google translate

[maryannballeras]

Thinking of using Google Translate is not a good idea at all. It sometimes translates sentences on a word per word basis. And as we all know, different languages have different sentence constructions. Because of this, what usually comes out on Google Translate is something that is of no sense.

[AureliaeLacrimae]

Thinking of using Google Translate is not a good idea at all. It sometimes translates sentences on a word per word basis. And as we all know, different languages have different sentence constructions. Because of this, what usually comes out on Google Translate is something that is of no sense.

Which is why you must do the translation yourself. The long sentences are best translated manually. I know that it takes a lot of time, especially if you're translating a literary text, but it's necessary. There is no machine that can provide a good and accurate translation of a text and keep it's essence. That's something you must think about while working on it. I use Google Translate only as a tool to help me with unfamiliar words so I don't have to lose time finding them in the dictionary. The rest is my own syntax and the understanding of the text.

[RedRose]

While studying Spanish in high school, using Google Translate was heavily discouraged, as Google Translate is not very reliable, and often produces incorrect translations in English. Also, you do not learn anything by using it. Google Translate isn't the only poor translator, though- many others are unreliable. It's better to translate sentences yourself. It will be much more work, but you will learn much more from it. However, WordReference is a good, reliable dictionary that produces correct translations for words and simple phrases. Additionally (If you're studying Spanish), for Spanish vocabulary, WordReference shows which word is used in each Spanish-speaking country. I recommend WordReference to help you with your translations, and I think that you'll learn a lot more vocabulary by using it.

[sy_Tang]

Google translate is helpful with word per word translation and with regular expressions or sayings. However, in translating a whole sentence or longer statements, I would not recommend using it. Google translate is not programmed with the different sentence structures of every language.

My students in Korea attempts to use Google translate with their essays. They write a narrative in Korean and translate it using Google translate. The resulting essay would not make sense since the translation was made word by word. 

[ioana]

Google translate is very bad at translation entire sentences.

For work, I sometimes needed to translate some sentences in 16 languages and what I did was use http://webtranslation.paralink.com/translations.asp and translated the sentence from English to the language I needed (you will see that it uses more that one translation providers therefore you may end up with more than one result) and then use the tool again to translate back the result(s). I've always used the best match.

And if you are still in doubt try googling you best match to see if anyone else uses it like that

[Trellum]

Google Translate offers a lot considering it's free,  but that being said.... I'd not expect too much because it's free. But it generally does well translating single sentences over whole walls of text.  It's the best option out there, at least when it comes to online free translation apps    The other option is paid human translation, so believe me when I tell you Google Translate is not bad at all, specially if you already speak a bit of the target language. 

[Trellum]

On 11/25/2014 at 4:31 AM, sy_Tang said:

Google translate is helpful with word per word translation and with regular expressions or sayings. However, in translating a whole sentence or longer statements, I would not recommend using it. Google translate is not programmed with the different sentence structures of every language.

 

My students in Korea attempts to use Google translate with their essays. They write a narrative in Korean and translate it using Google translate. The resulting essay would not make sense since the translation was made word by word. 

 

Yeah, sadly that is what you get from using a free service.  I've noticed that with single short sentences (Dutch) the translation is fine, but if I try with something much longer and complex things stop making sense.  Sadly there is no better choice (not for free), but Google can be so helpful if you know the language, at least a basic level.  For me it has been very helpful  Perfect for language students. 

[Productiwe]

I have an android application using Google Translate. It is making the copy/paste process for you and showing translation instantly in browser. All you need to do is "select" the word or phrase and tap "copy" option.

I created it for all learners. Check it out:

Reading Browser Translate Free 

 

        

[FenWoFon]

Google translate can be useful from time to time however /NEVER/ use it for more than a word because the grammar is just not right unless you totally need well go ahead and use it.

You can use better ways to translate by yourself which are using some dictionaries and what you have learned because if you do that you will also practice which is great and you'll be improving your vocabulary along the way but yes I do not recommend Google Translate unless like I said it is TOTALLY necessary, I'm giving this opinion based on my experience and what I know, use it how you want and I hope I helped somehow.

[LeesaJohnson]

I don't think that a google translate is a good option for translating the sentences because many times it translates incorrectly.

[Lakeisha Brown]

I have learned from personal experiences that Google translate doesn't help much. I use it to check over my Spanish work and it always have the sentence mixed up. Sometimes it doesn't recognize some of the Spanish words from my textbook. 

[Hope]

On 5/31/2014 at 11:02 AM, 2times said:

Is it a good idea to use Google Translate to translate full sentences? Because I was just wondering if some of the words that they use are wrong or something?

Nooo. I found that Google Translate full sentences is usually very inaccurate. Not only that but most of time the context of the sentences could be way off, the internet does not understand context clues..

[reverserewind]

I guess it's got way better throughout the time. I remember the first time I had used it. Damn, it's was terrible. So many words in the wrong context. However, Google got it "smarter". I see the results.

