I was interested in a story when I hit a roadblock. My German is not quite up to speed, as in.... non-existent.
The words this person wrote seemed interesting and pertaining to the article, however, each time I encounter this I need to copy and paste in translate.google to see what was being said.
Considering the purpose of a Decentralized Social Platform is to have people from many regions of the world participating, I figured it would be good to have items be translated based on our personal preferences. I, for example, would choose English in my settings page.
From there, anytime I stumbled upon the below, SteemLate (Steem + Translate), would kindly provide me the words in English. If I chose Spanish, then it translate the target words into Spanish for me etc.
Here you can see an example. Elyaque is writing in English, therefore no translation is needed since I have set my default language to English. However, achim86's message has been translated on top to English for me, while his/her original text still shows below.
Finally, you will see that SteemLated made it known to me in the circle that their comment was translated on my behalf from German to English.
Thoughts?
Top Image Credit: http: //www.cartassist.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/translate.png
I oppose all forms of computer generated translations. Even the best fail to translate context and feeling.
It can only directly translate words and simple sentences perfectly. Once you get into well written post with paragraphs and idioms and phrases and verbal phrases , not to mention slang and gibberish.
Computer translators have come a long way but anyone who can read and understand more than one language will tell u those apps do articles no justice and can leave readers with the wrong impression.
Just my thoughts since u use them often.
I agree with you solarguy for the most part.
I feel that if the person reading the translation understands the points you brought up that then they can assist in moving an article/story along... that one can learn something or be provided new information.
However, if the subject matter is emotional to the reader and they take things to literally and it happens to be a poor translation, then yes, context and feelings are misrepresented poorly.
I believe that an option to disable SteemLate could assist in those who hold your reservations?
hang on i need to look up what SteemLate is
Oh, it's simply an idea right now. I posted it to see if someone with capabilities or know how on how to create it would want to.
oddly i cant reply on your reply to my reply. maybe its a steemit thing.
my speaking chinese is ok. reading is so so, i can type it better than write it. but i get help with my posts.
good luck with translator app. best of the best would be the best.
i figured it out. lol. The coffee kicked in.
Well yea, to get the basic meaning.
On that idea though still. When I go to Steemit page in another language Chrome asks if i want it translated. I always say no so it slipped my mind.
BING translator does chinese/english better than google but its still not great. Google is pretty good french, italian, spanish the the ones from greek and roman.
I used to use babblefish way back in the day before google started a service. If you know a good one share it. Its not a bad idea. Just worry i will miss the point due to an idiom.
For example in English we say "time flies" we know that means time seems to be moving faster than it really is. If i directly translate this to Chinese with an app they will probably not (and i know from experience i live here) understand the meaning. They know time, they know fly but... well you get it.
In Chinese they like to say "Jia You" which means "have oil" it really means Hurray or Come On or Do Your best. Its encouragement during a game or activity the crowd will yell.
That's really my issue with translator apps.
Anyways this gives me an idea for a post. ^^
Odd, I can't reply to your secondary post
So... I take it you speak both Chinese & English, Steemit is predominately in English and if you go to it in Chinese it will ask if you want it translated to Chinese, but will it translate a random comment that was in German let's say to Chinese?
I think I need you to pass that coffee my way bud :)
You are quite correct in your idioms. Heck, even in the screen shot I posted the German to English translation via translate.google.com didn't 100% translate into a grammatically correct English sentence.
In this case in particular however, given the surrounding context, I feel that I was able to accurately understand the poster's comment.
Damn, now you have given me an idea. I wonder if there was someway you could take the translations of the best 5 translators out there, like the ones you mentioned, have them all translate the same thing, and then have some sort of algorithm to merge those five together when an inaccuracy is found to have better shot of getting the translation correct....
Jia You to your next post, I will look for it!