- Blog
- Battle of the Babble: ApogeeInvent Goes Head-To-Head Against Translation Software
A recent Cnn.com article posed the question: Who's the better translator: machines or humans?
As short as the piece was, it inspired us here at ApogeeInvent- we
asked Claire LaPoma, our Spanish Translation Specialist, to step up to
bat for the human team against the cold, emotionless logic of online
translation software to answer the question. Always confident, Claire
gently explains her advantage:
"Translation
sites can understand the text, but not the context.They often get
confused and leave the verb in infinitive ('he to be' instead of 'he
is'). Or
they simply do not understand to whom we are writing and if we are
commanding that person, hoping that person does something, or
describing what the person does. This can lead to some seriously strange-sounding sentences. We want professional web content to sound intelligible and fluent."
To
effectively communicate with the 325 million Spanish speakers
worldwide, ApogeeInvent employs Claire to understand the many
variations within the languages and dialects. The Wikipedia article on Spanish dialects and
varieties profiles the major differences in grammar, vocabulary and
pronunciation throughout the 21 Spanish-speaking countries. Arranged by
size, the United States comes in at 2nd, with a Hispanic population
reaching 45.5 million by September of last year.
Thankfully, there are resources available (if you can read Spanish):
Asi Hablamos has tens of thousands of words, each listing the
different meanings and contexts in words and sayings between countries.
The by-line under their name is the phrase "Para poder entendernos - So
we can understand each other."
If even native Spanish speakers need a Web site to understand their own language's differences, how can translation
software expect to hold up when "Spanish" is the only category
selection? We'll give credit to Free Translation, which allows users
to select European, Mexican and Latin American Spanish-though this
neglection still leaves the possibility for a large margin of error.
To demonstrate the
capabilities of computational and mathematical translation, we've taken
three phrases (selected by Claire) and ran them through the latest
version of Google Translate and Free Translation, and for fun we've thrown in Yahoo's Babelfish
translation.
TEST ONE
Our first phrase: "Welcome to our hot, new internet site."
Ran through FreeTranslation.com and you'll recieve: "Bienvenido a nuestro nuevo sitio caliente y de Internet."
Google Translate: "Bienvenido a nuestro sitio caliente, internet nuevo."
Babelfish: "Recepción a nuestras páginas de internet calientes, nuevas."
"These
translate to 'horny, internet site new,'" laughs Claire.
"Unless you're
trying to market porn, you're probably going to need to change it."
The crucial nature of translation is not to be underestimated. As we've
clearly demonstrated, it's absolutely imperative to consider the
geography- when it comes to Spanish, at least.
"Your favorite food in Ecuador might be a woman's 'happy parts' in Spain," warns Claire.
