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Google Makes Translate Better With New Features

by - source: Tom's Hardware US

Along with a brand new look, Google has rolled out a few changes to Google Translate.

Did the old, "Translate" button seem archaic to you? Well, fret no more. The first change Google is implementing is the ability to translate instantly. Wave goodbye to the button because Google is translating as you type.

The second is slightly more useful. Along with your translation, Google will also be providing a Romanization of the text written phonetically in English. In addition to this, Google has added a new input transliteration feature for Arabic, Persian and Hindi, which allows users to enter text phonetically. Very handy if you can't type out the script with your keyboard.

Lastly, is the addition of a little speaker button that, you guessed it, let's you hear translations. Unfortunately this is only available for translating to English at the moment, but you can try it, and all the other new features, by clicking here.

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Pyroflea 11/17/2009 4:25 PM
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Unfortunately their translator works horribly and generally doesn't take into account sentence structure or grammar. That's from my experience at least, having 4 years of a second language under my belt.

JMcEntegart 11/17/2009 4:43 PM
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Pyroflea :
Unfortunately their translator works horribly and generally doesn't take into account sentence structure or grammar. That's from my experience at least, having 4 years of a second language under my belt.



Yeah, I spent forever trying to find something that wasn't grammatically incorrect for the screenshot. I eventually gave up.

RicardoK 11/17/2009 4:52 PM
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Google has one of the best translations I've known.. Most software rely only on word to word translation whilst google does a great job by keeping the meaning of the phrases. I usually translate from other languages to Portuguese (Brazilian) and I get great results. Of course, it's not 100% but it's pretty close, and I usually help by sending the correct translation back to google (fixing any mistakes that the translation creates)..

omnimodis78 11/17/2009 5:00 PM
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It's cool! Just think that 10 years ago you would have had to buy a dictionary and find each word and that still you would have only been able to compose a literal translation. At least with this it's free, easy, fast and a bit more accurate, not to mention totally convenient. Though I think google has the money and the brainpower to create the code for a great translation engine - which would take into account sentence structure, etc. Good effort though!

zak_mckraken 11/17/2009 5:21 PM
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warezme 11/17/2009 6:02 PM
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godnodog 11/17/2009 6:28 PM
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I usually translate from other languages to Portuguese (Brazilian) and I get great results.

godnodog 11/17/2009 6:30 PM
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RicardoK :
I usually translate from other languages to Portuguese (Brazilian) and I get great results..



But when it´s the other side arround, from English to Portuguese (Portugal) it´s frequent to see really bad translations.

godnodog 11/17/2009 6:33 PM
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The last part of my message did not appear.

I was replying to RicardoK, that when it´s english to Portuguese (Standard) it´s frequent to have bad translations, but it´s still a good free service by Google

JMcEntegart 11/17/2009 6:51 PM
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zak_mckraken :
Well well, the little Irish girl uses a mac!



Dell Mini 10 (Hackintosh). Don't worry there's a real PC in the room, too.

JMcEntegart 11/17/2009 6:58 PM
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warezme :
She's a female, I'm sure she thinks its cute or goes with her purse.



And yes, it's super cute and while it doesn't go with my purse, it does fit in it.

mmahoney 11/17/2009 7:08 PM
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It's impossible to type in Japanese with Microsoft IME on the new translator. It removes what you type mid word. Quite obnoxious.

dunklegend 11/17/2009 7:20 PM
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It's good that google added some features to its translator, but generally y use the www.wordreference.com forums, there you post, and it's translated by other forum users, which I've found to be very knowledgeable.

darkxuy 11/17/2009 7:28 PM
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Я считаю, что работает хорошо, но я говорю Dont русский! ха-ха-ха

counselmancl 11/17/2009 7:30 PM
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Now if they could only help Toms with spelling and grammar.

zak_mckraken 11/17/2009 7:45 PM
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非常に面白い賢いやつ!

mikepaul 11/17/2009 8:27 PM
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孔子說禮物馬不被審查

JohnnyLucky 11/17/2009 8:31 PM
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A good try but translations are still awkward.

mikepaul 11/17/2009 9:47 PM
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Ummm, you were supposed to translate mine to see why you shouldn't complain. Joke wasted I guess...

wildwell 11/17/2009 9:52 PM
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So... is it finally useful then, or still just a novelty to entertain geeks on a news blog?

bipolargraph 11/17/2009 10:18 PM
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I translated "lol" from english to arabic nd I got a
"laughing in a loud voice" in arabic.

If you somehow make a multi-language chat room, you can use this on the fly.

city_zen 11/17/2009 10:19 PM
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Previsiblemente, la calidad de las traducciones sigue siendo intermedia. Funciona mejor con palabras sueltas, o grupos de pocas palabras, que con oraciones complejas.

Moral: don't give up your foreign language studies just yet.

BTW, I didn't know that Irish had accents, and I'm surprised to see that "you" is written the same way in two languages as dissimilar as Irish and Spanish ("tú")

Anonymous 11/17/2009 10:37 PM
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Irish and spanish are both based on latin (like most european languages) so you will find alot of similarities!

city_zen 11/17/2009 11:41 PM
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wobbles-grogan :
Irish and spanish are both based on latin (like most european languages) so you will find alot of similarities!


While Spanish IS based on Latin (like Italian, French, Portuguese or Romanian), AFAIK the Irish language doesn't have its roots in Latin, although it may have borrowed many words from it, just like English (another language that's not based on Latin) did.
But such basic words as "you" are very unlikely to have been borrowed from Latin because they most probably precede the influence of Latin on the region.

mmahoney 11/18/2009 4:13 AM
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Quote :BTW, I didn't know that Irish had accents, and I'm surprised to see that "you" is written the same way in two languages as dissimilar as Irish and Spanish ("tú")


Like city_zen said, Irish is not from Latin. However, Spanish, Irish, Latin and even English are all Indo-european languages, coming from the same source. The English word for you is similar to "tú" as well: thou. ;)

"Thou" comes from the old English þu (thu). So, yeah, they're all just about the same when it comes to "you." Tú, þu, thou, du, ti: all you.

anamaniac 11/18/2009 1:02 PM
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I love google translator... a bit of a nuisance some days, but it has helped me many times.
Now we need better voice recognition tech and a update to Microsoft Sam.

I say something in English, voice recognition picks it up (voice recognition is a hit and a miss with some people, and it doesn't like me), translates it to Mandarin, and then speaks it to the other guy, all with only a second or two pause. How else am I supposed to talk to my coworker? (His English is worse then my 3 year old nephew some days.)
Or ask for the 'special service' at massage parlours before I pay all around the world ?

JMcEntegart 11/18/2009 1:13 PM
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anamaniac :
Or ask for the 'special service' at massage parlours before I pay all around the world ?



You stay classy, anamaniac. :D

hack__you 11/18/2009 1:21 PM
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JMcEntegart :
Yeah, I spent forever trying to find something that wasn't grammatically incorrect for the screenshot. I eventually gave up.


Try this граматички точно - Macedonian to English

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