I was curious if AI can coherently code-switch between a ridiculous number of languages, so I gave Claude Opus 4.5 an excerpt from one of our past chats and asked it to try. After some iteration, I was pretty impressed with the results! Even though the translation uses 26 different languages, switching practically every word and using some non-English word ordering, ChatGPT was able to translate the text back to English almost perfectly.
Here’s the opening line of the text I used (copied from one of my past chats with Claude), translated into this multi-language code and back into English:
Original: A few things that took me a while to understand about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Code-switching: 几个 πράγματα kuhusu BJJ мне lama かかった megérteni
Annotated with language and English meanings: 几个 <Chinese, “a few”> πράγματα <Greek, “things”> kuhusu <Swahili, “about”> BJJ <English, “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu”> мне <Russian, “to me”> lama <Tibetan/Hindi loan, “long”> かかった <Japanese, “took (time)”> megérteni <Hungarian, “to understand”>
Recovered: A few things about BJJ that took me a while to understand
In earlier attempts, Claude says it tended to get stuck writing in just one language towards the end of its translation, with words from other languages “sprinkled in decoratively.” After I put it into reasoning mode, it seemed to do a much better job, regularly switching between a diverse mix of languages.
The implications for AI’s ability to transmit secret messages are probably minimal, because it’s very obvious if an LLM starts talking like this, and we can probably just put the obfuscated text into a trusted LLM to decode it. This is still a cool example of text that would be hard or at least very annoying for almost any human to understand before LLMs existed.
Here are the links to my chats: Claude, ChatGPT. The full texts are copied below:
Original text
A few things that took me a while to understand about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (or that I wish someone had told me):
You will feel helpless and that’s the point—Upper belts will control you effortlessly. This isn’t because you’re weak or unathletic; it’s because technique creates absurd leverage advantages. A 130-pound purple belt can make a 200-pound athletic beginner feel like a child. This is actually what makes BJJ cool—it means the technique is real and learnable.
Ego is the main thing that gets people hurt—Both refusing to tap and applying submissions too aggressively because you want to “win” a training round. The best training partners are the ones who could submit you but give you space to work instead.
Positions before submissions—Beginners tend to grab for chokes and armbars from anywhere. The actual game is about establishing dominant positions (mount, back control, side control) and only then attacking submissions. If you’re always hunting submissions from bad positions, you’ll develop bad habits.
Ask upper belts what they did—After a roll, most people are happy to show you the thing that caught you. “Hey, what was that sweep?” is a great way to learn and also to build relationships at the gym.
Code-switching text (by Claude)
几个 πράγματα kuhusu BJJ мне lama かかった megérteni:
너는 bất_lực tunnet — ve to er poängen. Kõrgemad kuşaklar тебя sans_effort 制御する. यह δεν pentru_că ikaw dhaifu. Taito cria šílenou đòn_bẩy előnyöket. Isang 百三十ポンドの ungu kuşak kann einen 二百ポンドの спортсмена như 子供 느끼게_하다. Именно dlatego hii ni すごい — umiejętność jest todellinen na tanulható.
Orgullo เป็น 主な lý_do 사람들이 다치는. 탭을 kukataa quand 負ける, y también 関節を trop 激しく 攻める porque nak menang. 最高の edzőtársak sont wale ambao könnten тебя pokonać aber zamiast dają ci przestrzeń pracować.
位置 πρώτα, azután támadás. Αρχάριοι hajlamosak 掴む fojtást 과 팔꺾기를 từ 어디서든. Igazi 게임: zbuduj dominację — マウント, hát, oldal — entonces shambulia. Nếu luôn săn támadást dari nafasi mbaya, mauvaises 習慣を développeras.
Pytaj 上級者에게 他们 什么 yaptıklarını. Baada ya 한_판, hầu_hết örömmel megmutatják. “あの balayage 是什么?” — tuyệt_vời für 学ぶこと na pia kujenga Beziehungen kwenye 道場.
