Targum vs DeepL
Silent Legacy
Translation score
Three AI readers who know Hebrew read the Hebrew original, the author’s voice notes and both translations, without knowing which was which, and scored each as a translation. A 10 means this is how the author would have written the book in English.
- Targum8.3
- DeepL7.0
3 of these 3 readers preferred Targum.
Scores by criterion
| Targum | DeepL | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | 8.3 | 8.0 |
| Facts | 8.3 | 8.7 |
| Author’s voice | 8.3 | 7.0 |
| Localization | 8.0 | 6.3 |
| Natural English | 9.0 | 7.0 |
Reading score
Three other AI readers saw only the two English versions and scored each as a book in English, where a 10 is a first-rate published book of its kind. Read the same way, three classic American bestsellers (Babbitt, Main Street and The Age of Innocence) scored 8.7 to 9.0.
- Targum8.0
- DeepL6.0
3 of 3 AI readers preferred Targum.
Scores by criterion
| Targum | DeepL | |
|---|---|---|
| Natural English | 8.3 | 6.0 |
| Expressiveness | 8.0 | 6.7 |
| Punch | 8.0 | 6.0 |
| Idioms and expressions | 8.0 | 6.0 |
| Author’s voice | 8.0 | 6.7 |
| Clarity | 8.3 | 6.3 |
Green What worked in ours
Red What went wrong in the others
How we tested: the Hebrew is the excerpt on our sample page. Targum: the translation shown there, after a final editing pass (October 2026). DeepL: the DeepL API (quality model), Hebrew to American English, October 2026, paragraph by paragraph. Scores: two panels of three AI readers per book (Claude models) who didn't know which version was which.
Prologue: The Double Voice
נולדתי עם זיכרונות של אחרים. אני לא זוכרת מתי זה התחיל, יום אחד הבנתי שאני חיה סיפור שלא שייך לי. אולי זה היה כשהייתי ילדה והבנתי שאמא שלי היא לא כמו אמא של חברותי לכיתה.
אולי זה היה דווקא בגיל שבו הפכתי לאמא בעצמי, ופתאום התנגשה בי ההבנה.
היא שרדה, אני נשאית.
I was born carrying others’ memories. I don’t recall when it began—one day I realized I was living a story not my own. Perhaps it was when, as a child, I understood my mother was unlike my classmates’ mothers. Or perhaps it was when I became a mother myself, and the truth suddenly slammed into me: She survived. I am a carrier.
- What workedKeeps the force of the Hebrew 'collided', so the key line lands.
I was born with other people’s memories. I don’t remember when it started; one day I realized I was living a story that didn’t belong to me. Maybe it was when I was a little girl and realized that my mom wasn’t like my classmates’ moms. Or maybe it was actually when I became a mother myself, and the realization suddenly hit me. She survived; I am a carrier.
הספר הזה נולד מהשבר הזה, וגם מהשלם.
זה סיפור בשני קולות: קולה של אמא, ניצולת שואה, שנושאת בגופה ובנפשה את מה שאי אפשר לשאת, את מה שאי אפשר להבין, את מה שאי אפשר לעבור, וקולי שלי, בתה, שנולדה אל תוך התקומה, אל תוך ההישרדות, אל תוך הנורמליזציה.
כל אחת מאתנו כותבת בגוף ראשון. לא אחת על השנייה, אלא כל אחת מתוך עצמה.
שני סיפורים שלמים שנפגשים.
This book was born from that rupture, and from what remained whole. Two voices carry this story: my mother’s and mine. She is a Holocaust survivor, and she bears in her body and her soul what cannot be borne, what cannot be understood, what cannot be lived through. I am her daughter, born into a people rebuilding their lives, into survival, into ordinary life. Each of us writes in the first person. Not about one another, but from within ourselves. Two complete stories meeting.
- What workedThe contrast between the rupture and what stayed whole reads clearly.
- What workedThe loanword becomes a lived description, as a memoirist would write it.
This book was born out of that fracture, and also out of the whole. It is a story told in two voices: the voice of my mother, a Holocaust survivor, who carries in her body and soul what cannot be borne, what cannot be understood, what cannot be endured; and my own voice, her daughter, born into the era of rebirth, into survival, into normalization. Each of us writes in the first person—not about the other, but each from within herself. Two complete stories that converge.
