Sensei gave us a 作文 [sakubun], an essay, to write as homework for the March holidays. The scenario is essentially this:

Person A wants to take the train on his vacation, whereas Person B wants to drive a car. Which of the two modes of transportation would you prefer, and why.

Kinda dumb, but heck. What’s more important is that this is my first 作文. In other words, I have never written a single essay throughout the course of my entire education in Japanese. Which actually is only a little over a year. But still…

Needless to say, I was quite incapable of forming proper sentences, and so where did I go for help? Of course, from those trusty online translators.

So read on, for my final essay, before some editing from my good friends.

作文

旅行するのなら、電車か車か、どちらがいいですか？私にとって、確かに電車で行くのを選びます。この方法で、厄介なことがないし、安くてしかもどこにもいくのができます。

人々はなぜ旅行をする？他国へ行って見物したがっている人がいるが、仕事を離れりたがっている人もいます。ですから、それらの人々はただ旅行で楽しみたがって、車で旅行して厄介なことがある、ぜんぜんほしくなりません。車で行くなら、迷い込む可能性はある。それに、ルートを作らなければなりません。面倒臭いね！

車で旅行するのは環境によくない。車と電車を比べる、高々五人が車で行くことができるが、３０人以上の人が電車で行くことができるので、ガソリンの個人消費は低いです。

車で行くのより多く自由があるからといって、電車もたくさんところに行けます。全ての都市は駅があるべきので、電車で旅行するは問題がないで、とても便利です。

要するに、電車は車より快適で便利な交通工具です。

Now most of you probably won’t understand a word of that, so let’s have some fun. Let’s run it through babelfish…

Babelfish

If you travel is, the streetcar or the car, either one is good, is? For me, the fact that certainly it goes by the streetcar is chosen. With this method, troublesome thing or, being cheap, furthermore it is possible to go everywhere.

The people why travel? Going to the foreign country, the person who sight-seeing therefore is, but the person who the ri has wished it is from work separated. Because is, as for those people wishing to enjoy simply in travelling, travelling by the car, there is a troublesome thing, at all it does not become desired. If it goes by the car, there is a possibility of being perplexed and being packed. To that, the route must be made. Don’t you think? it is troublesome!

You travel by the car is not good to environment. The car and the streetcar are compared, five people can go at most by the car, but because the person 30 or more can go by the streetcar, personal spending of gasoline is low, is.

Because it goes it is many by the car freedom, saying, it can go to the many places also the streetcar. Because as for all cities the station proper, you travel there is no problem, very it is convenient by the streetcar.

In a word, the streetcar being more comfortable than the car, is the convenient traffic tool.

Deep huh?