Do you know a place where I can type in something in any language and they can translate it for me?

Question

You know like english to spanish!

Answer 1

There are several on the net, but the two that I use the most are:

http://babelfish.altavista.com

http://www.google.ca/language_tools?hl=en

These will only translate between the major languages. If you're looking to translate from, say, Mandinka to Douala (African languages spoken in Gambia and Cameroon respectively), you're out of luck.

Beware, though: the only thing an online translator is good for is giving you something of a draft translation, or the gist of the original meaning, and sometimes it won't give you the right translations. For example, I listen to German pop music, and one of the artists I listen to is Juliane Werding. Babelfish, for example, would translate her name literally as "Juliane who thing".

As a more extreme example, one of her songs is "Sie weiß, was sie will." The title properly translates as "She knows what she wants," but you'd have a hard time getting that translation out of Babelfish. "Sie" (she) can also mean "you" in the formal address or "they", or even "it" as used as an indirect object. "Weiß" (knows) can also mean "white". So Babelfish might give you any variation such as "you knows, what wants it" or "she white, what wants her". Language is a complex thing, and artificial intelligence technology hasn't yet reached the point where online translation utilities can be programmed to take context into account to a degree like this. Even idioms would need to be programmed--the German equivalent of "don't count your chickens before they've hatched", for example, translates to "don't divide the bear skin before you kill the bear"--and because there are so many of them in each language, such a programming task would be time-consuming.

If you already have some command of a language that you're translating into, online translation utilties can be used as a tool to check any translation of your own--it's enough to give you feedback on whether you're on the right track vis-a-vis vocabulary and/or word order, or it can also provide some suggestions for alternate translations. When I translate the lyrics of the German artists I listen to, I run them through Babelfish, but then I look at the translation, suspect some words to be incorrectly translated, and check with my dictionary to make sure.

Answer 2

Any of the previous answers will translate words for you. The translation may not be correct, it is likely to contain grammatical errors, sometimes will not be using the correct word based on the context. If you want a real translation, ask a real translator, or at least an actual person who speaks both languages. You can ask people here to translate stuff for you, and most of the time, you'll get correct and accurate answers (except for the people who use Internet translators)

Answer 3

Do a google search for english to spanish translaters etc... That'll do the trick :)

Answer 4

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

this does many different languages, not just English to Spanish

Answer 5

type in language translator in the Google search engine and click on the Google translation link (not other websites) it works exceptionally well. (it's in google)

Answer 6

I've used http://www.google.com/language_tools before. But of course, I think it does more of a word for word translation than a really good translation.

Answer 7

i tried it with English to German and vice versa. the outcomes are quite unfavourable. do no longer trust an automated translator on my own, usually they produce outrageous nonsense.

Answer 8

Gosh no! We don't live in a perfect fantasy world!

Answer 9

I like this one...

Answer 10

http://www.freetranslation.com/