Is the translation you get out of Google Translate accurate? In the first place, it's a given that you are using the service only because you don't speak/write the intended language - then you cannot possibly know if the google translation you are getting is correct.
With that in mind, in order to make sure that my translation is actually saying what I intend, I am often compelled to do laborious cutting and pasting and switching back and forth between language panes in order to get Google translate to say in the target language what I actually intend to say. Using English to French as an example, here are the steps: 1. Specify language pair Engish-French 2. text (english) -----> Google Translate -----> text (French) 3. Cut/paste text (french) to origin pane 4. Specify language pair French-Engish 5. text (French) -----> Google Translate -----> text (english) 6. Is translation correct? if YES, then END If NO, REPEAT FIRST SIX STEPS As Charlie Sheen would say, THIS IS NOT WINNING At least, it hasn't won my heart and mind... THERE IS A BETTER WAY - BACK TRANSLATION, and a version of it already exists!!! IMTranslator is a vast improvement over Google translate. It has three panes Pane A - language 1. Pane B - translated into language 2 Pane C - Back translated language 2 ----> Language 1 TRY IMTRANSLATOR HERE http://imtranslator.net/translation/english/to-french/translation/ You will find that it makes the above process incredibly easier, and eliminates many of the above steps for making your text translate correctly into the foreign language. So, back translation is a very good idea. But even there, Google could vastly improve on this idea per the following: Pane A - language 1. Pane B - translated into language 2 Pane C - Back translated language 2 ----> Language 1 COMPARE C against A Does C match A? if YES, then END/ COPY If NO, ADJUST B until A EQUALS C Is anyone following this? You should be. THIS IS THE WAY TO DO A REAL TRANLATION SERVICE. And while you Google Brainboys are taking this idea to the next great level, you might consider giving us a TEXT COPY BUTTON in the service. WHY? TRANSLATED TEXT ALWAYS NEEDS TO BE COPIED TO BE PASTED SOMEWHERE. I'd be interested in feedback on this idea. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "General" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-translate-general?hl=en.
