Chapters
- 01. Time-Saving
- 02. Affordable
- 03. Variety Of Languages
- 04. Convenience
- 05. Google Translate
- 06. Linguee
- 07. Bing Translator
- 08. Systran
- 09. Conclusion
It can be quite challenging to learn a new language, especially if the dialect and pronunciations are far different from your native one.
That's where language translations can come in handy. They should be done as accurately as possible, especially in long sentences, because the true meaning of local expressions can easily get lost in translation.
It is reported that the industry revenue for translation and interpretation services will be approximately US$ 4.7 million by 2024. This also makes becoming a translator a practical career choice, but that'll only happen once you have mastered the foreign language.
And until you get there, online translators are a great way to learn all you need to know about a new language.
In the old days, when people had to decode a text, they would get professional help to decipher it into their language. However, in this digital era, online English tools have made it easy to interpret the entire walls of texts.
Let's have a look at several reasons why online translation tools are so useful:
Time-Saving
This is one of the biggest benefits of using online translation platforms. You can translate documents in a few seconds with just a single click instead of hiring a translating company to do the work for you.
Affordable
Online translation tools are accessible and often free to use for anyone who has access to a digital device with an Internet connection. These are great for those who do not have the money to use expensive translation services that often charge an arm and a leg and take forever to revert with the results.
Variety Of Languages
Online translation platforms can let you explore hundreds of languages. For example, Google Translate supports 108 languages and can do 37 languages via photos as well. You can also use voice commands to get translations in 32 languages. Imagine the possibilities!
Convenience
Translation websites are very easy to navigate, making them accessible and convenient for everyone.
Of course, ESL lessons give you a much better understanding of the English language, which helps to get better translations, but online translators are great when you are in a hurry.
Before we look at some of the best translation apps you can find online to help you learn English, why not Discover the best apps for learning English on your phone or tablet?
Here are some of our top favorites:
Google Translate
It is easily accessible on the web, iOS, and Android, and it's free, making it popular among the masses for its superior usability. Everyone from students to professionals count on this Google service for relatively error-free and accurate translations.
What really sets it apart from all other tools in this category is that it is very easy to use Google Translate. Just go to www.translate.google.co.uk and enter the word or phrase you want to translate to get a non-human translation in less than a second.
However, there is a downside to this app. As great as it is at translating words and short phrases, the results can turn out to be entirely wrong when it comes to longer sentences. This is because of the use of non-human translators that can't judge the meaning of complex sentences.
This is why it is better to learn English from ESL teachers and get translations from professionals because they understand different sentences and give accurate translations.
Linguee
Linguee is available in a variety of languages, including English. It has been in the market since 2007 and is one of the most popular websites among students.
Linguee is unique in its approach as a translation app. It is more accurate than Google Translate because it has a thorough database of translations that a native speaker of the language has already translated.
In fact, they also have access to a vast number of sentence pairs that are translated source texts.
So once you enter a phrase to be translated, it first understands the context, gives several choices based on it, and uses the web to look for bilingual words and phrases.
Its working mechanism is pretty basic: you enter the desired phrase or word in the search field provided, and Linguee will show various translations. However, it is not very accurate when it comes to long texts, and you can not add more than 12 words into the search bar at once.
Linguee is very efficient and accurate for vocabulary translation. It offers many options, including those that are not very common. That explains why people like to use it as a bilingual dictionary.
An ESL tutor is great at explaining translations, so you can look for ESL classes near me to get better at translations.
Bing Translator
Bing Translator was developed in 2009 by Microsoft. It is great to translate vocabulary but doesn't offer perfect results for phrases that are more than 12 words long. However, what sets it apart is the voice detection feature that translates your speech into the language of your choice.
Additionally, Bing lets you translate everything from small sentences to entire web pages. But you can't count on them to be accurate because they don't use a human translator nor consider the context behind the results.
It also has an auto-detection feature to translate words or sentences by identifying the language of origin automatically.
If you've ever used Google Translate, you won't have any trouble using Bing as it's modus operandi is pretty similar. You get two boxes; input your language and phrase into one, and you'll see the results in the other box.
Systran
The Systran translation software is available in 15 different languages, including American English.
While this software is quite popular among students, you can't count on it to provide accurate professional-grade translations because Systran uses non-human solutions to decipher the text. These services do not produce accurate renditions of everyday sayings because it doesn't consider the context.
However, Systran has in-built computer science and business dictionary. You can add new and unrecognizable words to it so that the software can recognize them in the future.
Check out these ESL classes NYC here.
Additionally, there is a dictionary that lets you find answers for words from the web. Another feature enables you to translate a web page into whichever language you want. Suppose you are taking ESL classes but are still not comfortable with English. In that case, this feature can help you render an English web page into another language of your choice.
Conclusion
Online translation tools are extremely convenient and time-saving, especially because they can be used on any device with an internet connection. However, they are not always accurate while translating. The fact that most of them use non-human translators is what makes them responsible for this inefficiency.
The apps mentioned here can find translations by putting words together, but they don't necessarily make sense because they lack an understanding of context.
However, of all the choices detailed here, we'd pick Linguee as the absolute best because it offers some human-led intelligent translations carried out with particular attention to the context. It uses human translations of vocabulary and short phrases to get the right translations.
But all in all, these online apps and automated translation services still leave a lot to be desired. That's why you can't count on them to offer expert, accurate results.
If you want professional results, you'll have to go to a professional to get things done right. In fact, if it's a language you deal in often, why not learn the basics yourself?
This will help you understand the little nuances, i.e., grammar and syntax, etc., so you can gauge if the translators did a good job or not.
Additionally, these online apps aren't suited to translating professional jargon, such as information related to aviation manuals and medical instruments. That's because these tools aren't very precise, and you need absolutely accurate translations for these that only experts can provide.
Of course, online translators save your time and money, and they are great if you only want to translate a few words or colloquial phrases. But then again, taking online ESL classes is a much smarter and reliable way to learn English, so also look into that.
If listening helps you learn a language, you should definitely look at podcasts to learn English. Additionally, you can find English tutors and ESL classes online to save time.
However, suppose you are more comfortable with face-to-face lessons. Superprof has many experienced ESL tutors who can help you learn English no matter where you live in the US.
The platform that connects tutors and students
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