Google has long had the ability to translate web pages, though the service was often unpredictable and with shaky results. But for a good translation of either a web page or a document, software-based translating services are just not up to par — at least not yet. To bridge this gap, Google is launching the Google Translation Center, a new service designed to combine software translation with real human translators.
The Translation Center is live in beta mode, and allows users to upload a document in any of a variety of formats and choose the language to be translated to. But uniquely, users can also request that a human translator work on the document, which, of course, has the potential to produce a much more accurate translation of the source material.
The problem with translating software is that, no matter how good it may be, the software can not interpret the spirit of the sentiment being expressed. For example, software can not distinguished between sarcasm and an earnest comment. Also, software translators are notoriously bad at translating common colloquial sayings and phrases. The English saying, “That’s just the way it goes,” is a good example of this. Software translator’s usually attempt to translate the saying literally, instead of translating the intended meaning of the phrase.
Google hopes that the new Translation Center will do away with these kinds of misunderstandings. The center can accommodate volunteer and professional translators, and allows them to use automatic translation software tools and online language dictionaries to make the job even easier.
The idea is that the software translator could produce a rough first draft of the translation, before an actual human translator comes in to clean up and edit the final draft. Combining the software tools with a human translator can help speed up the entire process, and produce high-quality “readable” translations of the source material.
Google has set up the Translation Center as a type of marketplace to match up those needing documents translated with qualified translators. The current system supports both paid and volunteer translations. Google will also keep a record of all translations with its new global translation memory. This will make it possible to improve its translating tools by taking note of where human translators made corrections on the software first draft of a translation.
The uses for the Google Translation Center are many. Webmasters, for example, could use the service to create high quality translations of web site pages and other content. Governments and nonprofit organizations could also benefit from having an actual human translator work on their projects, and negotiate a reasonable cost for the work.
With the web becoming increasingly a global phenomenon, Google is once again staying ahead of the curve by making quality translations simple and affordable.
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What I’ve been predicting might happen for a couple of years now. Would be a good thing to standardise and streamline the translator selection process and cut out the intermediary. Would also be a good thing for reducing the language divide and for the semi-automation of a very unergonomic practice (sitting at a PC looking up dictionaries). But all that power in a monopoly?…
http://www.italiantranslator.org.uk - italian translator
Comment by Simon Sobrero — August 8, 2008 @ 3:46 am