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What to expect from free online translations

By: Clint Tustison

Article Word Count: 527 words  [Comments (0)]
Total Views: 42 Views






There are tons and tons of sites out on the web right now that



offer free online translations between different language pairs.



It's even gotten to the point to where people are forgetting



that there are human translators that professionally translate



for a living.







Regardless of that, however, is the fact that while free online



translators can be useful in certain situations, it's important



to understand that these online translators often leave plenty



to be desired. You don't want to be using a free translator you



find on the web to translate some important documents for your



business.







As I mentioned earlier, though, free online translators can



serve a good purpose when used how they are meant to be used.



These online translators were never meant to replace human



translators (OK, maybe there were some engineers who envisioned



such a world, but they're long gone). In fact, they are usually



not even good enough to help give translators a rough-cut



pretranslation of a text they might be working on.







So then what are they good for? Well, online translators such as



the ones you can find at Google or Babelfish are meant to be



used to give very rough translations of fairly simplified text,



which means that they work better on shorter texts and documents



with less complex language. A couple sentences will translate



better than a 40 page whitepaper, and a short social email with



translate better than a legal contract.







Another issue to understand when using a free online translator



is that they all offer different language pairs to translate.



Most of them provide translations between languages such as



English, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese; more and more



translators are also providing translations into Asian languages



such as Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. So if one of these



languages interests you, then you'll be in luck. However, if



you're looking for free online translation of Quechua or



Guaraní, you might be disappointed.







Finally, remember that they are free and usually in this world



you get what you pay for. Don't expect too much from them and



they won't disappoint you. Rather, they'll probably make you



laugh with their often hilarious, sometimes ridiculous output.







So, what do you need to remember when using free online



translation programs and websites? 1) They're far from perfect,



2) They usually work better with simple and short text, 3) They



often only include the world's most widely-spoken languages, and



4) They can really make you laugh with the translations they



give.



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