translation machine

[hamoodee]

I am now using google translate :www.google.com/translate_t to help me translate texts from English to Arabic .The translation it delivers only reveals what the text is about without everything being translated correctly .
What I want to know is: what are the disadvantages , in the long run , of depending on this method of translation for ESL learners ?

[rewboss]

Like all similar translation tools, it is incredibly inaccurate. Mostly, it can give you a rough idea of what the text is about, but sometimes even that is too difficult.

In the long run, you may start to rely on it too much. You shouldn't rely on it at all, as there are many things it just doesn't know. It might give you entirely the wrong idea about the meaning of a particular sentence, for example.

These tools are OK if you have found a website in a language you don't know and you need to find out something simple. But for proper translations, they are no good at all.

[hamoodee]

These tools are OK if you have found a website in a language you don't know and you need to find out something simple. But for proper translations, they are no good at all.

I entirely agree with you brother rewboss ,sometimes it is important to get results whithout delay than get a translation of good quality .
I read that machine translation is expected to be among the 100 most important technologies in the 21th century .
I am afraid that in the near future machine-generated language will impose itself on readers .

[rewboss]

Well, the 21st century has only just begun, and a lot can happen in 100 years. But I actually briefly studied techniques of computer translations in the 1990s, and I have to say that they are no better now than they were 15 years ago. We have a long, long way to go before we get the universal translators that feature in Star Trek.

[hamoodee]

exactly and whatever progress they make , machine can not read what is between the lines ,can not understand idiomatic expressions , therefore human interfernce is still required to correct errors and improve the syntax because human translator deals with the meaning of the text not with it's wording .