Beware of computer translations! You must edit what comes back from the
computer, otherwise you will end up with nonsense. I went to the Alta Vista
site & translated the following simple sentence to German:
 
I found a shell on the beach that had a live snail inside.
 
This is what I got back:
 
Ich fand ein Shell auf dem Strand, der eine Phasenschnecke nach innen hatte.
 
Then I put in the German sentence & asked for an English translation:
 
I found a Shell on the beach, which had a phase snail inward.
 
What on earth is a phase snail? I don't think Phasenschnecke means live
snail. Perhaps one of our German friends can explain what went wrong.
 
A.