For those of you that are bilingual...
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I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job. I'm curious, though, if it would be good enough to translate the UI components of an app that I am working on. In times past, I would simply send the file needing translating to a team of actual linguists who would turn the words/phrases/messages/titles into their respective language. As far as I can tell, that has always worked. The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference. I've noticed over the years that if I translated, say, ten individual words from English using Google Translate, I would get ten words back in whatever language I was interested in. If I took all or most of those ten English words and had them translated as a sentence, I would get something different in return. This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job. Thoughts?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
Try some of the videos in this playlist[^] to see how good Google Translate really is. :-D
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
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I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job. I'm curious, though, if it would be good enough to translate the UI components of an app that I am working on. In times past, I would simply send the file needing translating to a team of actual linguists who would turn the words/phrases/messages/titles into their respective language. As far as I can tell, that has always worked. The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference. I've noticed over the years that if I translated, say, ten individual words from English using Google Translate, I would get ten words back in whatever language I was interested in. If I took all or most of those ten English words and had them translated as a sentence, I would get something different in return. This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job. Thoughts?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
Trilingual is even funnier. I've noticed some really weird translations between Swedish and German, that simply didn't make sense. That is, until I translated from German to English, and then to Swedish from English. Then I could see how it happened. I've tested it several times since, it seems like Google translate is using English as an in between language.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
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Never heard of it? It is big in Vlanderen.
Heard yes, tried no. Sounds like a spicey mayo and that's something that many a sandwich could use :) Along with some Turkey, of course.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job. I'm curious, though, if it would be good enough to translate the UI components of an app that I am working on. In times past, I would simply send the file needing translating to a team of actual linguists who would turn the words/phrases/messages/titles into their respective language. As far as I can tell, that has always worked. The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference. I've noticed over the years that if I translated, say, ten individual words from English using Google Translate, I would get ten words back in whatever language I was interested in. If I took all or most of those ten English words and had them translated as a sentence, I would get something different in return. This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job. Thoughts?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
No, don't even try UI translation with any online translator. Ask the customer to provide the text. Having worked with websites in languages alien to me, I used to create UI in English so I understand and then translated it to required one. On the first demo people who knew the language were looking amused. I thought they are really happy with the UI. Turned out online translation meant something very different than what the text intended to convey. Luckily it was just first demo and I was waiting for translations from them.
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[^]
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Heard yes, tried no. Sounds like a spicey mayo and that's something that many a sandwich could use :) Along with some Turkey, of course.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
Yeah, thats pretty much it. The flems like their sauces, they sell them often in packs of 6 varieties, one of which is samurai
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I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job. I'm curious, though, if it would be good enough to translate the UI components of an app that I am working on. In times past, I would simply send the file needing translating to a team of actual linguists who would turn the words/phrases/messages/titles into their respective language. As far as I can tell, that has always worked. The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference. I've noticed over the years that if I translated, say, ten individual words from English using Google Translate, I would get ten words back in whatever language I was interested in. If I took all or most of those ten English words and had them translated as a sentence, I would get something different in return. This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job. Thoughts?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
Translate everything using Google Translate, then provide proofreading linguists with both copies: translated and English versions. Whenever the proofreaders get confused by Google's translation, they will be able to look up the original text and figure it out, even if they don't speak English very well themselves.
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Try some of the videos in this playlist[^] to see how good Google Translate really is. :-D
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
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I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job. I'm curious, though, if it would be good enough to translate the UI components of an app that I am working on. In times past, I would simply send the file needing translating to a team of actual linguists who would turn the words/phrases/messages/titles into their respective language. As far as I can tell, that has always worked. The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference. I've noticed over the years that if I translated, say, ten individual words from English using Google Translate, I would get ten words back in whatever language I was interested in. If I took all or most of those ten English words and had them translated as a sentence, I would get something different in return. This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job. Thoughts?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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Sometimes it is even better to not translate. I despise the translated exceptions in the .NET Framework. "De index ligt buiten de matrixgrenzen."
