Google translate and Thai

[thonglor55]

The question has been raised in a couple of different threads so I thought "Why not be lazy and start a new one." Here's an answer which probably combines where those threads were going - Google's not all that great at translating (http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/228198/day_18_google_docs_translations_dont_make_sense.ht ml). A related explanation is that cdnmatt doesn't work for Google (or possibly he does - a more likely explanation now I think of it.)

[francois]

Le google traduire de l'anglais / fran├зais / anglais fonctionne tr├иs bien. Aussi avons traduit en tha├п et en mon bf a dit qu'il ├йtait bon. Le mieux est de faire des phrases simples comme possible.

Go to google translate to put in English by cutting and pasting. translate.google.com/

[Beachlover]

Google Translate is best convenient when you have a website or doc in another language you want to read. It can be ok for casual communication (e.g. if you want to message something to your Thai BF) too.

I would NOT use it to translate business docs/deliverables into something for others to read! Use a professional human being for that.

р╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕Зр╕Др╕Щ р╣Вр╕Зр╣Ир╕Ир╕░р╕Ир╕� �р╣Ар╕Ыр╣Зр╕Щр╕Хр╣Йр╕н р╕Зр╕гр╕▒р╕Рр╕Чр╕╡р╣� �р╣Ар╕лр╣Зр╕Щр╣Др╕Фр╣Й р╕Кр╕▒р╕Ф

[francois]

р╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕Зр╕Др╕Щ р╣Вр╕Зр╣Ир╕Ир╕░р╕Ир╕� �р╣Ар╕Ыр╣Зр╕Щр╕Хр╣Йр╕н р╕Зр╕гр╕▒р╕Рр╕Чр╕╡р╣� �р╣Ар╕лр╣Зр╕Щр╣Др╕Фр╣Й р╕Кр╕▒р╕Ф

"Only a fool would need to see the government shut".

I am not sure of the context of the Thai sentence but it translates as above on google.

[bao-bao]

р╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕Зр╕Др╕Щ р╣Вр╕Зр╣Ир╕Ир╕░р╕Ир╕� �р╣Ар╕Ыр╣Зр╕Щр╕Хр╣Йр╕н р╕Зр╕гр╕▒р╕Рр╕Чр╕╡р╣� �р╣Ар╕лр╣Зр╕Щр╣Др╕Фр╣Й р╕Кр╕▒р╕Ф

"Only a fool would need to see the government shut".

I am not sure of the context of the Thai sentence but it translates as above on google.
Hmmm. I just ran it through Google Translate and it came up as "Only a fool would need to state the obvious", and I'd guess that's closer to what Once In Awhile intended.

[Bob]

Hmmm. I just ran it through Google Translate and it came up as "Only a fool would need to state the obvious", and I'd guess that's closer to what Once In Awhile intended.

That's the problem with any computer translator. The Thai word "р╕гр╕▒р╕Р" (pronounced "rat" with a short "a" and high tone) is a noun and means a state or government (such as the "state of Iowa" or the "state of Belgium"). It is not a verb and doesn't mean to "state" or say something. Probabably should have been replaced with the Thai word "bawk" which is a verb meaning to say, verbally state, or tell.

[bao-bao]

I can't read Thai so I certainly won't disagree, Bob - but what I found interesting was how Google translated it differently, if francois used Google Translate like I did. That's what I thought he was saying, anyway.

[francois]

I can't read Thai so I certainly won't disagree, Bob - but what I found interesting was how Google translated it differently, if francois used Google Translate like I did. That's what I thought he was saying, anyway.

Yes, I did a cut and paste of the Thai wording into Google Translate, but, when I did the cut, the last character in the Thai sentence was lost no matter how often I tried to include it. Maybe that explains the different translation?

I just did the translate again and now get the same as bao-bao, so one character made the difference.

[thonglor55]

I read and understood your original comment without any need for Google translate, francois, but I guess having studied French and Latin at school possibly puts me in (yet another) minority here. I always remember my Latin teacher, a Christian Brother from Australia who sodomised most of his class to no ill effect, telling us not to be afraid of the declension of the Latin noun mensa (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Latin/First_Declension_%28L2%29), the accusative plural of which you will recall is pronounced "mens arse". I can't think of a better movie on the beneficial effects of "naughty" schoolteachers than The History Boys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_Boys_%28film%29).

http://therealtimscott.com/images/Posts/Automated%20Marketing%20Man%20Vs%20Machine%20For%2 0The%20Fate%20Of%20Your%20Business.jpg

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/dec/19/google-translate-computers-languages

тАЬMachine translation of POETRY is probably one of the hardest possible tasks that can be considered in computational linguistics, MT, or even AI in general. It is a task that most humans are not truly capable of. Robert Frost is reported to have said that poetry is that which gets lost in translation. Not surprisingly, given the taskтАЩs difямБculty, we are not aware of any work in the ямБeld that attempts to solve this problem, or even discuss it, except to mention its difямБculty, and professional translators like to cite it as an example of an area where MT will never replace a human translator.тАЭ

тАЬPoeticтАЭ Statistical Machine Translation: Rhyme and Meter http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/36745.pdf

http://research.google.com/pubs/och.html
http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/