Anyway, there's nothing better than a human being who talks confidently and fluently. Yeah!

[potoloklol]

My experience with Google translate has not been so good. It may work for some languages like Spanish,but it is almost never 100% accurate. It is especially terrible with Russian because of the sentence structures and grammar and changing endings. Google translate can give you a good idea of what the sentence may mean, but not the exact meaning or a natural translation. I wouldn't rely on it too heavily, maybe just for a word or two. 

[LeesaJohnson]

No, It's not good for translating the full sentence. You can use it as a dictionary to know the meaning of words. 

[Lakeisha Brown]

Google translate, in my opinion, doesn't translate sentences well. I used it during my Spanish 1002 class and it was no help at all. It translates words and small phrases well though.

[Trellum]

On 5/25/2016 at 4:47 PM, potoloklol said:

My experience with Google translate has not been so good. It may work for some languages like Spanish,but it is almost never 100% accurate. It is especially terrible with Russian because of the sentence structures and grammar and changing endings. Google translate can give you a good idea of what the sentence may mean, but not the exact meaning or a natural translation. I wouldn't rely on it too heavily, maybe just for a word or two. 

 

That is true, I have noticed   the result vary greatly depending on the language you are trying to translate.  I can imagine Google translate not being very successful translating languages like Russian though    I'm lucky Google Translate works great translating from and to Dutch to/from English.   It's mean to be used as a help though, if you want a serious translation you need to pay for it, which is not bad considering we have sites like Fiverr. 

[SusanC]

I wouldn't use google translate. At the end of the day it's just a machine trying to pronounce stuff word by word and that almost always goes wrong. Sure, it might have a good run here and there, but mostly what you are trying to say is not what you are going to get. If you absolutely HAVE to use it for something I would make sure to play around with a bunch of synonyms so you can see if what it shows you "feels right". A great page to find some synonyms would be this one. I hope that helps.

[frankfurt]

Google and other translation programs don't always know the right translations, so I would not rely on Google alone. Maybe in the future though

[hades_leae]

On 6/7/2014 at 10:18 PM, 003 said:

I only use Google translate when I am translating single words, when I am only looking for the meaning. That's all.

I had to learn the hard way, I remember having text conversations with this woman who didn't speak any English. I went off of the Spanish that I was fluent in at the time, but there was still something that I didn't know how to say. I tried using the translator to translate, and what ever it gave me back, I would put that in the message. She always responded in confusion. 

I didn't notice what the app was doing until I put it in reverse, and saw how it changed up many words and gave me what it thought I meant. Never used it again for that purpose. Only words.

[MissTe]

Google translate is a bad idea for translating sentences. The results that you will get from it are not going to be a hundred percent reliable. Some of the expressions and the syntax might be lost when translating. I think Google Translate is only good for translating single words.  

 

[Rooks57]

I'm rarely use Google Translate but my mom has to use it to translate the emails she gets for work.  She often finds herself in-between two people who don't speak the same language and needs to translate something.  The ending could be a garbled mess but she's been able to use for work.  I personally wouldn't trust it to translate a novel, but most analytical texts, it seems to handle well.  Mostly because the words used in the business world don't have a ton of synonyms that could confuse you.  Unlike more conversational words, take 'oppa' from Korean.  It literally translates into big brother, but girlfriends will call their boyfriends that, without context, it would be translated wrong.  I think Google Translate is fine to get the gist of a sentence or paragraph, but expect the finer details to be utterly lost or destroyed.

[Bokyy]

Google Translate is a very useful tool, and when I forget some word in a foreign language, I come to it, and ask. Many of us here know very well how tricky might be writing a foreign language. Everything is different, words, sentence structure, punctuation... So one who writes should have a good knowledge and helpful tools.

I have grown together with the translator, and it has served me as an online dictionary. I am aware, it has a problem to translate some complex sentences, but for basic things, it serves perfectly well. Some time ago, I joined as a volunteer to its developer community. Now I am helping and translating words and phrases for the tool.  

[17emilyhalko]

My Spanish teacher has always told my class never to use Google translate, because she could tell if we did. Google isn't very consistent with its ability to be able to translate things correctly. Google is good at translating single words, but Google isn't good at being able to construct a sentence, because phrases and structures are different language to language. On Google translate, if you tried to take your native language and then translated it to a foreign language and then back to your native language, you would see that the sentence you got back is most likely very different and very awkward. Besides, it never pays off to cheat. It's much better to use Google translate to translate single words, like adjectives and nouns, and then to apply the tense yourself and to construct it from there.

[aviendha]

I took French in college (I wish I had maintained it); my professor said he could always tell when someone used Google translate and to what degree (the full sentence vs just a snippet, etc). We lost major points if we used it. I tested this theory out once and indeed, he could tell. I never did it again!