Google translation

Question

0 Google now offers a free translation service as part of its search engine. I'll give you an example of an English to Finnish translation. This is the original English text:02br01i00The author, N. Taiwo, employs a very unique approach that uncovers the root causes (underlying factors) that produce or erode respect between people. The result is a powerful revelation02i00 01i00that offers a profound look into human behavior and thought processes that will reshape the reader's thinking.02i02br01i00The concept of Respect is presented in a whole new light and perspective, and a strong case is made about the role Respect plays in shaping and fostering success in life. Parents, couples, young adults and professionals stand to benefit greatly from this innovative and intriguing self-empowerment book on respect.02i02br00The Finnish translation comes next. Perfectly correct Finnish is in black, slightly incorrect but intelligible is in 01font00green02font00, badly incorrect but more or less intelligible is in 01font00blue02font00, and unintelligible "Finnish" is in 01font00red02font00.02br01i00Kirjailija01font00, 02font00N. Taiwo, 01font00työllistää02font00 hyvin ainutlaatui01font00nen02font00 lähestymistap01font00a02font00, joka paljastaa01font00, että juuri syitä02font00 (taustalla olevat tekijät), jotka tuottavat tai heikentäi01font00si 02font00kunnioitusta ihmisten välillä. Tuloksena on tehokas paljast01font00u02font01font01font00ksen02font00,02font00 joka tarjoaa 01font00syvän tutkia02font00 ihmisten käyttäytymistä ja ajattel01font00in02font00 prosesseja, jotka muuttavat01font00 lukijalle: n 02font00ajattelua.02i02br01i00Käsite Kunnioitus 01font00on esitetty02font00 01font00kokonaisuudessaan02font00 uudessa valossa ja näkökul01font00ma02font00, ja 01font00vahva tapaus on tehty02font00 01font00noin roolin kunnioittaminen soittaa muotoiluun02font00 ja edistää menestystä elämässä. Vanhemmat, pariskunnat, nuoret aikuiset ja ammattilaiset 01font00stand hyödyttää suuresti tätä innovatiivista ja nauttimisen omanarvontunnon kirjan osalta.02font02i02br02br00Many of the mistakes are errors in inflections. I cannot think of a reason for some errors, such as 01i00lukijalle: n ajattelua.02i00 I have no idea what has made the programme resort to a colon followed by an n! The programme hasn't even tried to translate 01i00stand02i00 in the last sentence. My initial intention was to try to "translate" the Finnish version back into equally poor English but I decided to relinquish the idea due to the completely different natures of the two languages. It is an impossible task as there are so few inflections in English. Even a very bad English version I would produce would inevitably be far better than the Finnish the machine offers. Despite some correct words, the Finnish is unintelligible and the reader will have no conception of what the writer is trying to get across.02br00I trust that programmes like this will improve with time, though. No doubt people at Google are aware of the standard of the "translations" but think that the poor quality doesn't matter. They may be right. No one can take a translator like this seriously now. Anyone can send in their suggested improvements if they want to. These improvements don't cost Google a penny and yet their product becomes better. Enough small imrovements over a long period of time may mean translations that are intelligible even though they are a far cry from perfect.02br00Cheers, CB 0-

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

0 Re: send in suggested improvements02br
00It's been some time ago, so I may be misremembering some of it.02br
00It seems to me that I made some suggestions for better translations, but nothing happened. The original translation remained the same.02br
00What happens, does anyone know, after you make your suggestion? Does your improved version ever appear? How long does it take? Who do they get to decide whether they should accept your translation?02br
00And the obvious question with an obvious answer: When do you get paid? 05002br
00CJ 010id1

Cool Breeze · Answer

0 Hi Jim02br
00Unfortunately I cannot give good answers to your questions. Your improvements were obviously ignored or lost in cyberspace. I sent an "improvement" to Google Earth a couple of years ago because a Finnish city called Tampere was located in Lake Näsijärvi - or to be more precise, the 01u00name02u00 of the city was. They corrected the error, but it took about two years!02br
00My information about this translation service is from Finland's biggest daily, 01i00Helsingin Sanomat,02i00 which mentioned it a few days ago. The translator may handle other languages better. It would be interesting to hear how well it translates Spanish, Italian and French, for example. Germanic languages might be easier for it due to grammatical similarities.02br
00Some of the mistakes the translator had made (my first post) were due to it having chosen the wrong meaning for an English word. 01i00To employ02i00 can be used to mean 01i00to hire people, to give work to people,02i00 and that is the meaning the translator assumed the verb had in the text. Badly wrong, and the result is completely unintelligible to a Finn. 01i00To play02i00 is another verb the program got wrong. In English you can "play" the guitar, you can "play" tennis and you can "play" with a toy. In Finnish a different verb is needed in all these contexts and the translator made the wrong guess.02br
00I was at my wits' end when I contemplated translating the Finnish text back into poor English as to how I could translate the incorrect Finnish translation of 01i00play02i00 back into English without using 01i00play02i00! 05000 I just had to give up.02br
00Cheers, CB 010id1

