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Google translation

  • 23-01-2011 9:34pm
    #1
    wobblyknees
    Registered Users Posts: 1,435 ✭✭✭


    Has anyone used this? It's brilliant, the searches are excellent and accurate, and there is a button to play back the language for pronunication! It's bloody brilliant the stuff we can do today online!

    http://translate.google.com/#


Comments

  • #2
    allandanyways
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,960 ✭✭✭allandanyways


    It's only accurate half the time though. When I did my degree, my Spanish tutor (native speaker) used to hand some assignments back with no mark and just a comment saying "Use your brain and not google translate and I'll mark this properly". I've had conversations with several Spaniards who say that they can see through a google translate version straight away, especially when so much Spanish is dependant on context.

    I wouldn't rely too heavily on it tbh, but that's just my opinion.


  • #3
    Fight_Night
    Registered Users Posts: 720 ✭✭✭Fight_Night


    Yeah it's not all that accurate, although of the online translators it is still one of the best.

    For example if you type in ''Te Pido'' (I ask you) it only shows up as ''I ask''. If you are familiar with the fundamental grammar rules and whatnot then Google translate is a good and faster alternative to using a dictionary and then you can use your head to figure out the rest, but I wouldn't advise using it to translate whole sentences.


  • #4
    Earthhorse
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,714 ✭✭✭✭Earthhorse


    I think it's pretty cool. True it's not always accurate and, as in the above example, sometimes misleading, but it's good enough for a little help here and there.

    I only started learning last year and found it useful for reading comprehension. I'd try and read a few articles from El Mundo to improve my vocabulary. I'd post the text of the article into Google translate and, as I'd read, check the translation in English to see how much I was getting correct. Not perfect but better than having to thumb your way through a dictionary in my opinion.


  • #5
    Guillo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2 ✭Guillo


    Google translate is a great tool, but it should never be used for anything other than trying to get the gist of what a foreign is saying, for personal use. ALL machine translators fail at understanding context and putting out proper sentence constructions. It may make your work faster if you need to translate a document, but only as long as you have a good enough understanding of the target language that will let you correct and edit the resulting text.
    Its very useful, but you should never use it if your translation will have to go through any kind of evaluation, since the results can be disastrous.


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