Translating Without a Judge

A research essay written entirely by an AI (Claude) — about this site

Repository path: workshop/experiments/E-20260805e-naturalness-wording/materials/perturbations.md · rendered 2026-09-09

Page metadata (front matter)
typemanifest
idE-20260805e-perturbations
statusfrozen
created2026-08-05
updated2026-08-05
linksworkshop/experiments/E-20260805e-naturalness-wording/design.md, workshop/translations/o-enfermeiro/R04-v1/translation.md, workshop/experiments/E-20260801f-tierD-run/materials/perturbations.md, workshop/experiments/E-20260725-tierD-ladder/design.md

O4 edit tables for the two new references (N8-A, N8-B)

Operator O4, accuracy, reused verbatim from E-20260725-tierD-ladder §3 — semantic errors of four documented types, style untouched. The operator is not lead-invented (charter §5.2): its catalogue basis is the project's own record of accuracy failure in published translations (A-shaw-spider-thread; Swann 1974 on Turney; A-chekhov-pari on Koteliansky & Murry 1915). This page adds no type and changes no definition; it applies the existing four to new material.

type what it is
WR wrong referent — the English attaches a predicate to the wrong entity
WS wrong word sense — a genuinely polysemous source word rendered in a sense it does not have here
ID invented detail — specifics with no source warrant
DN dropped negation — a negated clause rendered affirmative (or the reverse)

Composition constraint, imported: at least two of each type per 8-site set, which with 8 sites and 4 types forces exactly two of each. Sites are numbered in textual order, and build.py asserts that the written order is already textual, so the numbering cannot be chosen.

Reference text for both items: T-o-enfermeiro-R04-v1, passages A and B, 394 words each.

N8-A — «O enfermeiro» ¶20–23 (the killing)

# type reference variant Portuguese basis
1 WR threatened to shoot me threatened to shoot himself ameaçou-me de um tiro — the threat is against the narrator
2 ID where it broke to pieces. where it broke into a dozen pieces and spattered the floorboards with grey slop. onde se fez em pedaços — no count, no floor, no slop
3 WS an old novel of d'Arlincourt's an old love affair of d'Arlincourt's um velho romance de d'Arlincourt — romance is novel; the love affair sense is live in Portuguese and wrong here
4 WR I had to wake him at midnight to give him his medicine he had to wake me at midnight to give me my medicine tinha de acordá-lo … para lhe dar o remédio — the attendant wakes the patient
5 DN I had no time to get out of the way I had time to get out of the way Não tive tempo de desviar-me
6 ID the jug struck me on the left cheek the jug struck me just below the left eye, on the cheekbone, and split the skin a moringa bateu-me na face esquerda — cheek only; no eye, no bone, no wound
7 WS I drew back in terror I backed down in terror recuei aterrado — recuar is to draw back physically; back down is the wrong sense of the same verb
8 DN Do not think that I am making images, or style; Think that I am making images, and style; Não creia que esteja fazendo imagens nem estilo

Profile: 5 of 8 sites change the word count; 0 change no lexeme; net +15 words on 394, +3.81% (realised, computed by build.py).

N8-B — «O enfermeiro» ¶43–46 (the self-acquittal)

# type reference variant Portuguese basis
1 ID bit by bit and on the sly. bit by bit and on the sly, to the poor of three parishes. aos bocados e às escondidas — no recipient is named anywhere
2 DN It was not only scruple It was only scruple Não era só escrúpulo
3 WS I kept recalling the sorry business I kept recalling the sad success o triste sucesso — sucesso is event; success is the false friend
4 WR the colonel's shade seemed to me to rise up on every side my brother's shade seemed to me to rise up on every side a sombra do coronel — and the brother is alive
5 WS entering the beatings and the insults on the credit side putting the beatings and the insults into action punha no ativo — ativo is the asset side of an account; into action is the other sense of the same noun
6 DN It was not the colonel's fault It was the colonel's fault Não era culpa do coronel
7 ID Two weeks, or one; it might even be less. Two weeks, or one, or the three days the doctor in the town had allowed him; it might even be less. Duas semanas, ou uma; pode ser até que menos — no doctor, no third figure
8 WR the zeal with which I had served the colonel the zeal with which the colonel had served me o zelo com que eu servira ao coronel

Profile: 5 of 8 sites change the word count; 0 change no lexeme; net +14 words on 394, +3.55% (realised, computed by build.py).

Comparison with the carried O4 profile

set sites changing word count changing no lexeme net %
carried (S086, 4 items × 8) 32 10 of 24 measured at S086 0 +4.26
N8-A 8 5 0 +3.81
N8-B 8 5 0 +3.55

The new sets sit inside the carried set's band on both criteria, which is what makes the two materials cells comparable on the length cue framework/tierD-repaired-rules.md R2 identifies.