Google, which has been offering a free website translation service since 2009, has just added a new feature to this service, making it more interactive, flexible and collaborative. Similar to how the basic Google Translate service works, this new feature allows both the website’s creator and its visitors to tweak the Website Translator plugin’s translation by suggesting better translations or choosing an automatic alternative translation. If the website’s creator is signed in while making a change to the translation, the corrections will immediately go live. On the other hand, if one of the website’s visitors makes the change, it waits until it is approved by the creator.
In the same way that Google Translate interacts with the user in order to constantly improve upon its translations, this new, dynamic feature aims to bridge the gap between a website translated by a machine and a website translated by a human translator. Yet, Google itself admits that there is still a lot of ground to be covered before their machine translation system is perfect. On the Google Translate Blog, Google’s Product Manager, Jeff Chin, says that “While we’ve kept improving our machine translation system since [launching the Website Translator plugin], we may not reach perfection until someone invents full-blown Artificial Intelligence.” In other words, there is still a long way to go before Google, or any machine translation system for that matter, will be able to perfectly translate an entire website.
For now, Google’s Website Translator will be used by those who want to translate their website for free, keeping in mind that the translated content will not be perfect. While this service satisfies a certain demand, there are still going to be those who require a much higher quality translation, something which for now, can only be provided by human translators. With access to thousands of expert translators, Trusted Translations, fulfills this need, and is happy to provide you with a Free Quote on your next translation project.
