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As many translators inquire about online translation websites and for the general benefit, will you please tell your own experience, elaborating on the credibility of the sites you know?

As many translators inquire about online translation websites and for the general benefit...will you please tell your own experience, elaborating on the credibility of  the sites you know?

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Question added by Hamza M Babiker , Senior Translator, editor, content writer and media specialist , Freelancer
Date Posted: 2016/04/26
mohamad danach
by mohamad danach , Freelance Translator , Freelance Translation - Mohammad Danach

As a translator, It is rare to use the online translation websites. I prefer the dictionaries. Thus, I have on my smart phone an application named: "English Dictionary". It is not online and doesn't need internet, but it helps me so much. I have even other similar applications but in French and Spanish that I use so much too.

Sometimes, when I am impressed by the time, I use the google translate. Despite its unreliable given translations and repeated silly errors, it gives me a lot of suggestions so I can choose the word that fits the sentence or the context. I don't trust completely Google, but it helps me so much when I am impressed by the time. 

Ghada Eweda
by Ghada Eweda , Registered student MBA-marketing , AOU

Actually, There are pros and cons to using free translation online, which usually come in the form of a variety of familiar services (GoogleBableFish, etc.). The two most obvious pros, of course, are the fact that these services are free and readily available online. If you’re thinking about using a free online translation service, you really need to consider just how deep and exact your translation needs to be.

From my view, simple words and phrases, and even basic paragraphs and more complicated vocabulary, can be translated  with free translation online with relative ease. The trouble comes when meaning is subtler, or the content and context are more complex. Perhaps someday computer algorithms will be able to map out every single multifaceted and intuitive form of communication known to human beings. But until then, if you have an artistic, sophisticated, or politically sensitive text to translate, a free translation online service might not be your best bet. But if the minutia of language, understated differences in tone and meaning, and exacting content are what you’re after, you should probably go with a knowledgeable human translator instead of an online service. If, on the other hand, you’re simply after some words, phrases, or basic meaning, then free translation online could work for you. Although, Free translation online often beats thumbing through a dictionary. All you have to do is plug in a word in your native tongue, and then “poof,” you’re given the online translation instantly. This can save you a lot of time and frustration.

 

For me personally I prefer using oxford dictionary for translation, but at the end of the day, free translation online is just another tool  for me in addition to the toolkit of translation and communication novices and professionals. However for you much you choose to rely upon it depends on your particular translation needs.

I apologize for the answer, I leave the answer to experts specialists in this field that's not my specialty field

مها شرف
by مها شرف , معلمة لغة عربية , وزارة التربية السورية

I agree with experts answers, thanks for the invitation. ..

Mustafa Mohammad Abu Al-Ragheb
by Mustafa Mohammad Abu Al-Ragheb , Freelancer , Freelance for work

thank you for your confidence in my abilities , as a translator i do not try to use any of the online translation sites ,  thus i do sometimes use www.almaany.com for obtaining the exact meaning of the term or the phrase i need to translate alongside with my own bank of vocabulary , i dont believe as a translator you should relay on these sites 

Amir Ageeb
by Amir Ageeb , Content Senior Specialist , Elm Company

Thanks for the question,

Actually, dear Hamza, this is a big issue. Many translation websites are there, providing auto-generated versions of translation based on Algorithms. Some such websites are working better and providing good services; others still need work on them.

My experience has been with Google mainly. When Google translation machine was first introduced, the type of translation is not that so good! Translation provided was, sometimes, funny! As a machine, Google could not differentiate between a male person and a tree, when talking about pronouns for instance. Anyhow nowadays Google is working fine and developments are on-going every now and then. And as a translator, I partake like other translators in developing Google translation work by providing and suggesting better translations for many texts.

I can say the credibility of such translation machines and tools is generally moving possitve every day!

Anyhow, and finally, my opinion remains that the human translator is the dominant. No machine translator can produce a perfect translation, yet it can produce a draft - sometimes fine - as with Google; then a translator can take the lead and work on it to produce a final refined copy.

Khalid Hassan Mohammed Ibrahim
by Khalid Hassan Mohammed Ibrahim , Bilingual interpreter , Brunel Oil and Gas Services W.L.L

AS FAR AS I KNOW TRANSLATION IN ITS BROADER MEANING REFERS TO CONVERTING THE MEANING OF THE SOURCE LANGUAGE TO THE INTENDED TARGET LANGUAGE BEARING IN MIND THE CULTURAL AND CONGNITIVE BACKGROUNDS OF THE TARGET LANGUAGE AND UNFORTUNATELY THE APPLICATION OF MACHINE TRANSLATION WHATEVER IT IS OR CITING WEBSITES MODES OF TRANSLATION WILL CONSEQUENTLY LEAD TO CATASTROPHIC RESULTS AND EVERY TEXT YOU TRANSLATE WILL NEVER BE UNDERSTOOD OR THE TEXT BEING DISTORTED! HOWEVER, PURSUING CONGNITIVE TRANSLATION IS THE ONLY SOLUTION SINCE THIS COMPETENT OR COGNITIVE KNOWLEDGE IS DEFINITELY DRAWN FROM YOUR READINGS AND PRACTISING.

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