WebWord.com


If you want to know when new content is added to the site,
subscribe to the WebWord.com Usability Newsletter!

WebWord Weblog Posting

Posting Date: May 12, 2002
 

Lost in Translation -- "As of April 2002, translation software is almost good enough to turn grammatically correct, slang-free text from one language into grammatically incorrect, barely readable approximations in another. But the software is not equipped for 10 consecutive translations of the same piece of text. The resulting half-English, half-foreign, and totally non sequitur response bears almost no resemblance to the original."

 

  

Reader Comments...
 

"Webword Usability Computing" becomes "Analysis of the use of the cost of webword". Not quite right...

I always thought that the point of these translation utilities was to amuse yourself on a dull Friday afternoon. No-one takes them seriously, do they?

Posted by: on May 13, 2002 05:56 AM

 

I use these services when I receive a foreign language e-mail.

The author's example is dubious at best. Stand 10 human translators in a line and send a message through the line. I bet what comes out the other end is as screwy as any computer translation.

Posted by: on May 13, 2002 11:55 AM

 

Home | Moving WebWord | Cool Books | Hot Web Sites
Newsletter Archive | Services | Interviews | About WebWord.com

Subscribe to Webword.com
Receive the best free usability newsletter on the Internet.

 


URL: http://webword.com/weblog/

©1998-2005 by WebWord.com. All rights reserved.
Do not reproduce or redistribute any material from this document,
in whole or in part, without explicit written permission from WebWord.com.