The place to ask China-related questions!
Beijing Shanghai Guangzhou Shenzhen Chengdu Xi'an Hangzhou Qingdao Dalian Suzhou Nanjing More Cities>>

Categories

Close
Welcome to eChinacities Answers! Please or register if you wish to join conversations or ask questions relating to life in China. For help, click here.
X

Verify email

Your verification code has been sent to:

Didn`t receive your code? Resend code

By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .

Sign up with Google Sign up with Facebook
Sign up with Email Already have an account? .
Posts: 1911

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Q: Google Translator? Is it reliable?

For those of you who use google translator, is it reliable? Just for words, or for sentences/questions too? 

I found on one site characters/pinyin for some basic phrases, but without tone marks. When I plug it in to google translate, I usually get something totally different. I'm not sure which one to trust. I realize there will be different ways to say the same thing, and I would gladly use google's translator if it's reliable.  Thanks Smile

12 years 19 weeks ago in  Teaching & Learning - Chengdu

 
Answers (26 - 25 of 25)
Comments (8)
Posts: 2409

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I use google & bing translator all the time.  The trick is to translate what you want into Chinese, then translate the Chinese given back into English.  If the English matches what you want to say reasonably well, then it should work out fine.

Just try to keep your sentances short and use Chinese grammar.

But if your translating phrases you find pre-made on a website, those are normally more reliable than any machine translation.

HugAPanda:

thank you :)

12 years 19 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
12 years 19 weeks ago
 
Posts: 9192

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I use google and translate it in yahoo. it usually comes out wak. My name 'Ted' said special german. If I translate back into google , it will say close to what I wrote  ( today) if I look tomorrow, it may something different, like my sister does tinsel. I use short incomplete language, like old Tarzan movie, me Tarzan, you Jane, Cheeta like China,how much boom boom. ungowwa, make short no can make wrong, yo ma

HugAPanda:

Put the beer down, Ted.

12 years 19 weeks ago
Report Abuse

TedDBayer:

it's always beer and shots :o)

12 years 19 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
12 years 19 weeks ago
 
Posts: 9

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

double check with mdgb dictionary. you can put in the whole chinese sentence and it brakes it down into words/phrases:

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

HugAPanda:

I do use mdgb, and often get a third translation. LOL with all the dictionaries and translators I have open... it's no wonder I get all confused and stuff. But thank you very much for the suggestion :)

12 years 19 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
12 years 19 weeks ago
 
Posts: 2587

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I use QQ translator.  It is based on the google translator engine, but offers much more to help you get a better understanding of the Chinese.  If you mouse over the individual characters, it gives you literal translations and a panel on the side gives you multiple uses and meanings of the character.

try it.  http://qq.bur.st/qqtranslator.php    It's great....when it is working. Sometimes the website, like the qq spaces, is a little dicey.

HugAPanda:

Thanks Xin... It's giving me the same translations as google. I guess maybe the phrases on the china survival site is probably the more efficient way of saying the same thing? I dunno. For things I'm not sure of, I'll wait. I hate learning the wrong thing, and then trying to fix it later.

12 years 19 weeks ago
Report Abuse

xinyuren:

Hugs, yes it is the same translation. You will never find a better translator as Chinese and English come from different roots. By trail and error I have come to understand how Chinese think a little bit. There is no direct translation for many terms and you just have to memorize them. or manipulate your english to get the proper response in the translator.

12 years 19 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
12 years 19 weeks ago
 
Posts: 402

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I use two or three translators; here they are:

1]  http://www.stars21.com/translator/chinese_to_english.html

2]   http://tool.nciku.com/pinyin-translator/#results

3]  Youdao dictionary

HugAPanda:

Thanks Bay... I love Nciku, but I had not seen this particular page. It's fantastic! I think ;)

12 years 19 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
12 years 19 weeks ago
 
Posts: 10

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

If you like Yoda-style translations it's fine. Usually it's better to do the actual translation yourself and rely on popup dictionaries or a site that lets you search entire sentences like MDGB. Their dictionary and interface is good, they even have their own popup dictionary (not free). Not sure if theirs is good or not as I use the free Firefox-plugin that does the same.

Report Abuse
11 years 22 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1968

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

My colleagues tell me that the google translations are a little mashed to say the least.  I also use the QQ translator, mainly when using QQ itself.  It will often balk at words that are not polite, however, and sometimes it just freezes.  On the other hand, with local events here, sometimes google is not available or it is available, it is only available for limited amounts of time in one session.

Report Abuse
11 years 22 weeks ago
 
Posts: 887

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Just got my first smartphone LOL...but found a really cool app - CamDictionary, if you use Android. It translates just by pointing the phone's cam (2 characters at most). Pretty amazing smiley

Report Abuse
11 years 22 weeks ago
 
Posts: 2186

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I read somewhere (I think it was BBC online but not sure) about a new app developed by the Japanese, where you (or someone else) speaks into the phone and you can then get the spoken word translated, it currently only works in about 4 or 5 languages (all into Japanese) but it is being developed to work in other languages.

I don't know how good it is, but potentially it could be the end of TEFL teachers!

