It can be a helpful tool but one which needs managing carefully. Read on!
As a very new teacher during the fairly early days of internet translations, one of my students submitted her French coursework to me - in Italian. I returned it with some advice about coursework needing to be your own work, that plagiarism was not allowed etc. only to receive the exact same piece of work back in a version of French the next day with some hilarious mis-translations, sadly lost to the passage of time. Since then, I have always taught my students about the perils of Google Translate and the phrases it might advise you to use which at best, might be humorous, at worst might be downright inappropriate!
This was probably 20 years ago, and things have not really changed with the trustworthiness of Google's translations. All the photographic evidence below is from words needed by my French and Spanish students during lessons over the past few months. The photos on my phone are an eclectic mix of family snaps and interesting language points!
For my learners of French and Spanish, it is crucial that they understand that just because the Google Doc is suggesting a translation, it doesn't necessarily understand what you are trying to say.
To correct hores d’ouveres when a student wanted hors d’oeuvre, Google was suggesting heures d’ouverture which means opening hours rather than starter.
Google Translate is a useful tool, which I do use, but please, like me, always check with a dictionary. When booking holidays in France and Spain, I often refer to the original French or Spanish version of the website because the English AI translation, which I've automatically been served because of where I am in the world, frankly doesn't make much sense. Is this going to be good for business? I think not - much better to invest in a good quality translator, expert in their languages and highly skilled in the nuances of correct translation. In fact, I'm making a mental note here and now to get in touch with the business in question when this happens as they might be blissfully unaware.
If your Spanish friend tells you they are constipado, you might be inclined to think "too much information!" and Google would suggest as much. If you check with the dictionary (my favourite is wordrefence.com) you will be relieved to know that constipado means congested as in having a cold. Awkward situation neatly avoided.
Google Translate is slightly more reliable with entire phrases but still can be a little off with exactly what it is you're trying to say. With single words, it's really not very reliable. Here are a couple of examples:
If you search for the Spanish word bote, you will get boat, instead of the tin/can/jar option which was correct in the context and which you would see in the dictionary.
Pendiente gave us earring when in fact, the correct translation needed was pending.
Strawberry blond gives you rubia fresa in Spanish and blond fraise in French; neither of which is correct. You should use roux/rousse or blond vénetien in French or rojizo/rojiza in Spanish.
And of course, who can forget that apparently Google Translate in Finnish will give you judicial underpants if you search for legal briefs. I'm no Finnish expert, but I tried it and I think that it's probably a true story.
Yes, if you look further down, you can find alternative suggestions, but my experience tells me that most students don't do that, they trust the first option given. Context is so important to translating correctly and Google Translate does not know the context as the following examples prove: it does come up with the correct idiom "what goes around comes around" but only as you type the last letter of the French; avoir mal au coeur more commonly means to feel sick; and it stays with the literal translation of les voyages forment la jeunesse, not getting anywhere close to travel broadens the mind.
In conclusion, Google Translate can be an effective tool but it's efficacy will depend on the skill of the person using it: in other words, it needs careful management. Take care everyone, computers, and AI, do not always know best!
If you enjoyed this, you may enjoy reading my last blog: listening to improve your languages.
Cate is a qualified teacher with more than 20 years of experience teaching in schools and she has most recently dedicated her time to tutoring both online and face to face. She currently has a few spaces remaining during the UK school day for adult language learners or students in time zones such as Hong Kong.
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