# Translation pros - do you use online translators? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-pros-do-you-use-online-translators/382058 "2006-11-28T12:48:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-pros-do-you-use-online-translators/382058/21 "2006-11-29T16:31:05Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] Contrast this to visiting, say, the Ignacio Allende house museum in Mexico. Lots of American tourists, and the signs and plaquards in the museum are painstakingly translated literally and lose a lot of their meaning and elegance compared to the Spanish versions. You’d think with all of the American retirees one of 'em would lend a hand. [/QUOTE] Likewise for the museum at Panama Viejo here in Panama. The English is quite awkward and stilted, and some words are mistranslated. With the number of native English speakers here, you would think they could have hired one to edit the text. On the other hand, the exhibit center at the Panal Canal Miraflores Locks has pretty good bilingual text. [QUOTE=Martha] How about spotting gaffes in movie and TV subtitles? [/QUOTE] This can be very entertaining. One of my favorite recent ones was in _Deadwood_, where the Spanish subtitles consistently referred to Al Swearengen’s saloon as the _Gimnasio_ (Gymnasium). I was mystified until I realized that the translator had misheard _Gem_ as _Gym._😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-pros-do-you-use-online-translators/382058/22 "2006-11-29T18:41:26Z")
This just occurred to me: > [@](#): > > Earlier this year, she got a huge project – a massive contract for a telecommunications company buyout in the D.R. Her first estimates for time needed were rejected by the client, who selected another translator that bragged about their use of automatic tools for translation. Even if the online translators were any good, why on Earth would anyone ever hire a professional translator who bragged about using them? If you want an automated translation, you can get that for free yourself. What did they think the professional would be doing, to earn es fee? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-pros-do-you-use-online-translators/382058/23 "2006-11-29T18:53:19Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] This just occurred to me:Even if the online translators were any good, why on Earth would anyone ever hire a professional translator who bragged about using them? If you want an automated translation, you can get that for free yourself. What did they think the professional would be doing, to earn es fee? [/QUOTE] I guess they thought “Wow – these guys must have access to BabelFish Pro!” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-pros-do-you-use-online-translators/382058/24 "2006-11-29T20:18:29Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] This just occurred to me:Even if the online translators were any good, why on Earth would anyone ever hire a professional translator who bragged about using them? If you want an automated translation, you can get that for free yourself. What did they think the professional would be doing, to earn es fee? [/QUOTE] This shows how many otherwise capable people know nothing about anything to do with computers, let alone what BabelFish is. These are the sort of businessmen who get their secretaries to manage their e-mail and don’t know the difference between an e-mail address and a website URL. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-pros-do-you-use-online-translators/382058/25 "2006-11-29T20:51:25Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] This just occurred to me:Even if the online translators were any good, why on Earth would anyone ever hire a professional translator who bragged about using them? If you want an automated translation, you can get that for free yourself. What did they think the professional would be doing, to earn es fee? [/QUOTE] Apparently, the impression they gave was that they had access to translation software that wasn’t available free on the web. And, presumably, that this software was much BETTER than the web-versions available… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-pros-do-you-use-online-translators/382058.md?page=1)