Automatic Translations and What They Can Do For You

Several people, myself included, wonder why if technology has advanced to the point it has, with computers that can win a chess game against the most capable and experienced player or make the most complex calculations, then why automatic translation basically doesn't cut it.

You can go ahead and try Google translator, or Babel Fish or any of the many automatic translation services and programs available on the Web, and you will see that the results are usually far from what you would expect.

Automatic Translations Basically Don't Work

The reason why computers are not good translators is basically because translation is not a logical process. Computers are great at adding numbers and performing any logical sequence or transaction. They are great at remembering stuff too, so as far as vocabulary goes, a computer is an unparalleled resource for any person wishing to know the meaning of a word or expression.

Unfortunately, languages were not born out of translating one tongue into another. Languages are living entities that grow and branch out every day. That is precisely the reason why languages such as Latin and Old English are called "Dead Languages" (others are extinct languages, precisely because they have stopped "living", they no longer have any native speakers and for that reason, have stopped growing, branching out, developing.

Many languages derive from another and for that reason they have a similar structure, sound, feeling and even vocabulary (for instance Spanish and Portuguese), however, if you speak Portuguese and you have never had any contact with Spanish, chances are you will understand basic things spoken very slowly but if you try to go on the street and listen to people talking among themselves you will probably end up without a clue of what they are talking about.

Because let's face it... even within speakers of the same language, many times we are left completely dumbfounded. Have you ever tried to listen into the conversations of teenagers, or scientists, or even people from different nationalities... come on... are they even speaking your language?

Then Why Do They Bother Developing Translation Software?

Computers today are thought to have reached the intelligence level of a mouse. Hum... I haven't seen that many mice dedicated to translation yet! However, scientists are expecting computers to get smarter and smarter every day. Even to the point that Sci-Fi movies and Isaac Asimov books might become a reality (if we don't greenhouse the world to death before that).

So, the only way for automatic translations to become better is to continue existing and to continue attracting users (and funds for development).

However, let's be honest about something. If you receive and email from a friend and you need help understanding its content, then a computerized translation is more than enough for you. It will certainly help you communicate and even have a little fun with the unexpected results.

Also, if you are browsing a website, usually choosing to translate it using Google or Babel Fish is enough to give you an idea of what you are looking at. And you have no idea how much help that is already! Can you imagine how many millions of people have access to information generated in different languages thanks to this free translation technology? These applications and services are truly building invisible bridges across cultures and languages... what else can you ask for?

And Why Would You Pay a Professional Translator?

Well, a professional translator is a person who (usually) speaks natively at least one of the languages you need to translate to or from. Also, this person is very fluent in the other language and not only understands the words, but also the meaning and cultural nuances of the text you need to translate.

If you have a business proposal for a customer... you want to use the services of a professional translator. If you are signing a contract in another country and do not speak the language, you really want to hire a professional translator, or why not... a professional translator who may be present during the negotiation to help both parties communicate fluently.

The author is an experienced translator and interpreter residing in Costa Rica http://www.spanish-english-translation-costa-rica.com/offshore-meeting-destination.html. She works independently with the help of other local professionals. She has been exposed to translation and interpretation projects for more than 12 years and has thoroughly been involved in every aspect of their organization and management. You can visit her information website at: http://www.spanish-english-translation-costa-rica.com/.

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How Good are Automatic Spanish Translation Tools

No matter what industry Spanish language translators translate work in, they all seem to have at least one thing in common: defending their profession against those who believe that automatic Spanish translation tools can replace professional translators.

This is one of the biggest myths that translators have to deal with on a daily basis and even though we are constantly trying to educate our clients and others about this misconception, it still seems that many people still believe it.

Those who don't understand what it takes for a professional translator to accurately translate a document often say that automatic Spanish translation tools like those you can find online at various search engine websites are better than ever and are all that someone needs when they need a translation.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I admit that these automatic Spanish translators are getting better and better, but they are nowhere near what they need to be to even remotely compare to work done by a professional translator.

Many times, these tools perform word-for-word translations and are unable to take into consideration any type of context needed to understand what the document is all about. To illustrate this, I've decided to take a sentence from a Spanish-language newspaper, plug it into a popular online automatic Spanish translation tool, and then show the result.

Here is the Spanish (it's from a Spanish language newspaper):

Repitiendo a gritos una y otra vez ´Alahu Akbar´ (Alá es grande) y otras proclamas más, en tono desafiante, mientras blandía un ejemplar del Corán, el depuesto presidente iraquí Saddam Hussein escuchó la sentencia que le condenó a morir en la horca.

...and here is the English translation:

Repeating to shouts time and time again ´Alahu Akbar´ (Alá is great) and other proclamations more, in challenging tone, while he brandished a unit of the Corán, the demoted Iraqian president Saddam Hussein listened to the sentence that condemned to him to die in the gift.

Even if you don't speak Spanish, it's easy to see that while you can get a gist of what the sentence is about, there are a few really glaring errors that don't remain faithful to the original version, when you need a translation that is truly correct and faithful to the original document, you will need the services of a professional translator.

So while we Spanish translators have our work cut out for us in terms of defending our profession against those who would whittle it down to using automatic Spanish translation tools, I say the results speak for themselves. Who would you rather trust?

