Instead of pontificating about the dangers of relying on machine translation and arguing that post-processing of machine translation is a really idiotic idea and probably not the way to go, I am posting below the Japanese text of a leaflet dropped by the US Army on Japanese islands in August of 1945, machine translation of the same Japanese text (with GoogleTranslate), and my own quick-and-dirty translation (as a sample of human translation).

Otherwise I have no comment for the moment, although I am hoping that the readers of my blog might have a few.

1. US Army Leaflet Urging People of Japan to Surrender in Japanese

日本國民に告ぐ!!

〝卽刻都市より退避せよ〟

このビラに書いてあることは最も大切なことでありますから良く注意して読んで下さい。

日本國民諸君は今や重大なる秋に直面してしまつたのである。

軍部首脳部の連中が三國共同宣言の十三ヶ條よりなる寛大なる條項を以て此の無益な戦争を止めるべく機會を與へられたのであるが軍部は是を無視した。

そのためにソ聯は日本に對して宣戦を布告したのである。

亦米國は今や何人もなし得なかつた恐しい原子爆弾を發明し之を使用するに至つた。之原子爆弾はたゞ一箇だけであの巨大なＢ－２９二千機が一囬に投下 する爆弾に匹敵する。この恐るべき事實は諸君が廣島に唯一箇だけ投下された際、如何なる状態を惹起したかはそれを見れば判るはずである。

此の無益な戦争を長引かせてゐる軍事上の凡てをこの恐るべき原子爆弾を以て破壊する。米國はこの原子爆弾が多く使用されないうち諸君が此の戦争を止 めるよう天皇陛下に請願される事を望むものである。米國大統領は曩に諸君に對して述べた十三ヶ條よりなる寛大なる條項を速やかに承諾し、より良い平和を愛 好する新日本の建設をなすよう米國は慫慂するものである。

随つて日本國民諸君は直ちに武力抵抗を中止すべきである。

然らざれば米國は断乎この原子爆弾並に、其他凡ゆる優秀なる武器を使用しこの戦争を迅速且強制的に終結せしむるであらう。

〝即(ソツ)刻(コク)都(ト)市(シ)より退(タイ)避(ヒ)

2. Machine Translation (with GoogleTranslate)

The entire Japanese people is facing a fateful Autumn.

Your military leaders were given the opportunity to stop this futile war based on the generous 13  conditions of a Joint Declaration of the military leadership of the Three Countries at war, but the military ignored them.

That is why the Soviet Union declared that it is at war with Japan.

Moreover, the United States has invented a frightful atomic bomb that has been already used. One such atomic bomb has a destructive force equivalent to the bomb that was dropped from the large 2,000 B29 bomber. You were witnesses to the destruction that a single bomb dropped on Hiroshima has caused.

All the military forces prolonging this futile war will be destroyed by these terrible atomic bombs. The United states is hoping that you will all petition your Emperor to end the war before many more such bombs are used. The president of the United States encourages you to approve immediately the generous thirteen conditions proposed previously in order to start building a new, peace loving Japan.

Consequently, Japanese people must stop armed resistance immediately.

Otherwise, the United States is determined to use these formidable weapons as well as other excellent weapons to force this war to a rapid conclusion.

 – EVACUATE YOUR CITIES IMMEDIATELY –