Options for translation tools

Just in case you are dealing with hosts or guests that speak a different language, or you need to send documents that are written in a different language from the guest’s or host’s native language, or you need to be able understand a note or document sent to you, consider using an online translation tool such as the following.

Originally it was Altavista’s Babel Fish

You can find this tool at http://www.babelfish.com/. One of the very first online translation tools, it still enjoys a loyal following. Just go to the website, select the language you are translating from and to, and then enter the text to be translated.

The translation is quite good, but it translates each word literally, with no meaning to sentence structure or grammar. When someone receives your translated document, it will probably sound like a 3 year old had written it. This is why the rise and fall of Altavista’s Babel Fish has made this option rather outdated.

These days Google Translate works well.

This Google tool is just as easy to use as Babel Fish. In the left box, you paste the text you want translated. Often, Google Translate auto-detects the language and displays it in the selection tool. If you need to change it, just use the dropdown menu. Then you select the target language on the right, and the text translates. While Google Translate might provide slightly better results than Babel Fish, you still have to remember that it is a computer doing the translation (literally in most cases) and not a human. So it is good for getting a general idea of what the text is about but will never be grammatically perfect. After using the tool, you might be able to paste a text section or instructions into an email and give the guest or host that speaks a different language an idea of what you are trying to say. Of course, it is a good idea to send the text in both languages.

The languages of the world at your fingertips!

Spanish example of the above paragraph:

Esta herramienta de Google es tan fácil de usar como Babel Fish. En el cuadro de la izquierda, se pega el texto que desea traducir. A menudo, Google Translate detecta automáticamente el idioma y lo muestra en la herramienta de selección. Si necesita cambiarlo, sólo tiene que utilizar el menú desplegable. Luego de seleccionar el idioma de destino a la derecha, y el texto traduce. Mientras Google Translate podría proporcionar resultados ligeramente mejores que Babel Fish, usted todavía tiene que recordar que es un equipo que hace la traducción (literalmente en la mayoría de los casos) y no un ser humano. Así que es bueno para obtener una idea general de lo que trata el texto, pero nunca va a ser gramaticalmente perfecto. Después de utilizar la herramienta, es posible que pueda pegar una sección de texto o las instrucciones en un correo electrónico y darle al huésped o anfitrión que habla un idioma diferente una idea de lo que está tratando de decir. Por supuesto, es una buena idea enviar el texto en ambos idiomas.