Hi there,
I don't think GOP needs a different translation system. I think he
likes GT but he's just concerned with the fact that his contributions
(made through GT's "Contribute a better translation" feature) are not
really being used by the system to improve itself, as they are
supposed to do.
I have to say I sympathize with this view. Actually I made a little
experiment a few months ago, on which I contributed a better
translation for a particular webpage (from German into English).
Today, I go into that page and GT is making the same mistake.
Frustratingly enough, it looks as if the translation I contributed
with is not being taken into account at all.
It would be nice to get some feedback from GT's team on this issue.
Regards
On Jan 29, 12:15 pm, Ian Parker wrote:
> Basically what you want is a far simpler system than Google Translate.
> What you need (in effect) is a fast hashing dictionary which gives a
> number of alternatives. I do not have such a system for Spanish, but
> you can see what I mean with this Arabic system.
>
> http://sites.google.com/site/aitranslationproject/hash-translation
>
> It does not itself translate, it (effectively) takes every word,
> provides you with alternatives and allows you to make your own
> translation. If you were to work on a GUI you could translate using a
> mouse or touch screen. As you can see a lot of alternatives are given,
> only one of which (usually). I say usually because in Sura 51 of the
> Qu'ran there is an ambiguity. AlTwr could be translated (legitimately)
> as both "Mount" and "Time".
>
> I have, if you look up my other postings, felt for some time that GT
> was fundamentally unsound. It is NOT an AI system and NOT a simple
> dictionary system. In fact, as you point out, a simple hashing
> dictionary would be more comprehensible.
>
> This is where I need your help, perhaps. I am not familiar with the
> workings of GUI. What I would like to do is embed the program in
> Native Client. (I call it salt as NaCl is the formula for common
> salt). I would like to be able to take input and output in HTML. This
> involves (in the case of Arabic) Unicode. I would like to present a
> number of translations which could be mouse/touch screen selected.
> Eventually with the ability to change order with a GUI.
>
> I am using Windows Vista, but my compiler is GNU C++. It will work
> therefore in either a Windows of Linux/UNIX environment. I/O is non
> GUI at present. HOW DO I GO ABOUT IT. What you want is in fact a
> Spanish dictionary which you can build a similar hashing algorithm
> around. I feel that if I could get a GUI I would have a viable
> (Arabic) product. The equivalent in Spanish would I think not be
> difficult to do.
>
> What is the status of my work? Look at the reference and take a look.
> Feel free to browse round.
>
> - Ian Parker
>
> On Jan 28, 3:49 pm, GOP wrote:
>
> > I just wanted to find out if I am wasting my time. I have been in
> > Puerto Rico for 4.5 years now and I understand a great deal of Spanish
> > - but I would not say I am fluent. Once get outside my area of
> > expertise (computer systems) I often don't understand words that don't
> > come up a lot in contexts that I am reading. I use Google translate to
> > look up single words, phrases I don't understand, and entire paragraph
> > from emails I receive.
>
> > Once I see the translation of the pieces I don't understand the
> > meaning of the paragraph becomes clear, and I can see how some parts
> > have been rearranged incorrectly or words translated to to a
> > particular country's style (usually Mexico as opposed to generally
> > accepted word translation. When this happens, I try to provide a
> > better translation. I have been doing this for almost two years now,
> > and I have not seen an improvement in the translation that takes place
> > with Spanish to English and in fact I believe the translation of
> > English to Spanish has actually gotten worse.
>
> > So basically I am just inquiring as to whether or not the things that
> > I submit are being used or if I am wasting my time trying to make this
> > a better tool. I don't mind taking the time to supply better
> > translations if it will help others get past the struggles of trying
> > to understand a foreign language, but not seeing an improvement in the
> > tool over a lengthy period makes me feel my efforts are wasted.
>
> > Basically, I am just looking for reassurance that my effort is
> > actually contributing something and not just going into what we call
> > the 'bit bucket'.
