LOLcat Translator Project

The LOLcat Traslator Project is the attempt to create a complete and comprehensive online translator for English into LOLcat speak, capable of translating not only specific words and phrases but also unknown text. LOLcat is an Internet meme which popularised the translation of English words and sentences into cat speak, often, though not exclusively, accompanied by a photograph of a cat wherein the cat is seen to be thinking or speaking in its own cat language for humourous purposes.

The LOLcat Traslator Project is a non-for-profit project. The creators of the website state that their aim and novelty of the translator is its ability to virtually translate any English word or phrase. This is achieved by using phonetics, grammar, and by extracting and using the context in which words are used in the text that is to be translated.

History
The project started on the first quarter of 2008 and it was initially an one-person leisure project. Eventually community members started contributing to the project which has now its own website. Towards the end of June 2008 the website added a LOLcat Forum where registered users can discuss in lolcat speak.

The Website
On the main web page visitors can type in some text in English and get back a lolcat version of it. Alternativelly by typing in the web address (URL) of a website they can see and navigate the given website with its text converted into lolcat.

In addition there are some logos that one can add in his or her webpages so that users can click on them and see their webpages translated into LOLcat.

The slangaholic website also offers various plug-ins and logos which you can use to enable your instant messenger (chat client) to automatically convert messages into lolcat.

The Translation Engine
The translation engine is named LOLcatizer and is the core of the various on-line and stand-alone translators/utilities that are available from the website.

For developing the required translation rules the developers processed hundreds of lines of text which had been translated into cat speak by humans familiar with the language.

Another unique feature of the translator is that it uses the extracted context (meaning) of the text to make changes or additions which reflect what a cat would be likely to think or commend about the subject matter. This effect is more evident on longer pieces of text, like those of news articles, that are altered in such a humorous way. Those humorous additions make such articles appealing not only to people who are familiar with the lolcat speak but also to novices who initially have difficulty reading through the lolcatized text but are occasionally rewarded with added funny "cat commends".

LOLcat Forum
Recently, the website started featuring a discussion forum where users discuss in LOLcat speak. There are different forums with titles indicating the topics that appropriate for each of them, however as of middle July 2008 there are no many threads and users.

See Also
Other related projects include the LOLCat Bible Translation Project which is and attempt to translate the whole bible into LOLcat speak.

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