musics, which make us aujourd'hui hear the group Cinco Siglos, were built on the ground of the doubt. This ground is unstable, but with how much fertile! These interpretations purely instrumental exits d'influences crossed between the Judaism, Catholicism and l'islam, are essential to include/understand and like the true music.

Note that "aujourd'hui", which confused babelfish in that form, would translate as "today", and "Cinco Siglos" is Spanish for "Five Centuries".

[cellio]

Thanks. I guess I should have actually tried babelfish before jumping to that particular conclusion. (I wonder what they did use.)

"Cinco Siglos" is Spanish for "Five Centuries".

Mixed-language stuff makes perfect sense in this context (I ws guessing the name of a recording rather than group until I saw your other comment), but probably really confuses automated translators. But using phrases from other languages isn't that hard, so it's probably a problem worth tackling. Oh well, c'est la vie. :-)

[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

Also, I couldn't find a reference to a recording with a name anything like the one given, but I did fairly quickly find Grupo Cinco Siglos (http://www.cincosiglos.org/), which is (as you'd expect) an Early Music ensemble with a number of recordings and a fairly current (European) concert tour. The website may be a little challenging for anglophones since everything of substance is in Spanish, but there are some cool photos of instruments if you dig hard enough.

[anisodragnfly.livejournal.com]

i have a couple issues with the original french grammar (in fact i think it may have been babeled into French as well as out),but here's my translation:

Liking those things which we have never seen....
(Alfonso X, Partidas II, 13, 14)

The music, (something iffy grammatically here) which we do today listening to the group Cinco Siglos, has been constructed on a basis of doubt. This ground is unstable but how fertile! These purely instrumental interpretations (another iffy grammar section) issuing from the intersection of Judaic, Catholic and Islamic influences, are indispensable for understanding and liking authentic (i'm sure there's a better adjective for that) music.

the first iffy grammar section may be some idiom with font (from faire, to make/do, ripe for idiomatic usage) that i'm unaware of. the second is actually fine, now that i looked it up.

[cellio]

in fact i think it may have been babeled into French as well as out

Could well be. The message only contained English and French, so there's no easy way to figure out what the (third) source might have been. I suppose a linguistic analysis of the translations, informed by intimate knowledge of those languages and common translation algorithms and issues, could produce a plausible guess. But I don't have that much time on my hands. :-)

[rectangularcat]

Actually

Les musiques, que nous font aujourd'hui entendre le groupe Cinco Siglos, ont été construites sur la terre du doute.

The music pieces, which the group Cinco Singlos makes us listen to today, have been constructed in the land of doubt.

The French is quite proper. A bit too figurative for my taste but sounds like the original to me.

[anisodragnfly.livejournal.com]

thanks. i was having a really hard time parsing that. i guess 'cause it seemed to me that "le groupe" was singular so couldn't be the subject of "font".

[rectangularcat]

Les musiques, que nous font aujourd'hui entendre le groupe Cinco Siglos...

The clause "que nous font aujourd'hui entendre le groupe Cinco Siglos" is of type "relative non-déterminative" (417 b#2 in my grammaire Grévisse" and accompanies the term "les musiques".

I know it doesn't make much sense that something like music can do anything but you must not view that clause as something requiring a subject. It's just additional information about the musics.

I hope that I make sense. French grammar is hard to explain in English!

[jducoeur]

You Know You're In The SCA When: even your spam is about medieval sources...

[cellio]

True. It's actually Dani's spam, but that doesn't invalidate your observation.

[siderea]

My brain is spinning its wheels trying valiantly to figure out how one gets from "indispensables pour comprendre et aimer la véritable musique" ("indispensable for to comprehend and like the ? music") to "extremely precious to those who would penetrate the pleasure of early music".

Heh. Alfonse the Tenth? More like Guillaume the Ninth.

Spam, you say? It certainly sounds like a translation done by someone more used to i18n-izing smut. What a vocabulary!

[cellio]

"extremely precious to those who would penetrate the pleasure of early music".

I wondered about that, too. Though I'm equally puzzled by "land of doubt, which is unsteady but fertile" and "diverse melodies fertilized by contamination". Check me on this -- did this person just characterize Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic influences as "contamination"? :-)