- What went wrongA literal rendering: in English, 'the whole' has nothing clear to refer to.
לא רציתי לכתוב "עדות" במובן התיעודי.
רציתי להבין איך הסיפור שלה נמצא בי. לא רק בזיכרונות שסופרו או הוסתרו, אלא בגוף, במילים, בשתיקות, בזכרונות, בהתנהלות, בפחדים, בהרגלים, באימהות, באהבה.
רציתי לאפשר לשני הקולות להתקיים זה לצד זה. לא כפרשנות, לא כהסבר, אלא כנוכחות. מהולה בהרבה אהבה וגעגוע.
I didn’t want to write “testimony” in the documentary sense. I wanted to understand how her story lives in me. Not only in what was told or kept hidden, but in my body, my words, my silences, my memories, the way I live, my fears, my habits, my motherhood, my love. I wanted both voices to exist side by side: not commentary, not explanation, but presence, infused with love and longing.
- What workedNatural English that carries exactly the same intent.
I didn’t want to write a “testimony” in the documentary sense. I wanted to understand how her story is within me. Not just in memories that were told or hidden, but in the body, in words, in silences, in memories, in behavior, in fears, in habits, in motherhood, in love. I wanted to allow the two voices to exist side by side. Not as interpretation, not as explanation, but as presence. Infused with so much love and longing.
- What went wrongA word-for-word structure; 'is within me' sounds stiff in English.
לכן הספר בנוי כקלידוסקופ דו קולי כאשר שני הקולות שונים ואינם מסודרים תמיד באותו סדר.
לפעמים נדמה שהסיפור של אמא קרה לפני עידנים, לפעמים הוא מתרחש בתוכי, עכשיו.
לפעמים הסיפור שלי נשמע רחוק מהשואה עד שמבינים שהוא המשך שלה - בשפה אחרת, בפלנטה אחרת.
That’s why the book is built like a kaleidoscope of two voices, distinct and not always aligned. Sometimes my mother’s story seems to belong to a distant past; sometimes it is happening inside me, now. Sometimes my own story seems far removed from the Holocaust, until I see that mine is where the Holocaust goes on—in another language, on another planet.
That is why the book is structured as a two-voiced kaleidoscope, where the two voices are distinct and do not always follow the same order. Sometimes it seems as though my mother’s story happened ages ago; sometimes it is unfolding inside me, right now. Sometimes my story seems far removed from the Holocaust until one realizes it is a continuation of it—in a different language, on a different planet.
השתדלתי לא לייפות ולא לרטש. לא את מה שנאמר, לא את מה שמתואר ולא את מה שנשמר בהרגשה.
והאומץ הזה, לספר את סיפורה של אמא בגוף ראשון, לכתוב את עצמי מול ובתוך הסיפור שלה, היה אולי הצעד הכי קרוב שעשיתי אליה.
I tried not to polish or retouch anything, not what was said, not what was described, and not what stayed behind as feeling. It took courage to write my mother’s story in the first person, in her own voice. I had to write myself into it, to face it and stand inside it, and perhaps that is the closest I have ever come to her.
- What workedSplit into clear sentences; the writing is what brought her closest.
I tried not to embellish or distort anything—not what was said, not what was described, and not what was preserved in my feelings. And this courage—to tell my mother’s story in the first person, to write about myself alongside and within her story—was perhaps the closest I’ve ever come to her.
הספר הזה הוא לא סיפור על "איך היא ניצלה", זה גם לא סיפור של חקר גנטי או פסיכולוגי על "טראומה בין-דורית". זה פשוט ניסיון לארוג שתי נשימות. נשימה שנאבקה לחיות את החיים, ונשימה שנולדה לתוך הזכרונות.
This book is not an account of “how she survived,” nor is it a genetic or psychological study of “intergenerational trauma.” It is simply an attempt to weave together two breaths: one that fought to make a life, and one that was born into memory.
This book is not a story about “how she survived,” nor is it a genetic or psychological study of “intergenerational trauma.” It is simply an attempt to weave together two breaths: one that struggled to live life, and one that was born into memories.
ואם תהיו קשובים, אולי תשמעו את הרווח ביניהן.
And if you listen closely, perhaps you will hear the space between them.
And if you listen closely, perhaps you’ll hear the space between them.
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