What are your thoughts on google translate?

[Baburra]

It's good enough to use for rough translations, but obviously not nearly at the level to replace the translator jobs in the world. The way Google is developing, I wouldn't be surprised if they are able to perfect it in the next few years, and until then, I'd say it's at least good enough for minor usage, which is a lot better than having no option or having to use an even lesser tool.

[calticitron]

I have been using Google Translate for the past few years as it helps me learn Swedish, through English, faster. It was a bit difficult during the first few months because most of the words were not properly translated to the specific word that I needed. I often had to double-check with a friend of mine, just to be sure. Technology has gotten a lot more advanced these days, though. When I try to translate a word to Swedish, it comes up with the closest translation, and several other suggestions that might be just what I need. The translation is actually better if I type the entire sentence that I need translated. Though there will always be problems when assigning a computer to translate languages, I'd say Google Translate is the closest at doing a good job of it.

[kniera]

It is probably one of the best out there, but you shouldn't really use it when trying to make a sentence because most of the time it doesn't really work because the grammar is bad. But I still think it is handy for alot of uses because the person usually still gets what you mean even while it isn't grammaticaly correct.

[Qamra]

I love and hate Google Translate. I only use it for single words, usually to check how they sound.

Sometimes I put longer sentences just to amuse myself, they hardly ever are correct.

Still I think it's one of the best translating engines ever made.

[writeletters]

Google Translate looks handy, and it is for simple phrases, common phrases. But it isn't a reliable way of translating things. A better option would be to get a dictionary and define words and figure it out for yourself.

[diprod]

I know google translate is used many times in classroom settings and the professor (fluent speaking), knows that they used the translation site. It is not always correct, I am wondering why.

I personally love that facebook now has a translate feature under posts because many of my friends live in foreign lands and speak non english languages sometimes. It is nice to be able to keep up with them.

Do you think google translate is a good online option for translation?

It's not accurate. I think Google should do more updates about it. Although there are some words that it could translate but still not very much helpful from my experience.

[jodig]

Well, as many people already said, it depends on your use. Definitely not trustworthy if you are attempting to translate slangs, idioms or expressions. Not accurate enough for translations on languages you don't understand. But i tend to find it handy for single word translations, like a dicctionary, on languages I already am fluent in.

For example, i have two bookmarks on my toolbar (english to spanish and one in reverse) to easily check words when in need. I am familiar with the answers provided, so I'm just doublechecking!

[MyDigitalpoint]

In addition to all what we have already said about Google translate, the poor grammar construction of phrases, plus missing words that it does not translate make it useless for serious translations without a manual review of the translated document and further fix.

[pluser]

It's hardly perfect, but it's usually good enough to communicate casually, and it's more than good enough for me to translate articles.  It's a very effective tool that still has a long way to go, and that seems to be in Google's plans.  That's great news to me since there are some really good hobby sites in foreign languages, but constant translation is too much of a hassle for me to spend much time there, so I really hope for a seamless translation system that allows me to easily participate in those foreign forums.

[Ricardo187]

It is a very good tool and probably one of the best translators, though you have to know exactly what to imput and what sense you give your sentences. I use it mainly to translate single words or make sure I'm spelling them correctly, as for big texts, it usually has got alot of failures.

[KimErikson]

Oh my goodness...! I am glad you brought this up! My experience with it is pretty bad. I would recommend avoid trying to use it, especially when trying to translate something for a letter or something important, as it could lead to trouble. The sentances don't come out as they should and it will be obvious to the reader that you used Google translate. It is quite good when I am trying to find an ingredient for a recipe, such as a spice and I don't know the Dutch name. I will then type in "turmeric" for instance, and get "kurkuma" and then I know what to look for on the supermarket shelves!

[ejazu]

Google translate is a great way to get a rough idea of what is being said. Although don't use the translation religiously especially if its for a school/college project. The app helped me greatly when I was in Korea because of the text detection tool through images! I remember going to a store and asking for the procedure to get free Wi-fi. Unfortunately the employee couldn't understand me at all, but he had an idea to carry out our whole conversation on Google Translate. So there I was, writing in English which kept getting translated to Korean on the other end. Similarly he wrote the reply in Korean and this way I could understand what he was trying to say. I was truly amazed by the functionality of this app since then!

