There is no shortage of online translation tools on the Internet but are any of them any good? I thought I'd test a few using a fairly simple text in French and requesting a translation into English.
First up, let's look at Systran ("the leading supplier of language translation software.")
Ziarat district has 50,000 people. In the morning, first aid arrived at the site. The army sent helicopters with which to organize a hospital, blankets, tents and so on. But according to information gathered by phone, some remote areas had not yet been achieved by some 300 rescuers also rushed to the scene of the disaster.
The district of Ziarat counts 50,000 persons. In the morning, the firstrelief arrived on the spot. The army sent helicopters transporting of what to organize a country hospital, covers, of the stretched etc. But, according to of the news collected by telephones, certain remote places again had not been able to be attained by the some 300 first-aid workers equally dispatched on the catastrophe places.
The district of Ziarat counts 50.000 people. In the morning, first aid arrived on the spot. The army sent helicopters transporting what to organize a hospital of countryside, covers, tents etc But, according to information's collected by telephone, certain moved back places could not yet have been reached by the few 300 first-aid workers also dispatched on the spot of the catastrophe.
The district of Ziarat account 50.000 persons. In the morning, the first aids arrived on the spot. The army sent transporting helicopters of what to organize a hospital of campaign (country), covers(blankets), tents etc. But, according to meditative information by telephone, certain put off places did not have been able yet to be reached(affected) by about 300 first-aid workers also sent on the scene by the disaster.
This is not meant to be an in-depth study. For that you'd need to try a variety of texts and different language combinations, but I think the results are quite interesting. For what it's worth, here are my marks out of ten, with comments:
Systran - six out of ten. Some mistakes (covers, few 300, what to organize) but the meaning is clear on the whole.
Google - nine out of ten (well, they do have a lot of money to invest in these projects). Excellent result. Got 'blankets' right and other key vocab (remote, rushed). Only problem is 'achieved' - it should be 'reached'.
FreeTranslation.com - five out of ten. The gist is clear but there are plenty of mistakes ('of the stretched'?)
Reverso.net - three out of ten. A poor effort. The meaning is not always clear ('meditative information') and the grammar is wayward ('did not have been able yet'!)
Conclusion: As usual, you need look no further than Google. It's disappointing that the so-called specialist sites can't do better.