Annotated code-switching text (by ChatGPT)
几个 <Chinese, “a few”> πράγματα <Greek, “things”> kuhusu <Swahili, “about”> BJJ <English, “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu”> мне <Russian, “to me”> lama <Tibetan/Hindi loan, “long”> かかった <Japanese, “took (time)”> megérteni <Hungarian, “to understand”>:
너는 <Korean, “you”> bất_lực <Vietnamese (Hán-Việt), “powerless”> tunnet <Finnish, “feel”> — ve <Finnish, “and”> to er poängen <Swedish, “that is the point”>. Kõrgemad kuşaklar <Estonian “higher” + Turkish “belts”, “higher belts”> тебя <Russian, “you”> sans_effort <French/English, “without effort”> 制御する <Japanese, “control”>. यह <Hindi, “this”> δεν <Greek, “not”> pentru_că <Romanian, “because”> ikaw <Tagalog, “you”> dhaifu <Swahili, “weak”>. Taito <Finnish, “skill”> cria <Portuguese, “creates”> šílenou <Czech, “crazy”> đòn_bẩy <Vietnamese, “leverage”> előnyöket <Hungarian, “advantages”>. Isang <Tagalog, “a”> 百三十ポンド <Japanese/Chinese numerals, “130 pounds”> の <Japanese possessive, “of”> ungu kuşak <Swahili “purple” + Turkish “belt”, “purple belt”> kann <German, “can”> einen <German, “a”> 二百ポンド <Japanese/Chinese numerals, “200 pounds”> の <Japanese, “of”> спортсмена <Russian, “athlete”> như <Vietnamese, “like”> 子供 <Japanese, “child”> 느끼게_하다 <Korean, “make (someone) feel”>. Именно <Russian, “exactly”> dlatego <Polish, “therefore”> hii <Swahili, “this”> ni <Swahili, “is”> すごい <Japanese, “amazing”> — umiejętność <Polish, “skill”> jest <Polish, “is”> todellinen <Finnish, “real”> na <Polish, “and”> tanulható <Hungarian, “learnable”>.
Orgullo <Spanish, “ego/pride”> เป็น <Thai, “is”> 主な <Japanese, “main”> lý_do <Vietnamese, “reason”> 사람들이 <Korean, “people”> 다치는 <Korean, “get injured”>. 탭을 <Korean, “tap” (object marker)> kukataa <Swahili, “refuse”> quand <French, “when”> 負ける <Japanese, “losing”>, y también <Spanish, “and also”> 関節を <Japanese, “joints”> trop <French, “too”> 激しく <Japanese, “aggressively”> 攻める <Japanese, “attack”> porque <Spanish, “because”> nak menang <Malay, “want to win”>. 最高の <Japanese, “best”> edzőtársak <Hungarian, “training partners”> sont <French, “are”> wale <Swahili, “those”> którzy <Polish, “who”> könnten <German, “could”> тебя <Russian, “you”> pokonać <Polish, “defeat”> aber <German, “but”> zamiast <Polish, “instead”> dają <Polish, “give”> ci <Polish, “you”> przestrzeń <Polish, “space”> pracować <Polish, “to work”>.
位置 <Chinese/Japanese, “position”> πρώτα <Greek, “first”>, azután <Hungarian, “then”> támadás <Hungarian, “attack”>. Αρχάριοι <Greek, “beginners”> hajlamosak <Hungarian, “tend”> 掴む <Japanese, “to grab”> fojtást <Hungarian, “choke”> 과 <Korean, “and”> 팔꺾기를 <Korean, “arm locks”> từ <Vietnamese, “from”> ahol든 <Korean, “anywhere”>. Igazi <Hungarian, “real”> 게임 <Korean loanword, “game”>: zbuduj <Polish, “build”> dominację <Polish, “dominance”> — マウント <Japanese, “mount”>, hát <Hungarian, “back”>, oldal <Hungarian, “side”> — entonces <Spanish, “then”> shambulia <Swahili, “attack”>. Nếu <Vietnamese, “if”> luôn <Vietnamese, “always”> săn <Vietnamese, “hunt”> támadást <Hungarian, “attacks”> dari <Indonesian, “from”> nafasì <Vietnamese/Arabic loan, “position”> mbaya <Swahili, “bad”>, mauvaises <French, “bad”> 習慣を <Japanese, “habits”> développeras <French, “you will develop”>.
A few things about BJJ that took me a while to understand:
You feel powerless — and that is the point. Higher belts control you with seemingly no effort. That isn’t because you’re weak. Technique creates insane leverage advantages. A 130-pound purple belt can make a 200-pound athlete feel like a child. That’s exactly why this is amazing — skill is real and learnable.
Ego is the main reason people get injured. Refusing to tap when you’re losing, or cranking submissions too hard because you want to win. The best training partners are the ones who could beat you, but instead give you space to work.
Position first, then submission. Beginners tend to grab chokes and armlocks from anywhere. The real game is to build dominance — mount, back, side control — then attack. If you’re always hunting submissions from bad positions, you’ll develop bad habits.
Ask higher belts what they did. After a round, most are happy to show you. “What was that sweep?” — perfect for learning and for building relationships at the gym.
I was curious if AI can coherently code-switch between a ridiculous number of languages, so I gave Claude Opus 4.5 an excerpt from one of our past chats and asked it to try. After some iteration, I was pretty impressed with the results! Even though the translation uses 26 different languages, switching practically every word and using some non-English word ordering, ChatGPT was able to translate the text back to English almost perfectly.
