If we have an assignment from a language class, or we need a translation for something, people usually think of Google Translate. How does it work? In the article “Find out how our translations are created”, it introduces Google Translate. Google Translate offers instant translation on sentences, words, and web pages. It looks for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents that have already been translated by human translators to decide the best translation. This process calls "statistical machine translation". Since the translations are generated by machines, they are not perfect. Moreover, as some of the languages have fewer translated documents available, the quality is varied. But the users are welcome to give feedback.
In the article, “Breaking The Language Barrier: Technology Is The Great Equalizer”, written by Ashley Taylor, she pointed out that in the past, using Google Translate to finish homework is not a good idea. It basically translates sentences literally word by word. The grammar and word use is wacky. Taylor introduced Google Translate and translation service on smartphones. Verbalizelt on smartphone provides live translation. To indicate the translator is available, the person pushes a button on the dashboard of his or her phone’s VerbalizeIt app. When the user need a translation, what they have to do is to make a phone call the app.
In the past, I used to think Google Translate is a great tool to use. When my family needs translation on certain websites and documents, I asked them to use Google Translate. However, the more I use it, the more hilarious I realize Google Translate is. It literally translates word by word, as Taylor mentioned in her article. It is impossible to understand its translation. Now I understand how Google Translate operates and how come the translations come out to be so interesting. These days, I don’t really use Google Translate because of its quality. Instead, I will be using other dictionary websites to translate words. Then, I will translate the entire sentence by myself. Hopefully, I will figure out more about the Google Translate in my project.
Let me start off by saying that translation is A LOT of work! I've actually taken translation courses (in both Spanish and French), and it was a huge struggle, mainly in French. I even helped a friend with a translation job he needed to do, and was it rough! You have to know really well the target language, as well as the tone that the source language text has in order to successfully transfer it onto the target language.
ReplyDeleteNow, when it comes to Google Translate, I will be honest to say that I have used it a few times, but I don't honestly trust it 100%. When I would try it out, the translations in the target language would come out clunky and make absolutely no sense. My language professors even highly discouraged students from using it. Nowadays, I've noticed that it has gotten better, but I'm still hesitant to truly believe it. The times I did use it were mainly for small, simple sentences, so there was no big margin of error for that. I actually prefer to use dictionaries, as well as this awesome website (wordreference.com - and yes I am advertising it - it's THAT good) to help with verb conjugations. It also includes online dictionaries for various target languages.
** As a quick side note, I used to think that translating and interpreting was the same thing - how wrong was I! **
Having to translate things into a language that you're not entirely comfortable in is very stressful, but you have to keep in mind that in order to get rid of this nervousness, it is important that you immerse yourself in the language. Travel to countries that speak this language (if you can); meet people who are native speakers; watch TV, read books/newspapers/magazines! At first, it'll be odd, but once you get the hang of it you'll have started to learn many words and expressions you thought made absolutely no sense!
I've actually thought about going into the translation/interpreting business because it seems so cool - learning and becoming proficient in as many languages as you can seems like a really cool thing to do. I have a friend who's actually a student in MIIS (Monterrey Institute of International Studies) who Is doing a Master's in Translation and Interpretation, and he highly recommends I try it. And you know what? I think I might...but first, I really need to finish and pass my French Journalism class......On verra!
Interesting that you bring up culture here - that is something that Google translate may never be able to replicate...
DeleteI have used google translate before and it is translating word for word. I have used it for translating from English to Spanish. I was raised around spanish speaking people so I also know Spanish very well in terms of comprehension. I can speak it, but not as fluently as English. In the times I have used google translate, I 'd have to agree with Dennis, it could be pretty funny. I would use it so that I would be able to translate quicker, but I always go back and edit, revise and delete words that just do not make sense! So, google translate is a useful tool if you're in a hurry and do not want to spend hours, it would give you a head start but you'll have to make some changes. I would not become dependent on it as I have come dependent on using Microsoft Word SPELL CHECK :)
ReplyDeleteMy other point is, that one cannot go wrong with human interpretation. Of course, human do mistakes as well but not as much as a computer. It's amazing how we are equipped with the ability to quickly translate (if we're bilingual) from one language to another. A computer can translate to some extent but I do not think it knows the rules of language as we do. It does not dominate language the way humans do. For example, I know Spanish and English. At times at Church I would translate the message to English, the preacher would preach in Spanish and I would translate what the preacher was saying for the English hearers. It was AWWWE-SOOOME! And it was usually Word for Word, but at times when my brain could not locate the exact Word I was able to use another word without taking away the meaning of what was being said. Computer can't do that! Our brains can!!!
