Category: Techwriter
There are dozens of apps for Android and iOS that provide foreign language translations available in Google Play and iTunes. Also, there are plenty of free and commercial web sites/services online for translating or defining foreign words, statements, and text. However, even without a mobile device or any knowledge of any particular service, just visiting Bing and Google can go a long way when searching for the English translations of a particular language.
Both Google Translate and Bing Translator Beta (formerly called Microsoft Translator) offer a lot of languages for online translation. Though I doubt anyone would require all of them, the list of both services is comprehensive. Google Translate includes Azerbaijani, Yiddish, Esperanto, and Maltese - extremely difficult and rare languages (search your local Barnes & Noble and tell me if you can find dictionaries or books on them). Plus, Google Translate has both Tamil and Hindi for those interested in India's rich language set.
Bing Translator has a less exotic offering but no less useful. The developers probably decided to focus on more common language families, though there are a few odd choices. I was happy to see Hmong Daw (a minority language in China) and Vietnamese among their selections. Having lived in China and taught in Vietnam, the two are especially impressive inclusions because of their tonal and scripting features.
Of course, accuracy is more important than the number of languages available. A native would probably criticize both services (Brits and Aussies might be surprised by some word exclusions). Actual language, of course, is actually dynamic and changing (in some countries, no one uses the word "computer" anymore but rather PC or Mac). Even novice translators would find some of Bing's and Google's text conversion attempts to be odd. It doesn't make them wrong - just somewhat misplaced. The text results would probably get a tourist out of a tight fix, but not make for a well-written document translation.
Using Bing Translator and Google Translate Online Services
In my tests, Bing Translator and Google Translate worked best with short sentences or single words. It really wasn't a good idea copying long columns of text into the box. Both worked very well when I typed in simple sentences to be translated to Traditional/Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and the ever-popular French. I would have attempted a more obscure language like Urdu but it would be impossible for me to verify the accuracy of translation with my limited skills.
I actually worked with and for some companies that made use of Google Translate on a daily basis. Google Translate provides very simple and direct translations to text. The results pulled up faster than Bing Translator. Google Translate will also tag previously used languages for future use. As a foreign language student, I found the audio reading of Google's service as good as Bing Translate's own audio recordings (just click the speakers icon on the lower-right hand corner of the text box).
Some scoff at Microsoft's ability to create good products, but I believe Bing Translate is an excellent tool. Unlike Google Translate, Bing Translate adds several options and explanations for translations automatically (though there is a slight pause before it appears). French words are described as either male or female. Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese translations include several variations and interpretations automatically. For example, Bing Translate provided other ways to write "computer" in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese. Google Translate will also provide options and the ability to rearrange the results by clicking on the offered translation (the feature is touted as "New"). Like Google Translate, Microsoft Translator can convert web pages – just type the URL in the text box and the translated page will open in another tab (accuracy and speed suffers but it does work for simple pages). As a plus, Microsoft also provides a Bookmarklet plug-in which I hope to try when pulling up Online Chinese Shopping sites.
Besides voice-recognition, I truly believe digital translation of languages is one of the greatest feats technology can ever achieve. Although there are a lot of commercial products out there, instant translation hasn't been perfected yet (which isn't really bad news for multilingual professionals out there). Who wouldn't want to have a Star Trek communicator that can simplify language between races? However, I'm still very grateful for the existence of these free online translation services and would definitely keep Bing Translate and Google Translate in my Bookmark list for some time to come.
0 comments:
Post a Comment