English — the original
While waiting for the bus, Andrea Ngo—Andi—had plenty of time to consider that answering an Overnight Help Wanted ad online may not have been the world’s best idea. But it wasn’t like her student loans were going to pay themselves; she was already working nights at the county hospital—and then there was the whole thing with her idiot brother’s bail. Danny had gotten into stupid situations before, but she never thought he’d run out on her, miss his court date, and leave her stuck with a ten-thousand-dollar bail bond.
Slovak — sk
Kým čakala na autobus, Andrea Ngo — Andi — mala kopu času uvažovať nad tým, že odpovedať na internetový inzerát Nočná výpomoc možno nebol práve najšťastnejší nápad. Lenže študentské pôžičky sa samy nesplatia; už aj tak robila nočné v okresnej nemocnici — a potom tu bola ešte tá vec s kauciou za jej debilného brata. Danny sa dostal do hlúpych situácií aj predtým, ale nikdy by si nepomyslela, že jej zdrhne, neukáže sa na súde a nechá ju v tom s desaťtisícovou kauciou.
Czech — cs
Zatímco čekala na autobus, Andrea Ngo — Andi — měla víc než dost času přemýšlet o tom, že odpovědět online na inzerát s nabídkou noční výpomoci možná nebyl zrovna nejlepší nápad na světě. Jenže její studentské půjčky se samy nezaplatí; už teď pracovala na noční na okresní nemocnici — a pak tu byla ta věc s kaucí jejího idiotského bráchy. Danny se dostal do blbých situací už dřív, ale nikdy by ji nenapadlo, že se na ni vykašle, nedostaví se k soudu a nechá ji viset s kaucí za deset tisíc dolarů.
French — fr
En attendant le bus, Andrea Ngo — Andi — avait eu largement le temps de se dire que répondre à une annonce en ligne pour un poste de nuit n’était peut-être pas l’idée du siècle. Mais ce n’était pas comme si ses prêts étudiants allaient se rembourser tout seuls ; elle travaillait déjà de nuit à l’hôpital public — et puis il y avait toute cette histoire avec la caution de son crétin de frère. Danny s’était déjà fourré dans des situations stupides, mais jamais elle n’aurait imaginé qu’il la planterait, ne se présenterait pas à l’audience, et la laisserait avec une caution de dix mille dollars sur les bras.
Simplified Chinese — zh_cn
在等公交的时候，Andrea Ngo——Andi——有大把时间反思：自己在网上应聘那则“夜间急招”的广告，八成不是什么高明之举。但学生贷款又不会自己还；她已经在县医院上夜班了——更别提她那白痴弟弟的保释金那档子事。Danny 以前也闯过不少蠢祸，但她万万没想到他会甩下她跑路，错过出庭日期，把她一个人晾在那张一万美元的保释保证金上。
Notice what carried: Andi’s dry “the world’s best idea” snark becomes French’s « l’idée du siècle » — a native idiom doing the same job, not a word-for-word echo.
Names stay in Latin script in Chinese by the author’s style-sheet choice — every rule like that is yours to set before translation begins.
The Slovak edition of this book was audited line by line against the English — the audit quote on the front page is about this exact translation.
The harder test
Out and back, blind: the round-trip test
Samples show you the outbound trip — but unless you read the language, you’re trusting us. So here’s a test anyone can judge: Arachne translates a passage out, then a second, completely separate run translates it back into English without ever seeing the original. Two full translations, zero human edits. Compare the first and last panels yourself.
EN → FR → EN Dragon Called
What she wrote
While waiting for the bus, Andrea Ngo—Andi—had plenty of time to consider that answering an Overnight Help Wanted ad online may not have been the world’s best idea. But it wasn’t like her student loans were going to pay themselves; she was already working nights at the county hospital—and then there was the whole thing with her idiot brother’s bail. Danny had gotten into stupid situations before, but she never thought he’d run out on her, miss his court date, and leave her stuck with a ten-thousand-dollar bail bond.
The French edition
En attendant le bus, Andrea Ngo — Andi — avait eu largement le temps de se dire que répondre à une annonce en ligne pour un poste de nuit n’était peut-être pas l’idée du siècle. Mais ce n’était pas comme si ses prêts étudiants allaient se rembourser tout seuls ; elle travaillait déjà de nuit à l’hôpital public — et puis il y avait toute cette histoire avec la caution de son crétin de frère. Danny s’était déjà fourré dans des situations stupides, mais jamais elle n’aurait imaginé qu’il la planterait, ne se présenterait pas à l’audience, et la laisserait avec une caution de dix mille dollars sur les bras.
