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How accurate are the google translators


TheOmniWarrior

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<p>Google translations can be inconsistant. </p><p> </p><p>

For example, this one diary I read had a Russian Character, and the author used Google Translator to have him speak in Russian. He translated "Impact" to Russian, then translated said Russian word back into English, and it came out "Influence".. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p>

Works for what I use it for, though.</p>

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<p>No online translator is going to be completely accurate. Those translations lack context, they make no room for euphemism (or "you know what I mean" types of communication), and they conjugate in a very binary manner. There are many words that don't have direct comparatives across languages and simple translators break down on those.</p><p> </p><p>

My advice is, get a friend who speaks the language to do it for you.</p>

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Don't use it for French. Just... don't. Not conversational French anyway. It's brilliant for finding out what foreign words and sentances mean in English, but using it the other way for more than a few words won't hold up to scrutiny at all by someone who speaks the language.

 


However, for worker names, event names and suchlike, it's generally pretty good.

 


As for your 'impact' and 'influence' example, they're fairly similar words in meaning. To impact something is to influence it. Not every language has a direct translation for every English word, and many English words have a variety of meanings depending on context (and some words where the popular usage of them isn't even correct), which in foreign languages may well have their own word.

 


Used, is a good example. It can either mean something which has been spent (a used tampon), something which is second hand (a used car) or the way things were previous to now ('he used to be so nice...'). No other language would put up with that kind of bull****. :p

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<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="D-Lyrium" data-cite="D-Lyrium" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="27245" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><strong>Don't use it for French. Just... don't</strong>. Not conversational French anyway. It's brilliant for finding out what foreign words and sentances mean in English, but using it the other way for more than a few words won't hold up to scrutiny at all by someone who speaks the language.<p> </p><p> However, for worker names, event names and suchlike, it's generally pretty good.</p><p> </p><p> As for your 'impact' and 'influence' example, they're fairly similar words in meaning. To impact something is to influence it. Not every language has a direct translation for every English word, and many English words have a variety of meanings depending on context (and some words where the popular usage of them isn't even correct), which in foreign languages may well have their own word.</p><p> </p><p> Used, is a good example. It can either mean something which has been spent (a used tampon), something which is second hand (a used car) or the way things were previous to now ('he used to be so nice...'). No other language would put up with that kind of bull****. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Not even for French coursework <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>
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<p>Google's doing reasonably well. However, translating in general, for a machine, is hard.</p><p> </p><p>

Like Remi said, the only way to do it really right is to have a person translate it. When I was playing around with GCG, I didn't do this (The only person I know who speaks Japanese any better than I do is my girlfriend's sister, who I'm not gonna ask).</p><p> </p><p>

That said, in the case of japanese, you do have a wealth of phrases you can use, thanks to ANIME. The suggestion that there's no anime that uses the word "executioner" for an attack name or something is laughable.</p>

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No online translator is going to be completely accurate. Those translations lack context, they make no room for euphemism (or "you know what I mean" types of communication), and they conjugate in a very binary manner. There are many words that don't have direct comparatives across languages and simple translators break down on those.

 

My advice is, get a friend who speaks the language to do it for you.

 

Bolded for truth. Online translators will never be perfect, or close to it. But if it's just for a diary, how perfect do you really need? If none of your readers speak the language, it'll work just fine, and if they do...maybe you can get better translations from them.

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That's ALMOST perfect; it's Tentacle Schoolgirl Rape. Japanese word order is funny.

 

EDIT: By the way. Your so-called translation of New Age Killers is just the japanese spelling of the english words, "New Age Killers." Just throwing that out there.

 

(An example of what I'm referring to with having things translated for you; In One Piece, one of the characters has an attack called "Lion's Song." Seemed like a good name for a GCG tour, considering their logo. So I took that translation, and IMO it worked out great. But then again, game only lasted a month or two until I started moving on to other stuff. So how good CAN it go?)

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