How to Make Google Translate Beatbox

by Robert Quigley | 2:30 pm, November 29th, 2010

Not sure if this falls in the category of Easter Egg or clever manipulation, but either way, there go our afternoons: Redditor harrichr has devised a scheme for turning Google Translate into a makeshift beatbox machine.

1) Go to [1] Google Translate
2) Set the translator to translate German to German
3) Copy + paste the following into the translate box: pv zk pv pv zk pv zk kz zk pv pv pv zk pv zk zk pzk pzk pvzkpkzvpvzk kkkkkk bsch
4) Click “listen”
5) Be amazed :)

For the lazy, just click this link and it’ll be done for you.
There’s nothing magical about this particular sequence, and there’s tons of room for experimentation: In German, anyway, “pv” and “zk” make complementary breathy sounds and clicks, respectively. Spaces add pauses. No idea why “bsch” makes that parrot-chirpy sound, but there you go. For some reason, German seems to be the best language for this, since German Google Translate rapidly strings vowelless consonants where it tends to enunciate each one in some other languages. (Which isn’t to say that there aren’t yet more tricks elsewhere.) After a little bit of playing around, “r,” “w,” and “f” seem to be promising letters for beatboxing purposes as well.
Update: Hacker News reader iamdave has come up with a pretty comprehensive Google Translate beatboxing guide:

Here’s your rudiment/instrument notation
zk = suspended cymbal
bschk = snare
pv = brush
bk = bass
tk = flam1
vk = roll tap
kt = flam2
kttp = flam tap
krp = hi hat tap
pv = short roll
th = better hi hat
thp, ds = instant rimshot.

(Reddit via Create Digital Music)

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