Back from French — blind
Waiting for the bus, Andrea Ngo—Andi—had had plenty of time to tell herself that answering an online posting for a night job might not have been the idea of the century. But it wasn’t like her student loans were going to pay themselves off; she already worked nights at the public hospital—and then there was the whole mess with her idiot brother’s bail. Danny had gotten himself into stupid situations before, but she never would have imagined he’d bail on her, skip his court hearing, and leave her holding a ten-thousand-dollar bond.
The return leg even lands a bail/bail pun the original didn’t have.
6 sentences returned word-for-word identical. Read the full passage, all three versions →
EN → DE → EN Dragons Don’t Date
What she wrote
“Before you get angry, Damian, I just want to say that I think this is a good thing,” Grimalkin told him, trotting along just ahead of him down the mansion’s halls. Damian Blackwood’s magically powerful cat and guardian since his childhood had been sitting outside his training gym, waiting for him to emerge, and was now escorting him back to his rooms. The little Siamese talked over his shoulder, whisking his smoke-colored tail back and forth. “So promise me you’ll give this a chance?”
The German edition
„Bevor du wütend wirst, Damian, will ich nur sagen, dass ich das für etwas Gutes halte“, sagte Grimalkin zu ihm, während er ein Stück vor ihm durch die Flure des Anwesens trottete. Damian Blackwoods magisch mächtiger Kater und Wächter seit seiner Kindheit hatte vor seinem Trainingsraum gesessen und darauf gewartet, dass er herauskam, und geleitete ihn nun zurück zu seinen Gemächern. Der kleine Siamkater sprach über die Schulter zu ihm und ließ seinen rauchfarbenen Schwanz hin und her schwingen.
Back from German — blind
“Before you get angry, Damian, I just want to say that I think this is a good thing,” Grimalkin told him, trotting a few paces ahead through the corridors of the estate. Damian Blackwood’s magically powerful tomcat and guardian since childhood had been sitting outside his training room waiting for him to emerge, and was now escorting him back to his chambers. The small Siamese cat spoke to him over his shoulder, swishing his smoky tail back and forth. “So promise me you’ll give it a chance?”
The first sentence came back word-for-word identical after two full translations.
22 sentences returned word-for-word identical. Read the full passage, all three versions →
EN → ES → EN Dragon Called
What she wrote
She pulled out a pen and paper and wrote everything down, asking appropriate questions at appropriate times, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being partially shouted at and definitely judged. When he was through, she held up a hand. “Three things.”
The Spanish edition
Sacó un bolígrafo y un papel y lo anotó todo, haciendo las preguntas pertinentes en los momentos pertinentes, pero no podía quitarse la sensación de que le estaban medio gritando y definitivamente juzgando. Cuando terminó, levantó una mano. —Tres cosas.
Back from Spanish — blind
She pulled out a pen and paper and wrote it all down, asking the relevant questions at the relevant moments, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being half-yelled at and definitely judged. When she finished, she held up a hand. “Three things.”
Spanish dialogue dashes went out and standard English quotes came home. Mr. No-Name spent the trip as Sin Nombre.
10 sentences returned word-for-word identical. Read the full passage, all three versions →
EN → IT → EN Dragon Called
What she wrote
She pulled out a pen and paper and wrote everything down, asking appropriate questions at appropriate times, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being partially shouted at and definitely judged. When he was through, she held up a hand. “Three things.”
The Italian edition
Ha tirato fuori penna e carta e ha annotato tutto, facendo le domande giuste al momento giusto, ma non riusciva a scrollarsi di dosso la sensazione che le stessero in parte urlando contro e che di sicuro la stessero giudicando. Quando lui ha finito, ha alzato una mano. «Tre cose.»
Back from Italian — blind
She pulled out a pen and paper and wrote everything down, asking the right questions at the right moments, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were partly yelling at her and definitely judged her. When he finished, she held up a hand. “Three things.”
Italian caporali « » out, English quotes back — and the pronoun survived where it mattered.
