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OK, now it's the turn of the Google translator.
Just as we did with
Yahoo’s Babel Fish Translator
, here are the first 2 paragraphs of Chapter One of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. We put the English original and the official translation by Antonie Zimmerman through the free Google online language translator. See what you make of the results.
| TIP!: These texts are taken from the Gutenberg Project (www.gutenberg.org), the first and largest distributor of eBooks, and are copyright free. The Gutenberg Project is also one of my recommended sources of free German English translations - look up classic German texts to find ones published with authorized English translations and then compare the two. |
Personally I think these translations show just how subtle and complex language can be. Every online language translator will continue to improve and become increasingly useful, but will never match the beauty and coherence of a well considered translation.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll:
| ORIGINAL: Down the Rabbit-Hole "Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?' So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her." |
Now, if we put the authorized German translation through the Google translator we would hope to come up with an English version which bears some resemblance to the original! Here are the results:
| GOOGLE TRANSLATOR: Down in the rabbit burrow "Alice began to be bored, they sat for a long time at her sister on the bank and had nothing to do. The book, which her sister read, liked her not because there were neither talks nor pictures in it. "And what good books," thought Alice, "without pictures and conversations?" You have just presented itself, (it went so well, because she was sleepy and stupid from the heat,) whether it was worthwhile to stand up and picking daisies to a chain reaction to make, when suddenly a white rabbit with red eyes tight vorbeirannte to her. |
Well, yes.
Obviously the Google translator uses a different translation database to Yahoo's online translator. Google has managed to translate Gänseblumchen (daisies) but has given up on vorbeirannte (ran past).However, the English translation obviously makes few concessions to word-order, and minimal concessions to grammar – “and picking daisies to a chain reaction to make” etc. Having the verb at the end of the sentence is the German construction.
Now for step two of our comparison: Here is the authorized German translation of Lewis Carroll's original by Antonie Zimmermann:
| AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION: Hinunter in den Kaninchenbau. "Alice fing an sich zu langweilen; sie saß schon lange bei ihrer Schwester am Ufer und hatte nichts zu tun. Das Buch, das ihre Schwester las, gefiel ihr nicht; denn es waren weder Bilder noch Gespräche darin. »Und was nützen Bücher,« dachte Alice, »ohne Bilder und Gespräche?« Sie überlegte sich eben, (so gut es ging, denn sie war schläfrig und dumm von der Hitze,) ob es der Mühe wert sei aufzustehen und Gänseblümchen zu pflücken, um eine Kette damit zu machen, als plötzlich ein weißes Kaninchen mit roten Augen dicht an ihr vorbeirannte." |
And now the result of putting the English original through the Google translator to come up with a German translation:
| GOOGLE TRANSLATOR: Festlegung der Rabbit Hole "Alice war zu Beginn sehr müde der Sitzung von ihrer Schwester auf der Bank, und der mit nichts zu tun: ein-oder zweimal hatte sie guckte in das Buch ihrer Schwester war Lesung, aber es hatte keine Bilder oder Konversationen in sie, "und was ist die Verwendung eines Buches, "dachte Alice" ohne Bilder oder Konversation? " So war sie erwägt in ihrem eigenen Geist (ebenso wie sie konnte, für die heißen Tage machten sie fühlen sich sehr schläfrig und dumm), unabhängig davon, ob das Vergnügen, eine Daisy-Chain wäre die Mühe wert, von dem Aufstehen und Kommissionierung der Gänseblümchen, als plötzlich ein Weißes Kaninchen mit rosa Augen lief der Nähe von ihr." |
Clearly, millions of German readers wouldn't have learned to love Alice in Wonderland if it had been the Google translator rather than Antonie Zimmerman who had provided them with a German translation! But this is not a criticism - it simply serves to help clarify the role of free online translation.
Again, this free online translator has given us a general idea of the meaning of the text, but would need work to become an acceptable translation.
The greatest limitation of a free online translator is the inability to appreciate context.You may not realise just how important this is, but just consider how you would be careful to choose a different tone, different vocabulary etc. when writing a letter of condolence, or a recipe, or an instruction manual, a company's financial statements...
Want to know more about what makes a good translation? Check this out.
Now you can try out the Google translator for yourself: translate.google.com
Or compare it with another free online translator such as:
Yahoo's Babel Fish Translator
World Lingo
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