Kudos to Google!

[Trellum]

It's a nice tool, I can't deny it, but it does an awful job translating things to spanish! Translating things to english isn't that bad, but to spanish?  Yeah, pretty bad!  It's a nice tool to hear the pronunciation of some words tho   I use it to translate single words, but no complete phrases.  Because this tool works best with single words  and not that well with whole phrases.

[Permidian]

Under the right circumstances, Google translate can be very useful but you shouldn't rely on it to give you 100% accurate translations.

It can however give you a good idea of what the text you're trying to translate says.

Personally, I very rarely use it as English is my most used foreign language and i'm completely fluent in English, so translating it to my native language would be redundant as I understand English just as well. In fact, the translation would certainly be more confusing to understand.

The rare times I use it is when I need to understand any other language; as I stated though this is a rare occurrence but when it happens Google translate comes in very handy.

[JoanMcWench]

I am just not a fan. There is a lot lost in translation (pun intended) when you use applications or free translating services. The accuracy is suspect and the nuances are lost. I would love it if someone took the translating problem so serious that the languages are translated based on location in the world and compound languages. That is the dream...

[pdxchristine]

I think Google Translate is good in a pinch.  I like to get knitting patterns from Ravelry.com, and many of them are links to people's blogs.  For example, if someone in Finland has a cute pattern but it's in Finnish, I will often run their pattern instructions through Google Translate.  It doesn't work perfectly but is enough for me to decipher what I need to do.

[ValerieAnne]

I think Google Translate is a good option for online translations, depending on the language you are trying to translate from (if none English). I haven't tried English to another language, but with a job I used too do, I would have to translate various languages into English and fix any mistakes (after translated). I noticed that when it translated from French to English it was pretty close, but when it translated, say, Japanese or something it was very far off and I'd have to use the words that were correct (be it correct all together, or spelled correctly) to determine the rest and leave a note about it. So, I think it depends.

[Mizali]

I think that google translate has its place, and it can certainly be a useful resource in certain circumstances.  In the few cases I've had to use it for minor things, or needed a translation of a page that might be accurate enough to get me through with a general idea of what's being said, it's been able to get the job done.

I've found it more useful for translating something from a language that I don't speak into one that I do, rather than the other way around.  At least when it's translating from another language into English for me, I can figure out more or less what it's getting at when it inevitably fails a little bit and doesn't get things quite right.

[erronousRogue]

Out of the available online translation utilities, I'd say that Google's is probably the most accurate. It's terrible for lesser known languages and slang, but works flawlessly for things like shorter sentences in German > English, or when used as a dictionary.

[pipps]

Google translate is good for simple words and phrases but if you are writing anything more than that, it will fail you. Take it from me, I have tried this method many a time and failed each and every time! haha. I tried using it in high school for my French homework as I was just so clueless. Needless to say, I got a C in that class. I would only use it now if I were desperate.

[JayGould]

I can speak fluent German so I often test out Google translate for entertainment's sake and it's absolutely awful, even the simplest translations fail if you use contractions so I really wouldn't recommend it for academic use.

[jbepp]

When you try to translate a phrase or something short, it's actually ok.

But when you translate a webpage or something bigger it becomes awful.

[Catalyst64]

I find Google Translate to be very useful for unknown words, but it doesn't really work with whole sentences or phrases. It sometimes can't even translate phrases that are basically the same in my language. But otherwise, it's really easy to use and I have it on my smartphone as well.

[mickey4533]

I've used google translate a fair amount as I've studied four languages. I find that it is way more developed for some languages than others. For example, if I'm simply translating words instead of phrases in Mandarin its usually pretty accurate.

[sidney]

I think that Google Translate is decent enough to roughly translate the chosen language, but sometimes it translates the words so literally, and we all know that words aren't always what they literally mean, especially when used as a sentence, so that's when the error in translating starts. But overall, it does a moderately good job of translating.