- Electronic translators are confused by contractions (e.g, haven't). In fact, other punctuation like dashes may also confuse the translator.
- Electronic translators have trouble with homophones or homographs like major which can mean academic major,
a major in the armed forces, or a synonym for very important.
The same thing happens with meet with which can mean get together with or have an appointment with or to fullfill as in a requirement or expectation. Which gloss did the electronic translator choose? Was it the correct choice?
When an electronic translator does not know what to do with a word, it leaves the word as is in the original language. This happened two times with the indefiite article a, which, of course, means to in Spanish.
Are you beginning to see why electronic translaters are not foolproof? Let's see what else can go wrong.
Electronic translators tend to translate at the word level rather than at the phrase level. Try translating the warning Watch out! in Babel Fish at Alta Vista. You will get something like ¡Reloj hacia fuera! (Wrist watch towards outside!).
Many electronic translators cannot handle non-literal language or idioms very well. Try translating the expression It's no laughing matter in Babel Fish at Alta Vista. You will get something like No es ninguna materia que ríe. (It is no subject that laughs).
Believe it or not, many electronic translators create sentences with lots of grammatical errors as happened in the example below.
If the electronic translator does not have an entry for a word in its dictionary, it will leave the word in the original language. Try translating I am studying sociolinguistics in Babel Fish at Alta Vista. You will get something like Estudio sociolinguistics because the word sociolinguistics is not in its dictionary. Neither is homophone or anagram.
And now some academic and ethical reasons why you should be very, very careful with electronic translators
You cannot build your writing skills in Spanish if you write in English, push a button and let the computer do all of the work for you. If you rely on an electronic translator you will be in the same place at the end of a course or program as you were when you started. You will not learn very much at all.
Some teachers (and I am among them) consider using an electronic translator to write a whole paper, a whole paragraph or even a complete sentence a form of cheating or plagiarism.
Depending on your school's policies, the negative consequences for submitting a translated paper as representative of your own work could be quite severe and could leave a permanent mark on your academic record.
In most classes you are expected to turn in your own work, work that you prepared yourself. Turning in a paper prepared with a translator is like turning in a paper someone else wrote for you.
It is completely natural and expected that you will make mistakes when writing. Mistakes are part of the learning process. (We even make mistakes in our own language when we write).
Spanish teachers are quite used to the types of errors learners make and they will have lots of materials and strategies to help you overcome them.
What teachers do not have are tools for correcting the unnatural mistakes and completely garbled sentences produced by machine translations like:
Cuando las bebidas funcionadas hacia fuera, alguien tendrán que funcionar al almacén.
When the drinks working towards outside, someone they will have to function to the department store or warehouse.
Huh???
OK that's 10 reasons, and now the most important reason:
No matter at what level of Spanish you are, how much or little experience you have had, or how many courses you have taken, you can do a better job of expressing yourself in Spanish than any electronic translator out there, guaranteed.
Believe in yourself! Challenge yourself!
You will be surprised and proud of what you can do on your own. Chances are, if you leave that translate button alone, you are going to be a whole lot happier in the long run.
Still have doubts? Try this exercise |
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