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
But sometimes you have to. Amazon, for instance, won't list things in "foreign" countries unless the app is available in that language.
We won't sit down. We won't shut up. We won't go quietly away. YouTube, VidMe and My Mu[sic], Films and Windows Programs, etc. and FB
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I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job. I'm curious, though, if it would be good enough to translate the UI components of an app that I am working on. In times past, I would simply send the file needing translating to a team of actual linguists who would turn the words/phrases/messages/titles into their respective language. As far as I can tell, that has always worked. The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference. I've noticed over the years that if I translated, say, ten individual words from English using Google Translate, I would get ten words back in whatever language I was interested in. If I took all or most of those ten English words and had them translated as a sentence, I would get something different in return. This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job. Thoughts?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
I would only use it as a means to check translation work from a third party. The problem with translation is context - my father worked as a translator for 30 years and even back in the early 80's he was involved in machine translation trials which he pointed out were far worse than a human. 37 years later and we still don't have perfect machine translation. One problem is that languages change over time and even within languages there are disputes over the correct use of the language. Also within many languages there are different ways of phrasing the same sentence which convey a different level of education - init. I find myself watching French films thinking "That's not particularly grammatically correct French they are speaking".
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Google translate works french to english. However, be careful. I know of one company that in the English UI had "Enter you sex", and translated it, literally, to French. "Entrez votre sexe." Which means, "Put your dick in" :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
A friend told me the story of someone visiting a French friend's family. When they asked him if he played a musical instrument, he was a flautist, he replied "Oui je, fait la pipe!". The family were too polite to correct him at the meal.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job. I'm curious, though, if it would be good enough to translate the UI components of an app that I am working on. In times past, I would simply send the file needing translating to a team of actual linguists who would turn the words/phrases/messages/titles into their respective language. As far as I can tell, that has always worked. The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference. I've noticed over the years that if I translated, say, ten individual words from English using Google Translate, I would get ten words back in whatever language I was interested in. If I took all or most of those ten English words and had them translated as a sentence, I would get something different in return. This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job. Thoughts?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
I suggest you don't. I have seen goggle translates firefighter into literally a man who gets into a fighting with fire, lol.
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A friend told me the story of someone visiting a French friend's family. When they asked him if he played a musical instrument, he was a flautist, he replied "Oui je, fait la pipe!". The family were too polite to correct him at the meal.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Classic!
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Often, when I translate from English, I will put the result into the source side and translate it back to English. Do that a few times and you'll have your answer. ऐसा कुछ करें और आपका जवाब होगा। (Hindi) Do something like this and your answer will be.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job. I'm curious, though, if it would be good enough to translate the UI components of an app that I am working on. In times past, I would simply send the file needing translating to a team of actual linguists who would turn the words/phrases/messages/titles into their respective language. As far as I can tell, that has always worked. The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference. I've noticed over the years that if I translated, say, ten individual words from English using Google Translate, I would get ten words back in whatever language I was interested in. If I took all or most of those ten English words and had them translated as a sentence, I would get something different in return. This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job. Thoughts?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
I had this experience working with a Chinese client. We used google translate but it ended up funny to them. Luckily they have SAP consultant that knows English language and we gave him all the lists in English words from our application to be translated into Chinese then put it into our resource file. It's a lot of work because every time there are changes in GUI labels or messages, it gets translated again and update the resource file.
[Signature space for sale]
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I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job. I'm curious, though, if it would be good enough to translate the UI components of an app that I am working on. In times past, I would simply send the file needing translating to a team of actual linguists who would turn the words/phrases/messages/titles into their respective language. As far as I can tell, that has always worked. The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference. I've noticed over the years that if I translated, say, ten individual words from English using Google Translate, I would get ten words back in whatever language I was interested in. If I took all or most of those ten English words and had them translated as a sentence, I would get something different in return. This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job. Thoughts?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
germanic languages should more or less easily translate to english and back. When you go to other languages where the structure is different like Xhosa or Zulu it might not be just a straight forward word for word translate.
