# Translating Proust, by Man and Machine

The first two sentences of Proust’s [Swann’s
Way](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%20n_Search_of_Lost_Time#Volume_One:_Swann.27s_Way),
as translated by man and machine.

### Proust’s Original

Longtemps, je me suis couché de bonne heure. Parfois, à peine ma bougie
éteinte, mes yeux se fermaient si vite que je n’avais pas le temps de me
dire: “Je m’endors.”

### Man

Quite a lot of variation!

Moncrieff ([Project
Gutenberg](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7178/7178-h/7178-h.htm)):

For a long time I used to go to bed early. Sometimes, when I had put out
my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to
say: “I’m going to sleep.”

Moncrieff, as updated by Kilmartin and then Enright (ISBN <a
href="isbn:9780099362210">9780099362210</a>):

For a long time I would go to bed early. Sometimes, the candle barely
out, my eyes closed so quickly that I did not have time to tell myself:
“I’m falling asleep.”

Lydia Davis (US ISBN <a href="isbn:9780142437964">9780142437964</a>, UK
ISBN <a href="isbn:9780141180311">9780141180311</a>):

For a long time, I went to bed early. Sometimes, my candle scarcely out,
my eyes would close so quickly that I did not have time to say to
myself: “I’m falling asleep.”

### Machine

Was expecting better–Google is the best by far, but they’re all pretty
awful, especially considering how well they do on non-literary text.

[Google Translate](http://translate.google.com/):

Long time, I went to bed early. Sometimes just my candle extinguished,
my eyes would close so quickly that I did not have time to tell me: “I
fall asleep.”

[Bing Translate](http://www.microsofttranslator.com/):

Long, am coated me early. Sometimes, just my candle hydrated, my eyes
closed so quickly that I didn’t have time to tell me: “I sleep.”

[Systran](http://www.systranet.com/translate):

A long time, I lay down early. Sometimes, hardly my extinct candle, my
eyes were closed so quickly that I had time to tell me: “I fall asleep.”