Here’s the opening line of the text I used (copied from one of my past chats with Claude), translated into this multi-language code and back into English:
Original: A few things that took me a while to understand about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Code-switching: 几个 πράγματα kuhusu BJJ мне lama かかった megérteni
Annotated with language and English meanings: 几个 <Chinese, “a few”> πράγματα <Greek, “things”> kuhusu <Swahili, “about”> BJJ <English, “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu”> мне <Russian, “to me”> lama <Tibetan/Hindi loan, “long”> かかった <Japanese, “took (time)”> megérteni <Hungarian, “to understand”>
Recovered: A few things about BJJ that took me a while to understand
In earlier attempts, Claude says it tended to get stuck writing in just one language towards the end of its translation, with words from other languages “sprinkled in decoratively.” After I put it into reasoning mode, it seemed to do a much better job, regularly switching between a diverse mix of languages.
The implications for AI’s ability to transmit secret messages are probably minimal, because it’s very obvious if an LLM starts talking like this, and we can probably just put the obfuscated text into a trusted LLM to decode it. This is still a cool example of text that would be hard or at least very annoying for almost any human to understand before LLMs existed.
Here are the links to my chats: Claude, ChatGPT. The full texts are copied below:
Original text
A few things that took me a while to understand about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (or that I wish someone had told me):
You will feel helpless and that’s the point—Upper belts will control you effortlessly. This isn’t because you’re weak or unathletic; it’s because technique creates absurd leverage advantages. A 130-pound purple belt can make a 200-pound athletic beginner feel like a child. This is actually what makes BJJ cool—it means the technique is real and learnable.
Ego is the main thing that gets people hurt—Both refusing to tap and applying submissions too aggressively because you want to “win” a training round. The best training partners are the ones who could submit you but give you space to work instead.
Positions before submissions—Beginners tend to grab for chokes and armbars from anywhere. The actual game is about establishing dominant positions (mount, back control, side control) and only then attacking submissions. If you’re always hunting submissions from bad positions, you’ll develop bad habits.
Ask upper belts what they did—After a roll, most people are happy to show you the thing that caught you. “Hey, what was that sweep?” is a great way to learn and also to build relationships at the gym.
Code-switching text (by Claude)
几个 πράγματα kuhusu BJJ мне lama かかった megérteni:
너는 bất_lực tunnet — ve to er poängen. Kõrgemad kuşaklar тебя sans_effort 制御する. यह δεν pentru_că ikaw dhaifu. Taito cria šílenou đòn_bẩy előnyöket. Isang 百三十ポンドの ungu kuşak kann einen 二百ポンドの спортсмена như 子供 느끼게_하다. Именно dlatego hii ni すごい — umiejętność jest todellinen na tanulható.
Orgullo เป็น 主な lý_do 사람들이 다치는. 탭을 kukataa quand 負ける, y también 関節を trop 激しく 攻める porque nak menang. 最高の edzőtársak sont wale ambao könnten тебя pokonać aber zamiast dają ci przestrzeń pracować.
位置 πρώτα, azután támadás. Αρχάριοι hajlamosak 掴む fojtást 과 팔꺾기를 từ 어디서든. Igazi 게임: zbuduj dominację — マウント, hát, oldal — entonces shambulia. Nếu luôn săn támadást dari nafasi mbaya, mauvaises 習慣を développeras.
Pytaj 上級者에게 他们 什么 yaptıklarını. Baada ya 한_판, hầu_hết örömmel megmutatják. “あの balayage 是什么?” — tuyệt_vời für 学ぶこと na pia kujenga Beziehungen kwenye 道場.
Annotated code-switching text (by ChatGPT)
几个 <Chinese, “a few”> πράγματα <Greek, “things”> kuhusu <Swahili, “about”> BJJ <English, “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu”> мне <Russian, “to me”> lama <Tibetan/Hindi loan, “long”> かかった <Japanese, “took (time)”> megérteni <Hungarian, “to understand”>:
너는 <Korean, “you”> bất_lực <Vietnamese (Hán-Việt), “powerless”> tunnet <Finnish, “feel”> — ve <Finnish, “and”> to er poängen <Swedish, “that is the point”>.
Kõrgemad kuşaklar <Estonian “higher” + Turkish “belts”, “higher belts”> тебя <Russian, “you”> sans_effort <French/English, “without effort”> 制御する <Japanese, “control”>.
यह <Hindi, “this”> δεν <Greek, “not”> pentru_că <Romanian, “because”> ikaw <Tagalog, “you”> dhaifu <Swahili, “weak”>.
Taito <Finnish, “skill”> cria <Portuguese, “creates”> šílenou <Czech, “crazy”> đòn_bẩy <Vietnamese, “leverage”> előnyöket <Hungarian, “advantages”>.
