Difference languages make in a prompt: Stéphane Mallarme's Apparition poem: an experiment in French & English poetic prompting

By CaylaCatz

Difference languages make in a prompt: Stéphane Mallarme's Apparition poem: an experiment in French & English poetic prompting : Comparison of 8 models Table of Contents French/English Language Poem prompt experiment parameters Apparition poem segment in French Apparition poem segment in English P-Image pair, Seed: 20241 Minimax pair, Seed: 20241 Z-Image Turbo pair, Seed: 20241 Ideogram, Seed: 20241 Hidream il Fast, Seed: 20241 Flux 2 Pro, Seed: 20241 Wan 2.6, Seed: 20241 Huanyuan, Seed: 20241 Conclusion I'm interested in how the models perform with nonEnglish language versus English, if images look different. I wanted to compare as close as possible the words in English and another langauge. French/English Language Poem prompt experiment parameters So I thought I'd do this experiment the same seed with the French poem and the English translated version. Apparition (1884) by Stéphane Mallarme (1842-1898) , French poet and critic. Translated by Wilfrid Thorley . Wilfrid Charles Thorley (1878-1963),English poet, children's author, and translator. Randomly chosen Seed: 20241 Models are limited to those which show seeds. (One generated pair per AI model company) The prompt is just the poem, nothing else. Either in French or English https://poets.org/poem/apparition-1 French: La lune s’attristait. Des séraphins en pleurs Rêvant, l’archet aux doigts, dans le calme des fleurs Vaporeuses, tiraient de mourantes violes De blancs sanglots glissant sur l’azur des corolles. —C’était le jour béni de ton premier baiser. Ma songerie aimant à me martyriser S’enivrait savamment du parfum de tristesse Que même sans regret et sans déboire laisse La cueillaison d’un Rêve au cœur qui l’a cueilli. J’errais donc, l’œil rivé sur le pavé vieilli, Quand avec du soleil aux cheveux, dans la rue Et dans le soir, tu m’es en riant apparue Et j’ai cru voir la fée au chapeau de clarté Qui jadis sur mes beaux sommeils d’enfant gâté Passait, laissant toujours de ses mains mal fermées Neiger de blancs bouquets d’étoiles parfumées. English: The moon grew sad, and weeping seraphim, Musing among the vaporous flowers aswim, With slow bows from the sobbing viols drew White tears that sank in their corónals blue. It was the blesséd day of your first kiss. My reverie, eager with new miseries, Was all a-swoon with perfume of shy grief That leaves the heart to gather its own sheaf, And frets not, nor yet sickens of its prize. I wandered, and the worn way held my eyes When in the street I saw your sun-girt hair And you all smiling in the twilit air. I took you for that elf who, crowned with beams, Once passed before me in my childish dreams, And shed white posies of sweet-smelling flow’rs Star-like for tiny hands in snowy show’rs. Seed: 20241 : Model P-image: French followed by English Seed: 20241 : Model Minimax: French followed by English Seed: 20241 : Model Z-Image Turbo: French followed by English z got stuck , darn. I will have to add this one later. It worked for me earlier so I should be able to have for this experiment Seed: 20241 : Model Ideogram v3 Turbo: French followed by English Seed: 20241 : Model Hidream i1 Full : French followed by English Seed: 20241 : Model Flux 2 Pro : French followed by English Seed: 20241 : Model Wan 2.6 : French followed by English Seed: 20241 : Model Hunyuan Image 3 : French followed by English Conclusions: I'll leave that up to you. You tell me what you think of the difference in the French and English as interpreted by the prompt into an image

Comments (17)

CaylaCatz

Very cool! I would love to see what happens with your results. I've tried one word tests too with a single seed on a different platform and even with just one word in different languages, there are differences. I have no clue why. I agree being able to translate yourself instead of relying on other people's translations or even computer or AI translations would be wonderful. I only speak one language tho although my mom spoke 3 and English was her third language. A USA teacher told her I would fail kindergarten unless she only spoke English to me so she stopped and I lost the other 2 languages. At the time, USA kindergarten & elementary teachers did not understand language development in children. Monolingual as in only English was being pushed very hard back then. I did not pick up the other language again in college either tho I started the class. I was so dumb. It bothered me that the professor did not sound right as I was used to my mom and her friends accents. I did not learn until I was much older that adult-learners don't gain native pronunciation although they will be close and that it is harder to learn a language later. Something to do with how our brain or bodies develop up to around 6 or 7. Too bad I didn't know the stuff I learned later when I was a college student. I might have been more patient and learned more.

base451121

@CaylaCatz Yes, dearest Cayla, I too have noticed that models react differently to texts in different languages, even if it's just a single word. This makes me think that the trainers also adapt their methods, which to me means that the SD4.5 I own (German tool) was probably trained differently than the same SD4.5 (American tool). But that seems far too complicated. Or is it due to the fact that online translators (e.g., Google) aren't perfect enough yet, and that's why there are discrepancies? The languages ​​someone learns in their family are definitely incredibly important and helpful, provided, however, that these languages ​​are used as often as possible over the years, because otherwise, they will be lost over time. My English is so patchy that I don't even attempt to write complete texts. There's an Italian saying that would perfectly describe me: "Io parlo l'inglese come un toro spagnolo" (I speak English like a Spanish bull). However, as an Italian, I've had to grapple with the German language since I was 18 because I've lived in Germany ever since. These days, I think and write (this) in German because I have few opportunities to use my native language. Nevertheless, I still speak perfect Italian, even if I often miss a word or two. I'll be taking the test we discussed soon and will gladly let you know how it goes.

CaylaCatz

The whole language and AI thing is very interesting. I think maybe as people write their prompts in different languages, their prompts are also training the models -- maybe in how to understand prompts. Or maybe the AI makes assumption. I noticed in some models, if I did "obake onna" along with the english vs "ghost woman", I got a more anime-ish result. I don't know if "obake onna" shows up more in anime art and maybe "ghost woman" shows up in other types of art descriptions. I'm looking forward to your experiment. It'll be fun to see the results

base451121

@CaylaCatz, I think that to truly understand how models react to a language, we should definitely master the language itself and do the translations ourselves. Even then, it's difficult to create the same meaning in the sentences, especially since poetry often uses words that sound different in everyday speech. And when AI is used for the translation, it quickly becomes a mountain out of a molehill. But Cayla's approach is very interesting. I'll soon try translating Italian poetry into German and creating photos with different models. I'm excited! 🤔😊😉 This translation is provided by Google.😉👌👋

CaylaCatz

It's interesting. Even a one-word prompt like "steampunk" in some models even with the same seed can perform differently. I don't speak Japanese but I know a few words. I've noticed even if my prompt is mostly English, if I throw in a couple of Japanese words like obake (ghost), the art style will change to be a little more anime or ukiyo-e in style without me prompting for it.

DavidP

Thanks for sharing. Lovely images. Interesting to see how the different models intrepret the poem, and the comparison between the French and English in each case. As I recall it was a conversation we had that originally inspired me to try the Latin poem-only prompt. Now I am re-inspired to go again in BP https://budgetpixel.com/p/12372 https://budgetpixel.com/p/12375 https://budgetpixel.com/p/12376

CaylaCatz

I'm glad I reinspired you. The final one you created with the latin poem without the words showing was amazing! Thank you also for looking at my blog post, for clapping and commenting.

EternaSky

I should try to translate my prompts to french and try too

King

I actually have never tried the same prompt in different langs.

CaylaCatz

that would be cool. Some of them respond quite a bit differently to different languages. About half don't show seeds any more; mostly the newest ones don't show seeds