Clint Tustison is a translator interested in helping other translators improve their businesses. His website, Spanish-translation-help.com is filled with information helpful to translators regarding the translation industry, and his free monthly newsletter, Translator Techniques, has tips and techniques for translators.

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Automatic Translation Vs Manual Translation

Translation can be defined as an act of interpretation of the meaning of a content and consequent re-production of equivalent content. The content or the text that is required to be translated is called "Source Text" and the language in which the source text is to be translated is known as "Target Text". In simple language, translation is also described as a communication written in second language having the identical meaning as written in a first language.

Today translation has turn out to be one of the key tools to have a better understanding of different cultures and in past couple of years has gained its recognition world-wide. However, looking at the present scenario translation service can be broadly categorized into two categories, namely:

Automatic Translation: Automatic or automated language translation is a process where any translation task is carried out by computer software. The most vital point to understand automatic translation is that by applying specific rules, the software initially analyze and then transmits the grammatical structure of the source text into the target language. Also known as machine translation, it is a process where the translation is produced by contemporary technology, without the interference of human translators.

Advantages of Automatic Translation: The main advantage of automated language translation in comparison to manual translation is that it is done by computer and therefore it works faster than a person and thus saves time while translating any large content. Moreover it is cheaper and reliable than manual translation. In addition to this you can also translate any web page content and inquiry of search engine by the use of machine translation systems. This is especially efficient when the language combination belong to the same family, like Spanish/ Portuguese, Spanish/ French, Spanish/ Italian.

Disadvantages of Automatic Translation: It is based on systematic rules and so sometimes it is unable to solve the uncertainty. It can not always produce perfect quality translations, but as a tool for having the gist or generating the primary draft of a translation, it can be very cost saving and beneficial. The most important point to consider in machine translation is if you run the translation task through machine translation system and reverse the translation process in order to re-translate the content back into the source language, this activity can increase the error rate and will make translations quite silly, though sometimes useful for getting the gist.

Manual Translation: As the name suggests, this is a translation process, where any translation task is carried out by human translators. In manual translation, the translations assignments are performed by translators and editors who are experienced enough to perform the translation task and convert the source text into target text.

Advantages of Manual Translation: The most vital advantage of manual translation is it maintains the confidentiality. In most of the cases people use translation service to translate their private emails or legal documents. Now in case of machine translation any minute file corruption or deletion can result in the wrong translation result. No one would agree to give or store his private correspondence in any computer, therefore maintaining the ethics of this profession, manual translation can be more trustworthy. Though the processing speed in machine translation can be high, but with manual translation the probability of improving syntax or grammatical errors is higher. Sometimes it can be more suitable to choose manual translation for certain tasks. For example, if a content that is required to be translated contains repetitions of same text, then it comes into special consideration, and with manual translation you can have better result.

Disadvantages of Manual Translation: Usually any professional translator is either specialized in one or few defined field and can perform translation task in his/her specialized field but with machine translation system you can translate any copy and any area. Apart from this if you want to translate special terminology, all you need to do is just switch on a corresponding setting. Finally in case of a professional translator, if he or she translates your source copy, you have to pay enough money for each page but very frequently we require only a rough idea of the content. In this case machine translation system is more consistent and effective for you.

On the face of it, all you need to do is decide what kind of translation you require depending upon the complexity of the source text and the time required to get the final result.

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Five Tips for Using Automatic Spanish Translation Tools

Automatic Spanish translation tools are all over the Internet these days and it's easy to see how many people get the false idea that these tools can currently or in the near future will replace professional translators.

Well, most people know that these free online Spanish translators are not ideal translators andien shouldn't be entrusted to translate important documents. However, there are times when these automatic Spanish translators can provide some value to you or your business, even as a translator.

Along these lines, here are five ways that you can take advantage of these free online automatic Spanish translators:

1) Translation practice

Translators always need to keep their skills in practice and one way to do that is to use free translators. You can have one of these translators translate an original document, and then translate that same document yourself and see what differences there are between the two.

2) Provide free service to website visitors

Some people will never understand that these free automatic Spanish translators are inferior to professional translation services. Regardless of this, you can still provide a free service to your website visitors by putting links to these tools on your website.

3) Get the gist

Sometimes the best thing that these automatic Spanish translation tools can do is provide a gist about what the document is about. While the quality of the translation is lacking, many times it is possible to get some understanding about the main points of the document.

4) Ideas on how to translate something

In the past, I have run across difficult passages in translations that I have been working on. One of the methods that I use to overcome these obstacles is to run the difficult part of the document through one of the free online Spanish translators. While I never use the translation that is provided by the translation tool, many times it does give me some additional ideas on how that passage could be translated.

5) Prove to clients that free tools are not as good as a professional translator

It is a never-ending battle for translators to educate their clients about the fact that translation is a difficult thing to do and that a professional translator cannot be replaced by on online tool. One of the ways for translators to do this is to provide translations from these online translators so that clients can see how they do on longer, more complicated documents.

These tips can turn something that translators see as a curse (automatic Spanish translation tools) into something that will help them in their translation businesses.

Clint Tustison is a translator interested in helping other translators improve their businesses. His website, Spanish-translation-help.com is filled with information helpful to translators regarding the translation industry, and his free monthly newsletter, Translator Techniques, has tips and techniques for translators.

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