Posted on November 29th, 2003 03:10 PM by admin

Before you make the decision to buy or use any kind of a software translation, please answer the following questions:

1) What are the main benefits in using a software translator or an on-line version?

2) How will it compare to a human translation?

3) What purpose do you plant to use any kind of translator?

First, lets distinguish the most determining factors, which can have an influence on your choice for using of any automatic translation, in case, you do not know a foreign language or if your knowledge of a foreign language is still quite poor:

a) it does not require any efforts from you for learning of a foreign language;

b) it gives you the possibility to be independent to pass or to get the information that you need;

c) it is inexpensive;

d) it is convenient;

e) and above all, it is fast!

But, are you really in hurry?..

Of course, it seems pretty attractive to overcome issues with the foreign language barrier using the quick machine translator,

but, what is the language, then?..

When we are trying in every day’s conversation, at home, on the street, at the office, to express our mood or emotions, putting all this into words we suddenly snatch out of our memory, we tend to apply the established rules of a grammar of language, which we learned in school. But how often, however, we were breaking these rules?..

And how often, speaking with our buddies, co-workers or family members, using various slang types for it, we “were finding out”, that the vocabulary we possessed before some concrete moment, turned out incomplete?..

And even then when we’re speaking with people whom our native language is also the native one, we remain always understandable by them? Or so understandable as we wanted to be?..

Sometimes in some uncomfortable situations of a verbal dialog we could get out with a lovely smile or defend ourselves by our fiery gaze. But this is in person.

In writing's dialog with foreigner we hardly can use our mimic or gesture. All what we have - are our words.

But our native language as any foreign as well, includes not only vocabulary, rules of grammar and orthography, but much, much more.

The language of a nation was developed by way of thinking in this nation.

And way of thinking of a nation is developing, taking into account the traditions of life and surviving of this nation, by hundreds and thousands of years.

It is impossible to put the way of thinking of a nation into a machine. And namely that is the main distinction between machine and human translation.

The memory of a human translator includes feelings and the knowledge of a human translator includes a way with words.

Try to replace any word any saying in your native language, you will get a different sense; the wise thought becomes silly, the amusing joke becomes offensive.

One wrong replaced word changes the sense of saying and one wrong replaced word can change all your life! Therefore the human translator translates not a word, but a thought, idea, intention.

That to understand how will sound for a native speaker the translation made by the machine, try to do a reverse translation and you will get a result.

It does not mean though, that the software translator cannot be useful, it does mean, that the machine translator cannot replace the human one.

The software translator was built to help the profession, but not to replace it.

So, if you need to understand the main content for some pages of a foreign website or some reusable mere verbiage, if you want to send a few instant messages to your well familiar foreign friends or to chat with your pen pals online the software translator it is your better way. It is a fine means for everyday written communication, for translating of separate words, simple phrases and short sentences, in case the people you are in correspondence with use the same way or are agree you use it.

But, if you really want to have a perfect or even decent quality of translation; if you really want your writing to express respectfulness to the recipient, if you are not sure the software will really be helpful for you, do not hurry to use the machine.

If you really do want to be best, do not hurry to be fast.

Viktoria

Courtesy of: Russian Women Guide

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