subject: Google Translate Vs Human Translation [print this page] Web based translation have come a long way since the time they first appeared. At the very beginning, they would just translate text word by word, not regard any other aspects, this result in the translated text practically useless. Much of that has been changed with the emergence of the Google translation. It can now hand in pretty good translations of websites. But the web based translations still have some limitations. How should we decide whether we shall do the translation on the web or get a human translator involved?
The following is my own opinion.
Translations can be done via Google translation in the following situations:
If you are trying to translate newspaper clippings, short articles and blog posts. as long as the content is not too specific, and not too important to you, you can just do the translation via the web based translator.
The materials that required to be translated are basic short phrases like greetings. It was a very thoughtful gesture to translate it with Google translation and copy the characters from the screen.
Get the main idea of e-mails in a foreign language. We would never rely on an automated translation for 100%, but pasting the text into Google translate can give a good clue of the content and whether manual translation is warranted for the e-mail
A human interpreter should be involved in the following cases:
1. Translating for active use. Writing something in one language, and translate it with Google translation may result in an understandable translation, but sentence order and grammar will be off to some extent. It will definitely show that the text was machine translated, and the translated result will not be achieved. If you need to communicate with someone in a different language, it is better to make do with whatever language you have in common. If you have no language in common, you can ask a human interpreter for help..
2. To translate very specific, or important content, such as legal documents, technical specifications, user manuals and scientific articles.
3. To translate spoken language. This is really the next frontier and technically very much different from translating text, which is far more standardized. Advances are being made with voice recognition too, but you better check back in another five years before applying any of the technologies.
Google Translate is a great way to get the main idea of materials that are written in a language that you do not understand. But if you need translations for a specific purpose, the content is specific, or you are going to e-mail or publish the translation, good old fashioned human interpretation should be involved.
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