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Writing for FreeTranslation.com
By following a few simple rules, you can improve the quality of the translations that you receive from FreeTranslation.com.
- Check your spelling.
- Use standard punctuation and capitalization.
- Avoid slang.
- Avoid unnecessarily long sentences.
And if you have ever struggled to learn a foreign language, then you are already aware that a seemingly unimportant part of a sentence can be the difference between a reasonable understanding of a sentence and a laughable misinterpretation. Perhaps you didn't hear one or two words clearly. Perhaps you tried to interpret two sentences as just one. Perhaps the speaker used idiomatic expressions that you didn't understand. In any case, you know that short, simple, grammatical sentences are much easier to understand than long, complicated sentences.
The computer program that produces the translations for FreeTranslation.com is analogous to a language learner. Every sentence that you submit for translation has to be interpreted by the program. The clearer the sentence is, the better the program can understand it. For the program, clarity is a matter of recognizing the words and the grammatical structures of a given sentence. If you apply the above-mentioned rules, FreeTranslation.com will have a much better chance of producing a good translation of your writing.
For example, look at the difference that the correct use of an apostrophe can make. In the first example, the word in boldface should be written with an apostrophe. The translations are unintelligible. With the correct form of the verb, however, the sentence is translated very well.
Yes, even in such a simple sentence, a spelling error can make a tremendous difference in the quality of the translation. Under the best conditions, automatic translation can yield silly results. We understand this, and we work continually to improve the technology. But you have a role to play too! If you apply the four rules when you are writing texts for translation, you will get the best possible results from FreeTranslation.com.He wont recognize you.
He won't recognize you.
If such a simple spelling mistake causes problems for translation quality, would a simple spell check on the source text before it was translated be an option? Either as an option to spell check and correct mistakes prior to translation, or just do a best guess spell check and translate based on that automatically? Or to have a couple or results returned, one not spell checked, the other is?
I know primarily FreeTranslation is a translation engine and not a spell checker, but it would be very useful - take Google's spell checking for example! I'd be interested to know your opinions on this. Thanks guys, Chris