Should You Use Google Translate For Your Business?
Here’s the truth, people: Google Translate just does not work…
It may be tempting as a small business owner to turn to Google Translates brand of free and instant computer generated translation as a way to translate your website and increase your online traffic. Launched in April 2006, Google Translate once seemed like the way of the future—a bright herald for a new era of fast-paced, barrier-free human communication. But as the last ten years have shown, Google Translate does have its limits—especially when large chunks of text are involved.
Google Translate is a mode of statistical machine translation, which works by calculating the probability of a word’s appearance based on an existing collection (or corpus) of bilingual texts. This means that when you type a word into Google Translate, it responds by providing you with the statistically most common word it is translated into—not necessarily the one that conveys your intended meaning or context. In other words, Google Translate is a mathematical algorithm—one that is exceptional at translating single word to single word, but completely incapable of accounting for the nuance, grammatical exceptions and cultural idioms (not to mention spelling mistakes and grammatical errors) that emerge when you start stringing words together.
Still not dissuaded? Check out our “back and forth” translation experiment from English to Chinese back to English, and see just how wrong Google Translate can get it…
“Hello Jack,
I am emailing you in regards to your topiary cat pictures. I am astounded by the high quality and your adherence to the source material, I was wondering if I could commission you to create a new piece for me. I would like this piece to capture the essence of my cat Toby (in the attached pdf below) Toby loves his outdoor spot next to our man-made waterfall outside our home. If you could put Toby near Niagara Falls at sundown that would be amazing.
Thanks,
Terry”
Now translated to Chinese (simplified):
“您好杰克，
我寄给您在问候你修剪的猫的照片。我以高品质和你的坚持源材料惊讶，我在想，如果我可以委托你创建一个新的作品给我。我想这件作品捕捉到我的猫托比的本质（下附PDF）托比下一个爱他的户外现场给我们的人造瀑布我们的家门外。如果你能在日落把托比尼亚加拉瀑布附近，这将是惊人的。
谢谢”
特里
Now back to English:
“Hello Jack,
I send you in regards to your trim cat photos. I have to insist on high quality source material and your surprise, I was wondering if I could entrust you to create a new work for me. I think this piece captures the essence of my cat Toby (lower attached PDF) under a Toby loves his outdoor scene gives us an artificial waterfall outside our home. If you can put in the sunset near Toby Niagara Falls, it will be amazing.
Thank you,
Terry”
Obviously this just doesn’t work. Who knows how someone might interpret this email and what kind of product they could end up. Would you want to take this kind of risk with your website?
All joking aside, it comes down to this: if you want your website to be taken seriously, than you need to be serious about translating it. Using any computer assisted translation method is bound to mess up your message, meaning and intent, turning off potential readers or even worse potential sales. If you want your business to reach out to other language markets—and not insult an entire culture while you do it—then invest in a certified translator.
…And for more Google (mis) Translate fun, check out these links (they’re some of our favourites):
