Translation Software

The “Science” of Translating to or from German

Why is translation software so bad?

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Eight years have gone by since I first wrote this article, and the best advice concerning the current generation of translation software is still: “Don't expect too much.” Once you accept the fact that genuine computer translation has not yet arrived (and may not ever arrive), you'll be happier. If you expect these programs—even the more expensive ones—to provide a polished, accurate English version of a German document (or the other way around), you'll be disappointed. On the other hand, if you're ready to accept the limitations inherent in today's translation software, you may be satisfied. In many cases, the better programs can provide quite acceptable translations, but we note a few important caveats below.

Even the software makers themselves claim only about 80 percent accuracy for their machine translations—and sometimes that can be an exaggeration. Errors that appear in almost every sentence of a computer translation may include strange word choices, incorrect word order, odd phrasing, wrong endings, and total gibberish now and then.

Back in 1995, when I first tried out a German-English translation software package that shall remain nameless, the results were so shockingly poor that I gave up on the idea. But three years is an eternity in computer time, so I decided to give machine translation another try in 1998.

First I tried out AltaVista's then beta test version of Babel Fish, its online multi-language translator powered by Systran. I typed in a few English sentences to be translated into German, plus a few German sentences to be rendered in English. (You can also paste in text from a word processor or Web page. If you want to try it for yourself, go to our Translation Page, select English-to-German or German-to-English, and type or paste in your own sentences to translate.)

Here's what happened in my case:

GERMAN to ENGLISH

• (Original German) Lieber Bill, wir kommen erst am Donnerstag an. Tut mir leid, dass wir spaeter ankommen muessen.

• (English by AltaVista) Dear Bill, we arrive only on Thursday. Wrong does to me that we must arrive later.

• (Accurate English translation) Dear Bill, we won't arrive until Thursday. Sorry that we have to arrive later.

---

ENGLISH to GERMAN

• (Original English) Dear Bill, I hope you were able to fix your car, but what about fixing a sandwich?

• (German by AltaVista) Liebe Bill, hoffe ich, dass Sie konnten, Ihr Auto zu reparieren, aber was über Befestigung ein Sandwich?

• (Accurate German translation) Lieber Bill, ich hoffe, dass du dein Auto reparieren konntest, aber wie wäre es, wenn du ein Sandwich machen würdest?

The verdict? Well, despite some obvious problems, I think that an English-speaker could actually figure out what the English translation from the German means. I'm not so sure about AltaVista's German rendering of the English. Granted, my sentence was intentionally designed to fool the computer (by using two different meanings of “fix”) and the English original is a bit odd, but the machine had big problems handling almost everything about the German translation. To its credit, AltaVista did manage “Dear Bill” well. Earlier programs would usually translate the salutation as “liebe Rechnung” (“beloved invoice”). But the program couldn't even get the word order right, and the phrase “fixing a sandwich” became the much-too-literal, nonsensical “(the) fastening a sandwich.” There are so many errors in the German translation that a teacher correcting it wouldn't know where to begin! There should be no "zu" before "reparieren" (and no comma before "Ihr"). The feminine form of "liebe" isn't appropriate for the masculine name Bill, nor does the formal "Sie"/"Ihr" (you/your) go with the first name. Turning "what about" into "was über" is something a rank beginner armed with a dictionary might do, but it makes absolutely no sense in German. — No, we're not even close to 80 percent accuracy here.

To be fair, it is difficult to get a computer to translate well, and the makers of these programs argue, with some justification, that a rough translation is better than no translation. If it helps someone understand the gist of a message, then that is better than nothing. But if the rough translation is too rough, at best it can be difficult to understand and at worst it can be completely wrong or misleading.

This is Catch 22 at its diabolical worst: if you know enough German to use a translation program, you don't need the program! If your German is weak or non-existent, the program can throw you for a loss. Its “rough translation” still leaves you with lots of work to do, and if your skills aren't up to the challenge, the machine translation may give you a false sense of security. (Just ask any teacher of German whose students have tried this!) Anyone requiring a polished, finished translation suitable for business uses should turn to a qualified human translator. On the other hand, if all you need is a “draft” translation, where accuracy isn't critical, then one of these computer programs may be for you.

NEXT > Part Two - Types of translation software

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