Digital Marketing

Why Machine Translators Shouldn’t Be 100 Percent

Online automatic translators translate word for word most of the time. And if you’ve ever taken a language course, you know that sentence structure differs from language to language, hence word-for-word translations are rarely correct. Although they can correctly translate “green apple” to “green apple”, they fall short if the translations get a bit more complicated. Take a look at this Spanish to English translation of a segment of a children’s story:

Originally written in Spanish:

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Natalie. She was only three years old, and everyone who saw her fell in love with her. One day her caring mother took her shopping to buy her new pajamas. However, while they were in the store, Natalie saw her true love, a doll! She didn’t let her mother buy her new pajamas, saying she already had some at her grandmother’s house.

Automatic translation into English:

Once upon a time there was a very little girl named Natalie. She was only three years old, and everyone saw it, fell in love with her. One day, his mother lovingly took him shopping to buy him new pajamas. However, while they were in the store, Natalie saw her true love, a doll! She didn’t let her mother buy her new pajamas, saying she already had them at her grandmother’s house.

Human translation into English:

Once upon a time there was a girl named Natalie. She was only three years old and everyone who saw her fell in love with her. One day her loving mother took her shopping for a new pair of pajamas. However, while in the store, Natalie saw her true love, a doll! She refused to let her mother buy her new pajamas, stating that she already had pajamas on her Mimi.

Therefore, you can see from the translation of this children’s story that the automatic translator bombarded his task as a good translator. I must add that I used one of the most popular and widely used online machine translators. I won’t say which one because I don’t want to ruin anyone’s business, but this one is on the first page of Google when I search for a translator online. So, in other words, it’s really “trustworthy”.

You may be thinking that automatic translators work better from English to another language and not the other way around. Let’s look at an example of a business email originally written in English and translated into Spanish with a popular online automatic translator.

Originally written in English:

Dear Mr. White,

I am emailing you about your daughter’s grade in her Spanish class. You have consistently scored poorly on all your assignments and tests. I recommend that you stay after school for at least an hour, three days a week to meet with a Spanish tutor. I feel this is necessary for her to have the opportunity to pass this course.

Kind regards,

Amilia granaries

Vice Principle at Jordan High

Automatic translation into Spanish:

Dear Mr. White,

I am emailing concerning your daughter’s grade in her Spanish class. She has consistently scored low in all her preparations and tests. I recommend that she stay after school for at least one hour three days a week to meet with a Spanish tutor. I feel this is necessary for her to have a chance in passing this course.

Regards,

Amilia granaries

Vice Principle in Jordan High School

Human translation into Spanish:

Dear Mr. White,

He sent an email regarding his daughter’s grade in her Spanish class. She has consistently scored low marks on all assignments and tests. I recommend that she stay after school for at least an hour, very days a week to meet with a private Spanish teacher. I think it is necessary for her to have a chance to pass this course.

Sincerely,

Amilia’s barn

Assistant Principal, Jordan High School

If you are using an automatic translator for school or business, you really should reconsider. Using an automatic translator can negatively affect your rating and your income! If you are trying to communicate with foreign clients using an automatic translator, maybe now you know why they did not respond or were confused as usual.