Translation software...does it really work?

[_D_]

Started using Google Translate and ITranslate software recently. Interesting stuff. Some of it works depending on the language used, some of it doesn't work at all. Spoken is difficult. I've tried Japanese and Chinese spoken with both and neither works. Written is a different story. I was successfully able to get decent translations of text from Japanese and Chinese magazines though some phrases were still untranslatable. Slang is mostly untranslatable, as was women speaking in Hiragana. I was even able to pick up translations from off the TV screen! But some fonts don't work and the tablets at least had a hard time with any fonts in deep reds. But regular printed text was easy. Any other software I should be looking at?

[greg]

I can't imagine audio translations to be reliable whatsoever. Watch anything on Youtube in English and turn on the captions. It's hilarious, and you aren't even dealing with any foreign languages.

As for written language, translating from Japanese to English can be pretty hilarious. However, going from English to Japanese isn't too bad. This is because English is a very specific language, and Japanese is vague.

[davemerrill]

I'll do Japanese to English sometimes with Google Translate when researching something for an article. It's better than nothing, I'll give it that, but how much better than nothing can vary widely.

[SteveH]

I'll do Japanese to English sometimes with Google Translate when researching something for an article. It's better than nothing, I'll give it that, but how much better than nothing can vary widely.

I think, for best effect, one should have SOME understanding of Japanese in order to make up for things like translating names into bizarre phrases, or taking (what should be easy) Katakana and REALLY screwing it up.

Zero Loyal Retainer. That's my standard mechanical translation punchline.