JapanForum.com  


Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
(#1 (permalink))
Old
Obscene's Avatar
Obscene (Offline)
Funky Monkey Vibration
 
Posts: 291
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Far Away~
Question - Translators - 03-16-2008, 10:49 AM

Ok, so I know this really isn't a really language question. Maybe it is.. I'm not sure..

Anyways.

I've heard that when reading something Japanese, never use an online translator. Someone told me that they are very wrong most of the time, and completely confusing.

Is this true? How bad are online translators when dealing with something Japanese?




Owns/Shares:
Minase(D=OUT)|Kamijo(Versailles) | Gackt | Nell(Gacktjob)|Masato(SuG)

「一生涯、君の為、アンタの為、shoutしてよう。」 - Onpu no Tegami
If you want others to understand you, you'd better learn to understand them, too. You can't be one-sided about everything /雅

It's called Oshare Kei~ baka
Reply With Quote
(#2 (permalink))
Old
Nagoyankee's Avatar
Nagoyankee (Offline)
中庸を得るのだ~
 
Posts: 2,119
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Tokyo, Japan
03-16-2008, 11:15 AM

You heard it right. On-Line translators are almost useless if not completely so. Just try copying a passage from a Japanese website and put it through one and see if the result in English makes much sense to you.

Only very short and grammatically correct sentences using absolutely no colloquial or slang expressions will be translated pretty well....if you're lucky. Forget about J-rock lyrics or e-mail letters from Japanese friends.
Reply With Quote
(#3 (permalink))
Old
anrakushi's Avatar
anrakushi (Offline)
草上之风必偃
 
Posts: 351
Join Date: Dec 2007
03-16-2008, 12:08 PM

they basically just translate the words it has within it's dictionary to the english equivalent, where there can actually be more than one. the grammar is always a mess. it might help you to have some idea what it is about but automatic translators are never any good.
Reply With Quote
(#4 (permalink))
Old
MMM's Avatar
MMM (Offline)
JF Ossan
 
Posts: 12,200
Join Date: Jun 2007
03-16-2008, 12:55 PM

It's thanks to online translators (or we call "machine translation") that I can make a living being a paid, human translator.
Reply With Quote
(#5 (permalink))
Old
Seiryuu's Avatar
Seiryuu (Offline)
JF Old Timer
 
Posts: 101
Join Date: Feb 2007
03-17-2008, 11:21 PM

One problem with online translators is that they never, ever, ask for context.
Reply With Quote
(#6 (permalink))
Old
aikochan86's Avatar
aikochan86 (Offline)
JF Regular
 
Posts: 64
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Perth, Western Australia.
03-18-2008, 02:02 AM

If you understand grammar fairly well and it's just the vocab and kanji that are a problem, use Jim Breen's Translator to translate big groups of words in to English. It keeps the sentence structure and gives you definitions for all the words. I find it really helpful.
Reply With Quote
(#7 (permalink))
Old
Jaseur (Offline)
New to JF
 
Posts: 13
Join Date: Dec 2007
03-25-2008, 02:22 PM

I sometimes used Babelfish to give me a quick sense of a passage when I started translating. It is of minimal value overall though.

Jim Breen's "translate words" is pretty much essential as is the dictionary.

ALC is also good for checking grammar.


Free E-book "How to Learn Japanese" and flashcards!
http://japaneseforsmartpeople.googlepages.com/
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




Copyright 2003-2006 Virtual Japan.
SEO by vBSEO 3.0.0 RC6