Language translation software: Words for words
Connecting state and local government leaders
Who hasn't made a silly mistake while fumbling for a word in a foreign language?
J.B. Miles
Makers of language translation software offer examples on their Web sites of how their programs work. Clockwise from top left, Babylon Ltd.'s Babylon-Pro, Etaco Inc's Dictionary Pack for Pocket PCs, Qvadis Corp.'s Lexica for Palm OS devices, and Softissimo's Reverso Pro.
Looking it up
But if you keep your sentence simple, with the emphasis on key words like food and restaurant, you'll probably get where you want to go with a minimum of handwaving and without offending anybody. Even without being 'embarazado.'
The first rule of successfully using a language translator is to keep it simple. Your original text should be simple and clear. Avoid ambiguity. Keep your sentences short.
Next, make sure your grammar and spelling is correct. Translation software analyzes, but doesn't understand, the structure of a sentence the way you do, so you can come up with some amazing and silly translations if your grammar is off.
Avoid typos, and respect punctuation. If you are translating from, say, French to English, make sure you use the correct accent marks.
If the information you are concerned with is very important and you are unsure of the translation provided by your software program, look for a live human being to check the results. Ultimately, only a human brain can successfully deal with all the nuances and subtleties of language. For critical tasks, consider a high-end customizable product with online connections to human translators for fine-tuning documents, or even a higher-end version of the personal software you are using. Babylon Ltd. makes a client-server version called Babylon-Corporate that is much more ambitious in scope that its personal version, Babylon-Pro.
LogoMedia Corp.'s Translate Express is a highly useful but scaled-down version of Translate, which provides very large volume translations and a gateway to the company's online translation services. Systran Personal 2.0 is the personal version of Systran's higher-end Professional Standard, Premium and Enterprise translation products.
If you are a researcher seeking translations of entire Web sites written in foreign languages, an inexpensive product such as QuickWiz Technologies Corp.'s Easy-lingo might work, but Softissimo's more expensive high-end Reverso Pro 5.0 certainly will. Some products such as UnionWay International's AsianSuite X2 actually enable the creation of multilingual e-business Web sites, but this type of software generally goes beyond the scope of the products listed here.
Some products such as Systran Personal 2.0 and Translation Experts' PalmTran 2.0 provide instant translations of e-mail messages; a very useful feature in today's global economy, and a few, such as AsiaTech Inc.'s Dr. Eye Translation EC Win 1.0, also include voice input. If you engage in international commerce or just want to know how much your meal in Rome really costs, look for a package with a currency exchange rate calculator.
J.B. Miles of Pahoa, Hawaii, writes about communications and computers. E-mail him at jbmiles@hilobay.com.