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COMMUNITY : FORUMS : ENGLISH LANGUAGE HELP

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How Google Translate works

Read this article:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/how-google-translate-works-2353594.html

Isn't AWESOME?

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zincsulfate says: May 10, 2013. 1:18 AM
absolutely.
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to zincsulfateMay 10, 2013. 6:02 AM
Thanks you for comment.
Najwahamid says: Apr 27, 2013. 9:47 AM
Google translator is very useful . I always use it and I learned a lot with it.! Thanks
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to NajwahamidApr 28, 2013. 5:52 AM
Thank you for comment.
4
londobali says: Mar 25, 2013. 8:23 PM
Yes.. GT is best...
I have relatives who only speaks dutch, which i understand about 55% up to 57% of the time :p..
we email each other pretty well with the help of GT..
but i've never thought of the forth-and-back technique.. really clever!
It'll not do 100% perfect but must be much better than just doing it one way...

There are words that can mean a several things and sometimes GT miss the intentioned meaning.. and the very normal grammar errors..
But that doesnt mater too much, GT is a great tool that allow us to communicate and understand each other very well..

And like many people have said: even human translators make mistakes..
There's more to communication than just translating word-per-word or line-to line.
Even at the perfect grammar level, it's easy to the message wrong. Specially on written communications where facial and audio exchange is missing, we can easily mistake a joke for a nasty comment. Emoticons helps a lot here.. :)
And then there's the cultural gap, what's considered normal in one place might be taboo in other place, what's funny can be rude.. Different ethics, etc..

I think "interpreting" is better than "translating".. and "interpreters" at the organizations such as the UN plays an important role... :)
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to londobaliMar 26, 2013. 5:34 AM
Yes, you have said it fully well, londobali.
ggicollegepunjab says: Oct 17, 2012. 4:00 AM
Google Translatater is a big help available anytime you want , i like it because i have need of it at many steps. Sometimes i get some grammatical issues with translated content but i manage.
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to ennysmithAug 24, 2012. 5:27 AM
Yes, Enny, but if you don't know the other language, you could make a disaster. I use every day Google Translator, but I do the "go and back" process, and often –almost always– I must correct the results. Despite this, I often make mistakes. I rely on the goodwill of my interlocutors, fortunately
edward1234 says: Jul 4, 2012. 1:51 AM
I think Google translator is just help you to translate whatever you want, and you can get some idea from there. We can not say all are correct, may be there are some grammatical issues with translated statement.
printcosmo123 in reply to edward1234Jul 17, 2012. 6:09 AM
I agree to you that Google translator is a very famous among the people . I also like Google translator, Because we forget many words during writing or speaking then we help to Google translator.
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to edward1234Jul 4, 2012. 5:31 AM
Google Translator is VERY GOOD, almost essential, but if you don't know both languages (origin and destination) at least a bit, you could unintentionally lead to war.
jko199 says: Jul 6, 2012. 6:08 PM
Hello rimar2000, I love many of your instuctables. A free online language course called duolingo is very good. I don't think they offer English / Portugese lessons but check the web site for other languages offered.
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to jko199Jul 7, 2012. 6:09 AM
Thanks jko199, I will see that. I don't speak Portuguese but Spanish.
alexward says: May 21, 2012. 2:08 AM
Fact is that not even human translator do it on 100% as per trouble with words or for errors in original. Google translate have same "problem" and depend which language you use. Some are almost good soma are translate word by word almost and trouble is words with several traslation, depend on entire sentence!
Fazer Orkut says: Jan 19, 2012. 8:35 AM
Yes, and depending on the language, the grammar could change the meaning as well.

Fazer Orkut
16
iproberry1 says: Jan 12, 2012. 6:18 PM
it is awesome but it isn't always accurate
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Goodhart in reply to iproberry1Jan 12, 2012. 7:25 PM
:-) even Human translators aren't always accurate....and in many cases, "translation" is iffy at best because of a lack of a corresponding word
16
iproberry1 in reply to GoodhartJan 13, 2012. 5:54 PM
that's also true
7
GASSYPOOTS says: Jan 2, 2012. 3:57 PM
its not that good for swedish
dafenqimima says: Dec 13, 2011. 1:09 AM
I often using google translator, it's very good ...
QDevilQ says: Dec 10, 2011. 1:18 PM
Спасибо за информацию!
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to QDevilQDec 11, 2011. 5:17 AM
No sé, pero me opongo.
DELETED_wuqwe says: Nov 3, 2011. 7:01 PM
(removed by author or community request)
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to DELETED_wuqweNov 4, 2011. 8:53 AM
I don't understand, pardon. Please tell me the same concept using other words.
16
Lithium Rain says: Sep 13, 2011. 8:38 PM
I noticed that! It is super cool!
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to Lithium RainSep 14, 2011. 5:06 AM
Google Translator is my door to world, I love it!

Of course, you have to know a little of the other language, because otherwise you can get into trouble. I once wanted to tell someone "you're always at foot of the cannon," and it translated it as "you are the last dried peach of the jar".
16
Lithium Rain in reply to rimar2000Sep 17, 2011. 3:14 PM
Haha! I wish I could explain that!
38
Goodhart in reply to Lithium RainSep 17, 2011. 9:15 PM
Yeah, and depending on the language, the grammar could change the meaning as well.
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to GoodhartSep 18, 2011. 10:31 AM
Yes, Goodhart, I've read that some languages are very intrincate, as Chinese, in example, where the pitch changes the meaning. Guaraní has a pronoun "we" to include the interlocutor and other that does not.
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Goodhart in reply to rimar2000Sep 18, 2011. 3:05 PM
For instance: werfen Vater die Treppe hinunter seinen Hut
or "throw papa down the stairs his hat.  This sounds like Papa is to be thrown down the stairs, but it is actually the HAT that needs thrown down the stairs to Papa.
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Goodhart in reply to rimar2000Sep 18, 2011. 3:03 PM
Or for instance, even simpler languages: directly translating - werfen Vater die Treppe hinunter seinen Hut or Throw Papa down the stairs his hat. This is not what the sentence means though. In English it isn't Dad we want to "throw down the stairs" but rather his hat, down the stairs to Dad.
josephmoyer1023 in reply to GoodhartOct 19, 2011. 6:39 PM
It's a superb approach to take the Google translated text and translate it again to your personal language so you can look at to see it is really received the appropriate sense of the message so you don't get caught out, I love it

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AndyGadget says: Sep 16, 2011. 2:13 PM
 
It's a good idea to take the Google translated text and translate it back to your own language so you can check to see it's got the right sense of the message so you don't get caught out, as per Rimar's example below.

It's also good fun to take a passage and translate it through several different languages ans see what comes back when you convert back to your own.
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to AndyGadgetSep 17, 2011. 2:47 PM
Yes, I always do "go and bach" in GT. Some times it omits a "not", in example.
Bancheunt says: Sep 14, 2011. 12:02 PM
Many times Google Translate didn’t translate emails correctly. And it was impossible to understand what I wanted to write.
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rimar2000 (author) in reply to BancheuntSep 15, 2011. 9:37 AM
You must know a bit of the other language. Use all pronouns, although it seems needless.
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