subject: Here's Why Free Translation Products and Services Will Not Likely Provide The Best French To English Translation [print this page] Here's Why Free Translation Products and Services Will Not Likely Provide The Best French To English Translation
When a French to English translation is necessary, the most common strategies are converting the lines verbatim, utilizing a web-based translation software or possibly finding someone who is bilingual to get it done to suit your needs. Verbatim translations are a direct route to mistakes and blunders. Depending on the scale of the mistake the end reader laugh their head off or worse you could unknowingly offend someone and cause a big embarrassment! If newbies and scholars of both languages can't agree on anything else both sides will readily acknowledge, there is more than meets the eye when translating French to English or vice versa.
The differences in the language are plenty but, these are four major reasons why verbatim French to English Translations don't usually work:
English and French vary to a large degree. The English language evolved over 600 or more years and contains remnants from many different languages. There are French phrases directly in the English language, also words and phrases from the Germanic and Anglo Saxon origins. The bulk of these words clash quite often and don't mesh well with French.
Nouns do not have genders in English; a lot of English language scholars find this to be odd. A German Shepard can be a female or a male, so it makes good sense that "chien" shouldn't read le chien all the time which is male.
The adjective comes before the noun in English, but in French it is the opposite.
An example of this would be "the white bird." It translates to "l'oiseau blanc" in French.
Differences do exists amongst French speakers from place to place. If you travel the globe from town to town you'll find that cultural and speech nuances usually change words subtly or sometimes drastically.
Clearly, attempts at a french to english translation done verbatim is not a good idea. So, why not use a free french to english web application? Well, if your goal is perhaps a learning exercise or to have a little fun with a new language, the internet might just serve you well. Automated internet applications are good for learning a thing or two in a new language to dazzle your younger sister or brother or general knowledge. Now here's the other side of that coin, if there's one needed for official purposes and more serious matters, leave it to a professional.
