THE DANGERS OF GOOGLE TRANSLATE.

Sep 9, 2014 | Blog, SEO

Google translate. Why should I hire a translator when I can get Google Translate to do it for free? Sadly, this is not an uncommon question.  A few self-explanatory images available on the web would suffice to answer, but here is a more technical explanation of the dangers of using Google Translate. Google Translate is not 100% accurate. Google Translate will look for appropriate translations by searching for linguistic patterns within millions of documents already translated by human translators. However, if it has insufficient data, it can only guess based on what it does have, which can often be misleading or simply wrong. Google Translate produces unnatural translations. Even when it manages to produce grammatical sentences, they often are too literal and, as a consequence, sound awkward or funny to a native speaker of the target language. Google Translate doesn’t offer a quality check on its translations. As a result, users have no means to know whether the translation in the target language is good or not and they end up presenting weird translations to the public like the ones in the pictures above. These may manage to get a smile out of us, but the consequences of mistranslation can sometimes be quite serious. Let’s take the translation of food packaging as an example. If the translation of the ingredients on a package is not 100% accurate, it can cause severe problems for people with allergies or restrictive diets. In conclusion, language is just too complex for machines to understand all the grammar, context and nuances; Google Translate could never replace the work of a professional human translator.  ...

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MACHINE TRANSLATION

Sep 5, 2014 | Blog, SEO

Machine translation. Machine translation (MT) is automatic translation through a software program without human assistance. It has recently been at the center of controversies regarding reliability and quality, but few people know that there are actually different types of machine translation: statistical, rule-based, and hybrid. Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) SMT uses statistical models derived from the analysis of bilingual text corpora, usually finding a correspondence between one word and another. This is, for example, what Google Translate does. SMT tools might help you to understand the basic meaning of a text, but they will not produce good quality translation. Rule-based Machine Translation (RBMT) RBMT, as indicated by its name, is based on grammar rules. The system generates sentences in a target language after analyzing grammatically both the source and the target languages involved. This is, for example, what Systran does. These software programs usually require tedious proofreading, and as they need a lot of lexicons, they only become efficient after long term use. Hybrid Machine Translation Hybrid MT is a mix of SMT and RBMT that also includes a translation memory and thus produces translations of a better quality. This tool can be used by translators to avoid translating the exact same sentence twice. However, linguists still doubt that this tool can help achieve higher quality translations or gain time because of the long editing part. This is why translation needs are still addressed by translators. If you need a translation, call LingoStar today or send us an email for a free quote! Here we have qualified translators from all over the world able to work on any kind...

LANGUAGE DILUTION

Aug 14, 2014 | Promotions, SEO

Language dilution. Language dilution can be defined by using a word with a strong meaning to express a much less strong idea. For example, one can use the word ‘literally’ even when something is not literally true, just to emphasize it. It happens because people use the words ‘awesome’, ‘wonderful’ and ‘amazing’ even when they do not really mean them. They do so because they want to make their statements as effective as possible without using too much effort. Doing so, people waste the meaning of words, which are one of our most precious resources. If you use ‘literally’ when you don’t mean ‘literally’, you are not only adding a useless word to your sentence, you are also devaluing the word, so that when it is to be used in its proper meaning, it no longer means anything. We only have one word for ‘literally’, and if ‘literally’ no longer means ‘literally’ then we’ve lost a word. On the other hand, words take on connotations with passing time and according to the social group using them. It has become acceptable to use the word ‘awesome’ to describe a cake, because everyone does it. In this case, ‘awesome’ does not mean ‘inspiring awe’ anymore. Language Dilution also makes people more creative when they do intend to say that something is awe inspiring, because we all know that nowadays, ‘awesome’ means ‘quite good’. If you need translation services without language dilution, call LingoStar today or send us an email for a free quote! Here we have qualified translators from all over the world able to work on any kind of...

Is Your Online Video Translation SEO-Friendly?

Jun 12, 2014 | Blog, Language Services, SEO, Tips, Translation

Everyone is concerned about search engine optimization today. Whether based on Main Street or in foreign capitals near and far, businesses and organizations value their page ranking immensely. Every company would prefer to be found on page one of a Google search and not buried ten pages deep where few searchers take the time to reach. Therefore, companies that want to maintain their ranking or climb to that number one spot must regard SEO seriously. While the placement of video content on a website is a great way to diversify content, and most likely the best way of interacting with your potential audience, that video might not be working as hard as it can if its translation isn’t prepared with SEO in mind. Just like text-based content, your online video translation can benefit from SEO where it can better support the website ranking. Many companies wish to have their video content translated for use in international marketplaces. The most professionally wrought translations, of course, can be obtained by working with professional translation solutions providers. Not only can you expect accurate translations, you’ll benefit from their SEO know-how. The fact is if you are going to have your video content translated, you may as well make sure the translation is SEO -friendly in order to better enhance your online presence. Whether it is voice-over translation or use of multilingual subtitles, your online video translation will support your website when that translation is made with SEO in mind. Because search engines like Google will index the video translation, this translated text can influence page rank. With more traffic to your website...