Comments on: Google’s Language Tools http://www.gala-global.org/blog/2006/googles-language-tools.html The GALA on Technology Blog is a space to gather, collate and discuss the impact of tools within the Localization Industry. We invite you to register at the bottom of the page and participate in this open, frank exchange. However, please refrain from promoting yourself or your company (there are other ways/places for that :-). Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:38:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.2 Comment on Google’s Language Tools by: Evan Norman http://www.gala-global.org/blog/2006/googles-language-tools.html#comment-28 Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:33:00 +0000 http://www.gala-global.org/blog/2006/googles-language-tools.html#comment-28 First, I am not a translator. I work for a translation agency, which pools human talent for projects where meaning is critical, such as the outcome of pending litigation or the safety of a product (you might be willing to have that breakfast, but will you use medicine when you are overseas if due to a shoddy translation you are unsure what the medicine is for, or how much you should take at one time?). Second, I was reacting to the general public's perception of machine translation, not to machine translation itself. Too many people outside of the translation industry seem to think they can receive a perfect or even marginally flawless translation for their product information for free, and Google's description of its language tools seemed to validate this. You are correct. People make mistakes. You misused the word "except" when you meant to say "accept." One mistake. If you are fluent in a language other than English, write your comments again in that other language and use a free translation tool to translate it into English (as opposed to making a "round trip" machine translation). Then, post it, and tell me it is as good, clear, and to the point as what you wrote the first time. First, I am not a translator. I work for a translation agency, which pools human talent for projects where meaning is critical, such as the outcome of pending litigation or the safety of a product (you might be willing to have that breakfast, but will you use medicine when you are overseas if due to a shoddy translation you are unsure what the medicine is for, or how much you should take at one time?). Second, I was reacting to the general public’s perception of machine translation, not to machine translation itself. Too many people outside of the translation industry seem to think they can receive a perfect or even marginally flawless translation for their product information for free, and Google’s description of its language tools seemed to validate this.

You are correct. People make mistakes. You misused the word “except” when you meant to say “accept.” One mistake. If you are fluent in a language other than English, write your comments again in that other language and use a free translation tool to translate it into English (as opposed to making a “round trip” machine translation). Then, post it, and tell me it is as good, clear, and to the point as what you wrote the first time.

]]> Comment on Google’s Language Tools by: Gudrun http://www.gala-global.org/blog/2006/googles-language-tools.html#comment-27 Wed, 05 Apr 2006 08:59:58 +0000 http://www.gala-global.org/blog/2006/googles-language-tools.html#comment-27 It never ceases to amaze me how translators react to translation software. What are you scared of? As for human interaction - are you willing to wait online while a translator edits your translation request for 100.000 pages or do you simply except the MT results however poor. OH and by the way my absolute favourite translation mistake comes from the breakfast menu of a 5 star Spanish hotel: A selection of pastries with butter, jam and MONEY I'll have that breakfast any time and btw it is impossible for a system to make this kind of mistake. So the best translations as well as the best errors remain human.... It never ceases to amaze me how translators react to translation software. What are you scared of? As for human interaction - are you willing to wait online while a translator edits your translation request for 100.000 pages or do you simply except the MT results however poor. OH and by the way my absolute favourite translation mistake comes from the breakfast menu of a 5 star Spanish hotel:

A selection of pastries with butter, jam and MONEY

I’ll have that breakfast any time and btw it is impossible for a system to make this kind of mistake. So the best translations as well as the best errors remain human….

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