Report Abuse
11 years 22 weeks ago
 
Posts: 19790

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I am using Google translator sometimes when I talk to my girl. Her English is intermediate.

She's telling me very often 'translator is wrong!'

I try shorten up and rephrase English sentences, but to judge translator, my Chinese should be much better than it is.

Report Abuse
11 years 22 weeks ago
 
0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Its getting a lot better than it used to be.  Perhaps in another year they will have it perfected for most languages.  But Chinese is one of the most difficult languages due to the tones and multiple meanings of words. For example the Chinese word "he" has 27 meanings!

Report Abuse
11 years 22 weeks ago
 
Posts: 113

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

i am using Google translator.sometimes it can not translate exactly.but most of time it can help me know what is the phrase mean.

Report Abuse
11 years 18 weeks ago
 
Posts: 186

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Google Translate is useful to a certain degree, especially if you want the pinyin.

 

When it comes to translating whole sentences, it's not so reliable. You can get really messed up sentences. But, you do get the correct pinyin (in most cases) of all the words.

 

When it comes to translating words, it is pretty handy.

Report Abuse
11 years 18 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1197

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

It can do short, grammatically simple sentences well but once sentences get longer and more complicated I wouldn't trust it. It's best to translate the results to make sure the meaning is correct.

Report Abuse
11 years 18 weeks ago
 
Posts: 2604

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Yes it's reliable PandaHugA just make sure you type simple sentences and short one's not long ones.

Report Abuse
11 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 583

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I found Bing Translation more accurate than Google translate...

dandmcd:

Bing is great, but the lack of an app on Android phones makes it no good for me.  I can't always be at my computer to translate.

10 years 26 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
11 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 194

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I use a mix of google and baidu translate.. also I second other peoples suggestions to keep the sentences short, try to obey Chinese grammar -slightly- when writing in English (because technical grammar in English gives Chinese a headache), then translate into Chinese, then translate the Chinese back to English.. if the result in English is close to what you original input, then you're good (hopefully)

Report Abuse
11 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 227

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

unless you want to translate a very standard article,essay etc, which do not have any grammatical error,then the translation in your Google translate is likely to be perfect and reliable, but if your essay or article contain too many grammatical errors,then Google translate will translate it with grammatical errors too;

again, if you are trying to translate only a sentence and it's not well written in the previous language,then the chance for you to obtain the correct translation is very low,generally translating words can result very reliable.

Report Abuse
11 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 6

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Don't trust Google translator! 

Report Abuse
10 years 43 weeks ago
 
Posts: 7

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Not fully trustable but translate in bits and pieces then try to make sense out of everthing when you are done with the pieces 

Report Abuse
10 years 42 weeks ago
 
Posts: 19790

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

I like MDBG more than Google:

 

 

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=translate

Report Abuse
10 years 42 weeks ago
 
Posts: 223

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Google translate is great & a must have but it's only great if you already know some Chinese.

 

The bottom line is many things simply don't translate properly in English to Chinese or vice versa.  Google translate will do some direct translations but that's not how translationg English/Chinese really works.

 

If you know some Chinese already than google translate will give you a good start and you can edit a few of the words manually. 

 

 

If you don't speak Chinese though and you're just looking to write out sentences in English and hope it comes out correct.... it usually won't.  People can usually get a basic understanding of what you were trying to say though even though it comes out wrong. 

Report Abuse
10 years 42 weeks ago
 
Posts: 2494

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

surprise No, why? It's not!

Report Abuse
10 years 42 weeks ago

There are cookies, bookies and too many rookies for me to sit here trying to be a hooky! Looky Looky don't call me a wooky. Touchy Touchy Feely Feely Spicy Spicy Nicey Nicey & that's what the doctor Ordered!!

 
Posts: 443

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Old question but I guess still relevant.

 

I tend to use GT for translating messages or longer stuff that I'm too lazy to figure out myself. Just keep an open mind as to what comes back and as long as you know what context you are talking in then you should be able to decode the translation it gives you.

 

If you send a message that's been translated in GT then I recommend telling people you are using a translator, otherwise they will probably be wondering what you're talking about!

Report Abuse
10 years 26 weeks ago
 
Posts: 887

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

GT seems ok for PC, Youdao is much better for mobile.

Report Abuse
10 years 26 weeks ago
 
Know the answer ?
Please or register to post answer.

Report Abuse

Security Code: * Enter the text diplayed in the box below
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <br> <p> <u>
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Textual smileys will be replaced with graphical ones.

More information about formatting options

Forward Question

Answer of the DayMORE >>
A:  "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "S
A: "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "Shenzhen agent can connect you with an employer, who's authorized to hire waigouren ... and can sponsor Z visa." It's not like every 10th person you meet in Shenzhen's hood can sponsor work visa ...  The only way to change from student to labourer visa is just a regular way by: 1. Finding an employer, who'll apply for an Invitation letter; 2. Exit China and apply for Z visa in your home country's Chinese embassy; 3. Enter China in 30-days after Z visa was stamped into your travelling instrument ...As I am aware, you won't be able to switch to Working permit by remaining in China....,so make ready for a return to your home .... -- icnif77