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I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job. I'm curious, though, if it would be good enough to translate the UI components of an app that I am working on. In times past, I would simply send the file needing translating to a team of actual linguists who would turn the words/phrases/messages/titles into their respective language. As far as I can tell, that has always worked. The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference. I've noticed over the years that if I translated, say, ten individual words from English using Google Translate, I would get ten words back in whatever language I was interested in. If I took all or most of those ten English words and had them translated as a sentence, I would get something different in return. This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job. Thoughts?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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Often, when I translate from English, I will put the result into the source side and translate it back to English. Do that a few times and you'll have your answer. ऐसा कुछ करें और आपका जवाब होगा। (Hindi) Do something like this and your answer will be.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
Many years ago, there was a web site where you could supply an English phrase and a list of languages. The website would call Google translate to translate the phrase to the first language, and then back again to English. The result was translated to the second language, and back, and so on to the end of the list. Some times the end result was laughable, sometimes shocking (with the meaning completely reversed), sometimes it made no sense at all. (If this web site, or a similar service, is still in operation, I'd very much like to know the URL - I lost it years ago.) On the more serious side: All textbooks for Technical Writing courses state as standard procedure that when you have a text translated to a language that you do not fully master yourself, then you should always have another translator translate it back to the original language. The wording may be different, and doesn't even have to be "correct" in grammar or style, but at the abstract level, the contents should be the same. (But remember that mis-translations may also occur in the second step.) In the pre-google age, printed manuals in the user's own language were common. I have worked with a couple companies that followed this practice: The proof prints were also sent to a publicly authorized translator for back translation, before the big printing press started rolling.
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But sometimes you have to. Amazon, for instance, won't list things in "foreign" countries unless the app is available in that language.
We won't sit down. We won't shut up. We won't go quietly away. YouTube, VidMe and My Mu[sic], Films and Windows Programs, etc. and FB
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David Crow wrote:
I use Google Translate to translate words to/from English. From what little I know of other languages, I think it does a good job.
It proves to me that there is little to nothing to fear from AI if that's what it is based on. "Turkey", the meat, gets translated to Turkey the country.
David Crow wrote:
The person, however, needs to know the context in which a particular phrase will be shown, as I guess that makes a difference.
Google Translate does not recognize context, as above example shows.
David Crow wrote:
This makes me wonder if an actual person is better suited for the job.
Depends; does this person translate using the Google website? :) 15 Google Translate Fails That Will Make You Never Trust Computers Again[^] 10 Inexplicable Google Translate Fails[^] --edit It seems that a lot of documentation on both the Microsoft as well as the Google website are done using "automatic translations" (from English to local gibberish). It doesn't have to be perfect or even decently readable; it's cheap to do and available for free.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
Eddy Vluggen wrote:
It seems that a lot of documentation on both the Microsoft as well as the Google website are done using "automatic translations" (from English to local gibberish).
Not necessarily, or rather: What makes you think so? Especially computer related documentation, and most of all: in free software, with help texts, labels, menus etc. translated by volunteers, the translators have their brains running in "English mode", selecting a translation that is as close to the original phrasing as possible, and sometimes even closer... Several new words have come into Norwegian because translators found it easier to make an English word "look Norwegian" than to find the well established Norwegian term. Example: "outdated" was in my schooldays translated to "foreldet" (literally: too old), today the common translation is "utdatert". It feels "wrong" to bring in the date to indicate that something that never had a date has turned too old! The old, but outdated (!), Norwegian term was a lot better! (If you explicitly want to indicate that some time/date limit has expired, you can of course do that, too.) Another example: "Error message" translated to "feil melding" (a very common translation by volunteers) means "wrong message". The proper translation is "feilmelding", in one word. I have argued fiercly with some of those guys who insist on translating it as two independent words! But far more often, the "translated" words have no root in Norwegian, they just "look Norwegian". The only way to make sense out of them is to recognize their English origin, which is usually very simple, and mentally read the "Norwegian" word as if it was translated properly to Norwegian. But if you can do that, why do you need a translation at all?
