Don't GoogleTranslate

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

Like, EVER.

OK, do, but only if you want to get the general gist of a (short) text.

But do NOT GoogleTranslate a whole article. Or, worse, a novel.

Now, the story.

Some time ago, I got an email from an old friend who works for an Italian publisher. He told me of this writer who had published a "young adults" novella for them and who had had it translated into English but wanted it reviewed. I got in touch with the writer in question and we agreed a price and all. She told me she had it done "by a teacher", and that she was charged quite a lot.

First I read the story in Italian - not a masterpiece, but a more than decent adventure story. Dragons, a treasure, quite some danger, a little romance. Then I read the English "translation". And I nearly cried - it was so badly translated.

Just one example: the four protagonists are walking in the woods, in a mountain area. They look around, and see some peaks. Nothing strange here. But then, those "peaks" fly away. The point is, the Italian word is "picchi". Which is "peaks", but also "woodpeckers" (a peak is "picco", a woodpecker is "picchio"). I suppose that woodpeckers do fly.

This told me that either the "teacher" GoogleTranslated or s/he was SO bad that s/he couldn't even use a dictionary and searched directly for the word in the plural...

And that is only one example of many.

I can't blame the author, who told me very clearly that she can't speak a word of English, but I explained what was the issue (as I needed longer than I thought I would). Although she released the story on Amazon retouching... well, at least the title (in English people don't "climb THE Mount Everest" - not the real title but close enough to give you an idea)...

[MoonCat]

Oy. I use Google Translate now and then out of curiosity, and what I've noticed is that you often get multiple answers, because the correct word depends on the usage. I would never try to translate more than a word or two for any serious purpose using that!

[jedimaster91]

I only use GoogleTranslate for short phrases and pronunciation (which in my experience has been pretty spot on). The sad thing is Google is one of the better online translation sites out there. But it still doesn't do you much good if you don't have some passing familiarity with the language in question. Context is important in every language and a computer just can't deal with that.

[notalwaysright]

lol, I haven't had much need for Googletranslate. I think I did try it a couple times when I was binge watching Korean dramas... I remember that it didn't help much. The text had names, titles, and other proper nouns mixed in, and those didn't translate correctly.

Where are the universal translators, translator microbes, protocol droids, or TARDIS's?

[Gilhelmi]

Soon, they are still trying to hammer out the last few (dozen) bugs. Last estimate I heard, from the Army was 5-10 years.

(not the article I was thinking of, but proves DARPA is making these things http://gcn.com/Blogs/Pulse/2014/10/DARPA-LORELEI.aspx)

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

OK, to be honest GoogleTranslate is NOT the devil - when you want to get a general idea of what a text says. I have to admit that I've used it on articles in languages I can't speak, and I vaguely understood if they were in favour or against the topic in discussion. But for a novel(la)... no.

[jedimaster91]

Exactly. It's for personal use to get the idea of what the foreign text is saying. Not for official or school* use.

*Looking up a word here or there is fine. Not writing your final paper/thesis.

[Ted_The_IT_Guy]

My wife, who was trained by the excellent French school system as a translator and has the degree(s) to prove it, feels that GoogleTranslate should have a "For entertainment purposes only" warning on top of it.

Seriously - this is a woman who speaks 3 languages fluently (French, Breton and English), and the worst mistake I've ever had to correct for her was how sometimes she uses the verb "to do" when we'd say "to make", and vice versa. And it is an understandable mistake to make, as in French both English verbs are taken care of by one - faire.

She's also the first person in her family to grow up with French as their primary language instead of Breton (a VERY difficult language to learn for an outsider), having grown up in Brittany/Bretagne, which is the place where France comes the closest to the Ozarks/Appalachia - lots of farmers who are "coarse" when compared to the sophistication of the urban cities.

Really - her father would be whacked in school if he spoke Breton, they were forcing French on the peasants - much like in the American west with Native American kids, Aborigines in Australia, etc.

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

Yes, I was aware of the Breton situation, as I know two guys who grew up in the area. I wasn't aware that the language was so completely different from French though.

But yes, GoogleTranslate is OK for very basic stuff *only*.

[raudf]

I only use Google Translate for getting the gist of something. I've dealt with enough exchange students and being a military brat, that I know it will butcher syntax and words. But it's good enough for me to get an idea of what's going on.

Bing Translate, on the other hand, is good for comedy relief only, because I get completely lost when I try using it.

[Chromatix]

My understanding is that Breton is of the Celtic family of languages - same as Gaelic (both of them), Welsh, and Cornish.

[dalesys]

My understanding is that Breton is of the Celtic family of languages - same as Gaelic (both of them), Welsh, and Cornish.

... and Manx, which my ex thinks explains "things" ...

[Jay 2K Winger]

I'll do the same thing when I'm looking for the gist of something, or sometimes even spitballing for ideas with character names-- plugging a word into GoogleTranslate and picking a language, then looking for a foreign word that I can adapt into something name-soundy.

[wolfie]

Really - her father would be whacked in school if he spoke Breton, they were forcing French on the peasants - much like in the American west with Native American kids, Aborigines in Australia, etc.

There's another example of where an automated translator can fail. When there's talk of someone getting whacked, is it a tale about corporal punishment for students, or about a mob murder? Are thongs footwear for the beach, or butt-floss underwear? Are rubbers waterproof footwear, or birth control devices?

I've heard the apocrophal story about someone who created an automated English/Chinese translator, and tested it with the phrase "Out of sight, out of mind". Since he couldn't read Chinese, he ran the output through again in Chinese-to-English mode. The result? "Blind lunatic".

[KellyHabersham]

Oy. I use Google Translate now and then out of curiosity, and what I've noticed is that you often get multiple answers, because the correct word depends on the usage. I would never try to translate more than a word or two for any serious purpose using that!

That came up for me a lot when doing homework for my German class - Google Translate would give "definition A" for a word, when I really needed "definition B".