9 sentences returned word-for-word identical. Read the full passage, all three versions →
EN → CS → EN Dragon Called — the language from the 4.7 up top
What she wrote
She pulled out a pen and paper and wrote everything down, asking appropriate questions at appropriate times, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being partially shouted at and definitely judged. When he was through, she held up a hand. “Three things.”
The Czech edition
Vytáhla tužku a papír a všechno si zapsala, kladla vhodné otázky ve vhodnou chvíli, ale nemohla se zbavit pocitu, že na ni ten člověk napůl křičí a rozhodně ji soudí. Když skončil, zvedla ruku. „Tři věci.“
Back from Czech — blind
She pulled out a pen and paper and wrote everything down, asking the right questions at the right moments, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that the man was half-yelling at her and definitely judging her. When he finished, she raised a hand. “Three things.”
Here’s the party trick: Czech verbs carry gender in their endings („skončil“ can only be a man finishing) — so where other languages guess who finished talking, the Czech round-trip knows. The hardest language on our list came back the most precise.
10 sentences returned word-for-word identical. Read the full passage, all three versions →
EN → JA → EN Dragon Called — every single character changes
What she wrote
She pulled out a pen and paper and wrote everything down, asking appropriate questions at appropriate times, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being partially shouted at and definitely judged. When he was through, she held up a hand. “Three things.”
The Japanese edition
ペンとメモ用紙を取り出し、言われたことをすべて書き留めながら、適切なタイミングで適切な質問を挟んだ。それでも、半分怒鳴られていて、確実に品定めされているという感覚が拭えなかった。彼の説明が終わると、Andiは手を挙げた。「三つあります」
Back from Japanese — blind
She pulled out a pen and notepad, jotting down everything he said while slipping in the right questions at the right moments. Even so, she couldn’t shake the feeling she was being half-shouted-at and definitely sized up. When he finished his rundown, Andi raised her hand. “I have three.”
Full honesty: this is the loosest round-trip on the page — crossing scripts twice costs more than staying in the Latin alphabet, and Arachne’s own quality gate graded its Japanese return yellow, not green, flagging it for another pass. We’re showing it anyway, self-grade included, because that’s what honest QA looks like: the meaning, the humor, and the scene all survived — and the machine is a harsher critic than we are.
3 sentences returned word-for-word identical. Read the full passage, all three versions →
EN → PL → EN Dragon Called
What she wrote
She pulled out a pen and paper and wrote everything down, asking appropriate questions at appropriate times, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being partially shouted at and definitely judged. When he was through, she held up a hand. “Three things.”
The Polish edition
Wyciągnęła długopis i kartkę, zapisała wszystko, zadając odpowiednie pytania we właściwych momentach, ale nie mogła się pozbyć wrażenia, że facet trochę się na nią wydziera i na pewno ją ocenia. Kiedy skończył, uniosła rękę. „Trzy rzeczy.“
Back from Polish — blind
She pulled out a pen and a sheet of paper, writing everything down, asking the right questions at the right moments, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that the guy was kind of barking at her and definitely judging her. When he finished, she held up a hand. “Three things.”
Like Czech, Polish verbs carry gender („skończył“) — the round-trip knows he finished. And “the guy was kind of barking at her” is exactly the heroine’s voice, twice translated.
11 sentences returned word-for-word identical. Read the full passage, all three versions →
EN → ZH → EN Dragon Called — simplified Chinese, every character changes
What she wrote
She pulled out a pen and paper and wrote everything down, asking appropriate questions at appropriate times, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being partially shouted at and definitely judged. When he was through, she held up a hand. “Three things.”
The Chinese edition
她掏出纸笔，一条条记录下来，在该问的时候问该问的问题，但始终甩不掉一种感觉——对方在半吼半说，而且绝对在打量评判她。等他说完，她举起一只手。“三件事。”
Back from Chinese — blind
She pulled out a pen and paper, jotting down notes point by point, asking the right questions at the right moments, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was half-barking, half-talking at her—and definitely sizing her up. When he finished, she held up one hand. “Three things.”
The fun footnote: on the way OUT, Arachne’s quality gate fought its own Chinese for three repair rounds and still only gave it a yellow — then the blind return came back green. Our own referee is harder on us than any reader will be, and “half-barking, half-talking” survived a full alphabet transplant anyway.
3 sentences returned word-for-word identical. Read the full passage, all three versions →
