Google Machine Translations - Not Enough, Yet

It is a well known fact that Google has invested heavily to breach the language divide through technology and computer aided translations. The company considers their computer translation tool as one of the key components of their global strategy. In this effort, they have expanded their language translation offerings to 41 languages including Turkish, Estonian, Galician and other languages. Google's strategic goal is quite simple: eliminate language as a barrier to communication in GoogleWorld.

As a language translation provider, LanguageTran has tested translations done by Google's translation tool in a few language combinations. Richard Ramos, President of LanguageTran, said that "Google has achieved a remarkable level of accuracy in some of the language combinations. It is a great way of translating content to have a general idea of the original text. However, the intrinsic nuances of language are still trumping the ultimate goal of near perfect translations. I can see the day when we use tools like Google to improve productivity, but we don't see that happening anytime soon. In some of the language combinations that we tested some sentences were perfectly translated. However, errors in terminology, grammatical constructions and subtle interpretations in large parts of the text make the tool unreliable for applications which require precise well written translations."

He added, "The time needed by a human editor to proof-read, edit and correct errors is still greater than the time required for direct human translation".

EU invests money in automatic computer translation technology

The EU is required to publish all its documentation into 23 official languages. The expense to do do so is quite substantial: 1 billion Euro every year. This is the reason why the EU has been investing in research to develop computer aided simultaneous computer translations. If they achieve their goal, it would greatly reduce the need for human translators and interpreters.

The difficulty presented by language has trumpeted all efforts to achieve the Holy Grail of automatic translations. Systems are plagued by punctuation, meaning, grammar and translation mistakes that make the translation itself seem unintelligible.

The EU has invested in the so called TC-STAR project to address this challenge. They've achieved an accuracy of 70% of the words that are translated, although they've been challenged with placing the words in the right order within the sentences.

It is expected that in the few next years the project will achieve acceptable levels of translation quality, although it might be limited to a few language pairs. Computer translation is still a technological challenge for today's technology.

Language Technology for the Battlefield

The language barrier can become a high stakes game in war situations. Imagine a British or American soldier trying to communicate with Iraqi civilians with simple commands and the endless possibility of misunderstandings that can become fatal in the middle of a war zone.

It is easy to think that ever soldier can have his/her own translator, but this is impractical. Technology however, has again taken upon itself to fill part of the gap, with a voice recognition device that offers a technological solution to the age-old problem of language translation. The most recent example for this, according to the BBC News, is the much awaited launch of a translation device named Ahky (Arabic for”speak”), designed to improve communications between soldiers and the Iraqi people.

This device is based on voice recognition technology. It can assist the soldiers communicate effectively with civilians, especially in highly charged situations.

The device is expected to look like an extended wristwatch, making it easy to carry.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr. Ismail said, “"If this device can help save innocent lives in a conflict situation then that has to be good."

With translation technological solutions such as these, the potential for better understanding increases. This device is not only effective in military situations, but it is also an asset for many hospitals and other public services.