Tips for using a translator

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MadMikael
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Tips for using a translator

Post by MadMikael »

I've been meaning to write a guide; it will come, but for now, here are some quick tips:

1. Avoid words that have multiple meanings - be specific
Ex. use game error instead of game bug, as you don't want to talk about insects!

2. Use short sentences that are to the point
Translators tend to change words around to fit the meaning of the sentence... and sometimes, with hilarious results. Not all languages structure sentences the same way, so sometimes, the guessing of the program gets out of hand. Short sentences don't get misunderstood so much.

3. Be aware of the fact translators are not perfect
Some languages are so different that the guess work is extensive. For a language like Chinese that a symbol can have many meanings, translating to English does involve some deduction skill. I like to think of them as word puzzles myself. But you should know, some similar languages do get mixed up in auto detection (Spanish vs. Portuguese, Russian vs. Ukrainian), and if you're not careful you'll get the wrong one. Also, some languages barely work at all... a fine example would be Turkish to English. The translator does not help much here.

4. Test and debug it
This trick is good. When you're done typing your message (in my case, in the English side), hit the "swap languages" button. What you're doing here is, translating the result back to the first language. Here you will get an idea of what your translation could sound like to the receiver... and you'll notice right away where the wrong guesses are. By translating back and forth, you can make small edits here and there, to try and get the specific meaning you're looking for. Here it is most obvious what words and terms you should avoid. With practice, you'll not use them so much.

A note: when swapping languages back and forth a few times, you really should read what you wrote from start to finish again. Sometimes, the translator will change words as you do this - it will change to synonyms and similar words, and can alter the actual meaning from your first translation. When facing difficulty of this sort, try and find a word that has the specific meaning you are looking for, or a meaning similar to it, and use that one in it's place.
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NightBaby
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Re: Tips for using a translator

Post by NightBaby »

This reminds me of a translation fail I saw once. :lol: :lol:
One year in school we had to "make up" the days that were cancelled due to bad weather (snow) and on the school's web page they had it written in English and Spanish...
Instead of "make up" like to compensate, they translated make-up, like what you use on your face... I think the Spanish speaking families were super confused when they saw it :lol:

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make up for (something unwelcome or unpleasant) by exerting an opposite force or effect.
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MadMikael
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Re: Tips for using a translator

Post by MadMikael »

added in a note, and made the post a sticky (so it doesn't get lost)

Now, I'm keeping this post public for now, in case anyone else would like to add to it some tips/tricks

It is my eventual hope that the first post will make it to somewhere like General Information or something
..maybe, even be translated to other languages ;)
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Tarlin
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Re: Tips for using a translator

Post by Tarlin »

Also remember that Google translate does not always differentiate between different dialects of the same language. A good example of this arabic or most native African languages. Some of these languages can be highly tribal and so will be interpreted very differently to some people.

Best work around I have found to this is to ask a person what dialect they are using. Generally by using rule "4", test and debug, you can see if there may be a dialect issue. When every time you swap the language, from English to the other language and back, and the full context of the language is changed there is probably a dialectical breakdown in the translation.

A strong example of this is Arabic which has 6 primary dialects, but they are all arabic. You have Egyptian, Yemeni, Iraqi, Gulf, Moroccan and Levantine. All of these languages are translated through Arabic but are completely different. The Google translate uses a system called MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) which is like use GSE (Globally Standardized English). However, not all Arabs speak MSA. Asking a person what dialect they speak allows you to specifically translate where they understand.

Hope this adds a little clarification.

More information, if interested, can be read about in this downloadable PDF about MSA: (if there is an issue with posting this link please edit and remove. It is a research paper on the topic)
: Show
(edit: in fact no external links are allowed. Please specify authors and title of the paper, so that interested ones can search for it)
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