The French phrase, “On m'a posé un lapin,” literally means, “Someone left me a rabbit.” The actual correct translation into English is, “I got stood up.” The phrase, “Lost in translation,” is all too true. We can all agree that Google translate doesn’t do the best job when it comes to translating idiomatic expressions and contextual phrases. For those who already know the semantics and grammatical structure, I don’t think that it would be that difficult in fixing the mistranslation. However, translation in and of itself can be extremely difficult at times. I know I’ve found myself understanding, completely, a phrase or piece of text in French and Spanish but had no idea how to translate the full meaning into English; even when it can be translated literally there is still a degree of meaning missing.
ReplyDeleteI will admit that I have never before heard of VerbalizeIt; which sounded like a pretty interesting app. It is some much more beneficial to have a native speaker aid you in a translation. I am curious as to how accurate those languages tests are in order to become a translator because I’m pretty sure the creators of the app do not speak all the languages of the translators. In “What makes a good, successful, and happy translator,” I would critique and say that even some dictionaries are not entirely correct depending on in which language you begin and into which language you are translating.
I just used google translate on our this blog post for Spanish. It was actually pretty good at translating most of this post, yet it lacks some syntactic and semantic feautures. Although it was ineffective in some aspects, someone who knows Spanish really well can understand and figure out the rest. I highly doubt that someone who is learning the language will capture the minor gliches here and there. I am not saying that Google Translate is perfect, but it is effective in some sense.
ReplyDeleteNow, I have used Google Translate at times by googling words and phrases. Words are pretty good in their translation, but phrases seem like someonee is artificially making up the words. These words are not in union at all. I wouldn't recommend it at all. The best source to learning a language is learning it from a speaker of that language and a good book on the grammar of the language.
I’ve had conversations with undergrad cunning linguists where they’ve explicitly stated: “you’re not a linguistics’ major until you’ve officially downloaded a translation app”. This is relatively interesting. Being the fact that we're examiners of our own language, while reading the article “Find out how our Translations are Created”, translation is a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteI’ll confess that I’ve been guilty for using translation mediums relatively often. I’ve tried translating conversations to my mother, but failed miserably; either my spelling was incorrectly written, or my conjugations were out of this world. Considering that translation means “the process of translating words or text from one language into another”, as according to Google, you would think that most of the translations are context bounded (like face-to-face communication), but that isn’t quite the case. In “Breaking the Language Barrier: Technology is the Great Equalizer”, basically states that Google Translate (GT) translates sentences, word by word. From a psychological perspective, this may possibly create levels of anxiety when placed in awkward predicaments where there are obvious language barriers, unconsciously forcing the usage of translation mediums for the mere purposes of just “getting by”. This basically means that learning a language is not only based on accurate interpretation, but it is also based on context, and an interactive environment.
I can never really rely on Google translate. Especially for French. Whenever I want to translate informally, it always ends up using "vous" instead of "tu" The people I am talking to are usually my peers or friends of friends. I am sure it does the same thing for Spanish." Breaking The Language Barrier: Technology Is The Great Equalizer" brings up a good point that yes, it has improved somewhat from what it was a few years ago but nothing beats a human interpreter. I am happy to hear that there's actually a service like Verbalizeit. A computer isn't always going to be right so you don't have to always rely on it. However, being able to speak to human being and tell that person what you're trying to say and the tone could help. Not everything is going to be translated correctly with Google Translate. As Laura has mentioned the same remark about interpreting and translating, it's not the same thing. I would pick a human interpreter any day before google translate. I also agree with Michelle, that G.T isn't going to be able replicate culture,HUMANS WILL!
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