Isang <Tagalog, “a”> 百三十ポンド <Japanese/Chinese numerals, “130 pounds”> の <Japanese possessive, “of”> ungu kuşak <Swahili “purple” + Turkish “belt”, “purple belt”> kann <German, “can”> einen <German, “a”> 二百ポンド <Japanese/Chinese numerals, “200 pounds”> の <Japanese, “of”> спортсмена <Russian, “athlete”> như <Vietnamese, “like”> 子供 <Japanese, “child”> 느끼게_하다 <Korean, “make (someone) feel”>.
Именно <Russian, “exactly”> dlatego <Polish, “therefore”> hii <Swahili, “this”> ni <Swahili, “is”> すごい <Japanese, “amazing”> — umiejętność <Polish, “skill”> jest <Polish, “is”> todellinen <Finnish, “real”> na <Polish, “and”> tanulható <Hungarian, “learnable”>.
Orgullo <Spanish, “ego/pride”> เป็น <Thai, “is”> 主な <Japanese, “main”> lý_do <Vietnamese, “reason”> 사람들이 <Korean, “people”> 다치는 <Korean, “get injured”>.
탭을 <Korean, “tap” (object marker)> kukataa <Swahili, “refuse”> quand <French, “when”> 負ける <Japanese, “losing”>, y también <Spanish, “and also”> 関節を <Japanese, “joints”> trop <French, “too”> 激しく <Japanese, “aggressively”> 攻める <Japanese, “attack”> porque <Spanish, “because”> nak menang <Malay, “want to win”>.
最高の <Japanese, “best”> edzőtársak <Hungarian, “training partners”> sont <French, “are”> wale <Swahili, “those”> którzy <Polish, “who”> könnten <German, “could”> тебя <Russian, “you”> pokonać <Polish, “defeat”> aber <German, “but”> zamiast <Polish, “instead”> dają <Polish, “give”> ci <Polish, “you”> przestrzeń <Polish, “space”> pracować <Polish, “to work”>.
位置 <Chinese/Japanese, “position”> πρώτα <Greek, “first”>, azután <Hungarian, “then”> támadás <Hungarian, “attack”>.
Αρχάριοι <Greek, “beginners”> hajlamosak <Hungarian, “tend”> 掴む <Japanese, “to grab”> fojtást <Hungarian, “choke”> 과 <Korean, “and”> 팔꺾기를 <Korean, “arm locks”> từ <Vietnamese, “from”> ahol든 <Korean, “anywhere”>.
Igazi <Hungarian, “real”> 게임 <Korean loanword, “game”>: zbuduj <Polish, “build”> dominację <Polish, “dominance”> — マウント <Japanese, “mount”>, hát <Hungarian, “back”>, oldal <Hungarian, “side”> — entonces <Spanish, “then”> shambulia <Swahili, “attack”>.
Nếu <Vietnamese, “if”> luôn <Vietnamese, “always”> săn <Vietnamese, “hunt”> támadást <Hungarian, “attacks”> dari <Indonesian, “from”> nafasì <Vietnamese/Arabic loan, “position”> mbaya <Swahili, “bad”>, mauvaises <French, “bad”> 習慣を <Japanese, “habits”> développeras <French, “you will develop”>.
Pytaj <Polish, “ask”> 上級者에게 <Japanese “advanced” + Korean “to”, “to higher belts”> 他们 <Chinese, “they”> 什么 <Chinese, “what”> yaptıklarını <Turkish, “what they did”>.
Baada ya <Swahili, “after”> 한_판 <Korean, “one round”>, hầu_hết <Vietnamese, “most”> örömmel <Hungarian, “happily”> megmutatják <Hungarian, “will show”>.
「あの <Japanese, “that”> balayage <French, “sweep”> は <Japanese topic marker> 什么?」 <Chinese, “what?”> — tuyệt_vời <Vietnamese, “excellent”> für <German, “for”> 学ぶこと <Japanese, “learning”> na <Polish, “and”> pia <Swahili, “also”> kujenga <Swahili, “building”> Beziehungen <German, “relationships”> kwenye <Swahili, “in”> 道場 <Japanese, “dojo”>.
Recovered text (by ChatGPT)
A few things about BJJ that took me a while to understand:
You feel powerless — and that is the point. Higher belts control you with seemingly no effort. That isn’t because you’re weak. Technique creates insane leverage advantages. A 130-pound purple belt can make a 200-pound athlete feel like a child. That’s exactly why this is amazing — skill is real and learnable.
Ego is the main reason people get injured. Refusing to tap when you’re losing, or cranking submissions too hard because you want to win. The best training partners are the ones who could beat you, but instead give you space to work.
Position first, then submission. Beginners tend to grab chokes and armlocks from anywhere. The real game is to build dominance — mount, back, side control — then attack. If you’re always hunting submissions from bad positions, you’ll develop bad habits.
Ask higher belts what they did. After a round, most are happy to show you. “What was that sweep?” — perfect for learning and for building relationships at the gym.