How much do you rely on online translators?

Question

Aren't the results funny,sometimes? (To say the least?)

Which one(s) do you prefer?

Are they better for some languages than for others? Which ones?

How do they work for different alphabets?



Thank you for sharing your experiences with me!:)

Answer 1

I don't use online translators (or translating dictionaries) too often but I've been known to on occasion. I find them fun, albeit seriously flawed, as something is always getting lost in translation. AltaVista's Babel Fish is my personal favourite and can be the source of much amusement, as several of my friends can attest (including you, Moon!). ;-)

I imagine Babel Fish and the others work better for some languages than for others but much of that I suspect has to do with the languages themselves. For example, I think the Romance languages" (e.g., French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese) and the Northern European languages likely translate more readily to English (and vice-versa) than Asian and African languages might.

A perfect example is Japanese, a language I am familiar with but cannot speak, read or write (for the most part). Here is something fun you can do yourself to prove my point. Take any sensible sentence in the English language and type it into the Babel Fish translation box. Then select "English to Japanese" from the drop-down menu and press the Translate button. Okay, now cut-and-paste that new Japanese text into the cleared translation box and this time select "Japanese to English" and hit Translate. The results are what is euphemistically called "Engrish" (and btw, I love Japan and the Japanese so don't anyone even bother trying to label me prejudiced, ta very much) and can be quite hilarious. The resulting sentence will vaguely resemble the original but come out silly and nonsensical.

My best theory for why this is would be that the languages and alphabets are so fundamentally different as to be all but impossible to make a direct translation. The rules and forms of reading and writing in Japanese, Korean or Chinese characters are completely different from English and most of the western languages. So automated translations like Babel Fish are pretty well doomed to fail -- except as comic relief. :)

Answer 2

I rely on them to make me giggle. My friend and I were bored one time and used Google's translator to translate a newspaper article from Spanish into English into French into German and back into English. I can't remember all of it, but I do remember that "astronaut" because "American space driver," which she still uses as a nickname on some websites.

Seriously, I would never trust them in a language I didn't know at least a little of so I know the connotation of the word they're giving. So, I would never go to an online translation website and ask it to give me a word in Finnish, let's say, because I would have no idea if the word it's giving me is really the one I want to use... I generally only use them to jog my memory about words that I'm just forgetting in the languages that I do know some of. If it spits something back at me that would be the wrong connotation entirely, I can recognize that.

The best one I've found, at least for Spanish-English and English-Spanish is the one from El Mundo that I've listed in the sources below. It recognizes some idiomatic language and some misspellings. I also use it to check for some stupid mistakes, like if all of the genders match up in a sentence. It will not translate words with the wrong article, or it wil translate them funnily, at least.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

On line translators give very inaccurate translations sometimes, and people just love to use them to answer questions on this site to get 2 points. Some of the translations are hilarious and don't make much sense. Using them for your own personal use is fine (as a source of various meanings), but know that a personal knowledge of the language is much more reliable than a computer.

Answer 4

Not at all
I use onlie translators only for some particular words and not sentences or paragraphs

ONce i typed "what is the time" in google translator from english to spanish
i got the result "when are you available"


Once english to french i typed "can i have some water"
i got"where is the toilet"

Answer 5

I rely on them when I need a good laugh!!!
; )

They're totally, appallingly awful with Japanese, because the grammar is totally different to English grammar, and the translators can't cope with it! They're a lot better with Chinese though, because the grammar's similar to English - but the translation still needs editing to make it more logical!

Answer 6

I dont use online translators for translating long paragraphs, i only use them to remember a word that i forgot to say in a language, but i know in another.

Answer 7

I use them to translate from German to English (my first language) but wouldn't trust them the other way. I know enough German to sort most things out, and (I think) to know when the translation's probably wrong.

I use babelfish, I guess cause it has the coolest name.

Answer 8

I am fairly fluent in Thai, but I sometimes run into words I don't know, or song lyrics which, due to their artistic nature, I don't quite understand.

I use http://www.thai2english.com

Answer 9

I find them pretty good. It makes it easier to communicate with even more people around the world.

Answer 10

well translators are good for single words, not for complete paragraphs or expressions.

Answer 11

Well they work most of the time and my fav is
www.worldlingo.com/products_services/ worldlingo_translator.html