Shoutbox

quote:

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Originally posted by saralk
There are no automated translation services that are reliable enough for you to (for example) write a letter in Lanuage A, and then get it translated into proper Language B to send to a native Language B Speaker.

However, most translation sites are used by people who (for example) receive a letter in Language B, and want to read it, so translate it into Language A.

The translations are usually nowhere near gramatically correct, and a lot of the time read in the wrong word order. However, with a bit of ingenuity, you are able to understand what they are saying.
The reason they are like that is because they just translate it word for word, even though all languages have different word orders (e.g. voulez vous in French, and do you want in English), some also have words where others don't (see previous example). French, for example, has a different verb form when talking to someone politely, wheras English doesn't, a computer can't pick this up. And sometimes words just aren't in the computer's dictionary.

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thats what i meant. and then you get those dodgy google translations