CalifJim · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10Cool Breeze12cite10Some of the mistakes the translator had made (my first post) were due to it having chosen the wrong meaning for an English word. 12blockquote

10That reminds me of what once happened in a Spanish class. (A friend of mine is a Spanish teacher.) The student looked up "fly" and found "mosca" in the dictionary. Not realizing it was the insect "fly", he then constructed a sentence in Spanish intending to say that on his next vacation he was going to "fly" to Madrid. 05000 If you know Spanish, it may be funnier, because he actually attached the correct verbal ending on the noun!01i00Voy a moscar a Madrid.02i02br
00CJ 010id1

RayH · Answer

0 That evokes quite the mental image. I can just see some poor schlub holding on for dear life as his fly carries him to Madrid. 0-

Kooyeen · Answer

1blockquote

01cite10CalifJim12cite10The student looked up "fly" and found "mosca" in the dictionary. Not realizing it was the insect "fly", he then constructed a sentence in Spanish intending to say that on his next vacation he was going to "fly" to Madrid. 15010 If you know Spanish, it may be funnier, because he actually attached the correct verbal ending on the noun! 11i10Voy a moscar a Madrid.12i12br
12br
12blockquote

10LOL, that's what happens when you don't have the slightest idea how to express a certain concept in another language. Dictionary, direct translation... total nonsense. 05100 That's why I believe every learner should use a monolingual dictionary "for learners", where everything is explained simply and there are plenty of examples to learn from. That way you are much less likely to use a simple verb or word the wrong way, because the most common usage patterns are highlighted.02br
00Direct translation is what most automatic translators do, so as long as there are no machines with artificial intelligence that are able to learn a language like a human, automatic translations will always be of bad quality. I tried translating that text with Google... In Italian, you would understand the general meaning, what they are talking about, but some expressions are almost meaningless. Not too bad anyway, I thought it would come out worse, LOL. 05200 And "Employs" was translated as "gives work to" in Italian too...02br
02br
00EDIT: Ok, I'm going to post the translation, in case "some Italians" come across this thread.02br
01i00L'autore, N. Taiwo, 01u00dà lavoro02u00 a un approccio molto singolare che svela le cause alla radice (fattori) che producono o 01u00erodere02u00 il rispetto tra le persone. Il risultato è 01u00un02u00 potente rivelazione che offre una profonda 01u00esaminare02u00 comportamento umano e processi di pensiero che 01u00rimodellare02u00 il lettore01u00 sta pensando02u00. 02br
00Il concetto di rispetto è presentato in una nuova luce e prospettiva, e 01u00una02u00 forte 01u00caso02u00 è fatto sul ruolo01u00 rispetto02u00 svolge nella definizione e promozione di successo nella vita. Genitori, giovani, adulti e giovani professionisti 01u00stand02u00 01u00trarre02u00 enormi benefici da questo 01u00innovativo e intrigante all'autoresponsabilizzazione libro02u00 sul rispetto.02br
02i02br
00The underlined parts are where there is something wrong (either the term, or the grammar, or something missing).01i02br
02br
02i00 030srchttp://www.EnglishForward.com/emoticons/emotion-1.gif11id212id4

Cool Breeze · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10Kooyeen12cite10I tried translating that text with Google... In Italian, you would understand the general meaning, what they are talking about, but some expressions are almost meaningless. Not too bad anyway, I thought it would come out worse, LOL.12blockquote

10Hi Kooyeen02br
00Thank you for testing Google's command of Italian. Very interesting. I don't speak Italian but it seems that the translator handles Italian a little better than Finnish. I wonder how well it would do in a Germanic language. Probably even better. On the other hand, Thai, Vietnamese or Chinese could prove too difficult for it. I don't mean that the languages as such are difficult; they are just so different from English.02br
00Cheers, CB 0-

CalifJim · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10Kooyeen12cite10Direct translation is what most automatic translators do12blockquote

10 I heard somewhere that one of the newer techniques is to go to a corpus of works already translated by humans, that is, both languages -- translations of each other -- exist together in the same corpus. The translation process then does look ups in the corpus to find the most usual equivalents for any given word or phrase in one language to create the translation into the other language. This method is supposed to produce much better translations because it's not word for word. It takes at least a little of the context into account.02br
02br
00Any of you heard of this technique?02br
00CJ 0-

Cool Breeze · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10CalifJim12cite10This method is supposed to produce much better translations because it's not word for word. It takes at least a little of the context into account.12br
12br
10Any of you heard of this technique?12br
12blockquote

10I haven't heard of it but it stands to reason that the results must be better.02br
00CB 0-

Anonymous · Answer

Haven't heard of this technique for automatic translators of CJ's, but I find that the SDL online translator (freetranslation.com) does a lot better; though the simultaneous use of a dictionary and the back-to-English translation are a must to iron out case, grammar, and vocabulary issues. Definitely better than Google Translate, and it handles the Romance and Germanic (German, Dutch, Swedish, etc) fairly well as far as I could tell. Can't give any opinions on the less Latin-like languages, however.

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