Poll: Do you think that the shutdown of Google Translate API will be beneficial to translators? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you think that the shutdown of Google Translate API will be beneficial to translators?".
View the poll results »
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Why are they shutting it down anyway?
Does that mean that I wouldn't be able to contribute to KudoZ anymore by suggesting waaaay-off-the-track answers in my non-working language pairs using Google Translate?
| | | | | Makes no difference | Jun 2, 2011 |
That seems to be a missing option in the poll.
I don't think it had any effect whatsoever on the translation profession.
[Edited at 2011-06-02 08:30 GMT]
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 18:58
Spanish to English
+ ...
I'm afraid I "don't do" acronyms unless they are spelled out for me. I don't know what API stands for.
Google translate is a handy tool, although unfortunately universal access leaves it wide open and routinely abused by (my hobby horse again, excuse the repetition) usually non-native or poorly qualified translators who, for whatever reason, see fit to offer their services translating into a language other than their own, or fields with which they are not sufficiently cognizant. Th... See more I'm afraid I "don't do" acronyms unless they are spelled out for me. I don't know what API stands for.
Google translate is a handy tool, although unfortunately universal access leaves it wide open and routinely abused by (my hobby horse again, excuse the repetition) usually non-native or poorly qualified translators who, for whatever reason, see fit to offer their services translating into a language other than their own, or fields with which they are not sufficiently cognizant. The results are all too familiar to "real" translators - less work all round, more pressure driving rates down, unfair competition, poor quality (and often laughable) end products... more requests for "correction/proofing/post-editing"... and often at derisory rates. See the job offers section here for daily evidence of the same.
But now that it's out there, we may simply have to live with it, and I must admit that I've used Google-T myself on occasion (yesterday, to make a joke in Valenciano about a new ruling from the University that their name is to feature only in Valenciano - or Southern Catalonian if you prefer- even in translated papers).
So, despite all of the above, and in line with the notion that where translation aids are concerned, "the more the merrier" - I'd have to say no, since it would be one less weapon in our armoury. And weapons don't kill - people do that.
[Edited at 2011-06-02 09:00 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Fiona Kirton 
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:58
Spanish to English
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| Acronym explained | Jun 2, 2011 |
neilmac wrote:
I'm afraid I "don't do" acronyms unless they are spelled out for me. I don't know what API stands for.
[Edited at 2011-06-02 09:00 GMT]
API stands for Application Programmer Interface and it allows you to integrate one piece of code into another. The API has nothing to do with the Google Translate web page, which isn't affected at all by all of this (as far as I know).
| | | | Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 18:58
Member (2006)
German to English
those who dont know what it is
| | | | RominaZ
Argentina
English to Spanish
+ ...
| News coverage and opinion | Jun 2, 2011 |
Hi,
I've noticed that so far over 15% of the voters in this poll indicated they didn't know Google Translate API was being deprecated. Here are some links to the news and to some of the o... See more
| | | | Allison Wright (X)
Portugal
Local time: 17:58
| A miniscule pebble | Jun 2, 2011 |
in a very big lake.
[Edited at 2011-06-02 14:05 GMT]
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 18:58
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Allison Wright wrote:
in a very big lake.
Nothing to add here.
| | | | James McVay
United States
Local time: 12:58
Russian to English
+ ...
| Affects mainly translators | Jun 2, 2011 |
OmegaT and Wordfast Anywhere both use this API, and there are probably other CAT tools using it that I'm not aware of.
It's especially useful for someone like me who translates material with a lot of foreign place names and personal names from a language that uses a non-Roman script. Russian, for example, spells non-Russian names not written in Cyrillic phonetically, for the most part. Google Translate and the Google Translate API render the overwhelming majority of them into the ... See more OmegaT and Wordfast Anywhere both use this API, and there are probably other CAT tools using it that I'm not aware of.
It's especially useful for someone like me who translates material with a lot of foreign place names and personal names from a language that uses a non-Roman script. Russian, for example, spells non-Russian names not written in Cyrillic phonetically, for the most part. Google Translate and the Google Translate API render the overwhelming majority of them into the original spelling. They have saved me a lot of head scratching, research and KudoZ questions.
I will still be able to use Google Translate, of course. However, it doesn't insert the spelling into a segment automatically, whereas Google Translate API does, saving me a step.
I just took a quick glance at Google Translator Toolkit -- I hadn't done that before. I see it does a lot of the things Wordfast Anywhere does. That is, it looks like an online CAT tool complete with TM and glossary. The confidentiality angle needs to be investigated, though.
[Edited at 2011-06-02 13:12 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Is it bad that... | Jun 2, 2011 |
I've never heard of Google Translate API?
| | | | | no difference | Jun 2, 2011 |
James McVay wrote:
OmegaT and Wordfast Anywhere both use this API, and there are probably other CAT tools using it that I'm not aware of.
It's especially useful for someone like me who translates material with a lot of foreign place names and personal names from a language that uses a non-Roman script. Russian, for example, spells non-Russian names not written in Cyrillic phonetically, for the most part. Google Translate and the Google Translate API render the overwhelming majority of them into the original spelling. They have saved me a lot of head scratching, research and KudoZ questions.
I will still be able to use Google Translate, of course. However, it doesn't insert the spelling into a segment automatically, whereas Google Translate API does, saving me a step.
I just took a quick glance at Google Translator Toolkit -- I hadn't done that before. I see it does a lot of the things Wordfast Anywhere does. That is, it looks like an online CAT tool complete with TM and glossary. The confidentiality angle needs to be investigated, though.
[Edited at 2011-06-02 13:12 GMT]
According to Mr Champollion, WF users won't have any problem. If you use google translate as your MT engine through WF, you will be able to continue using it.
Check WF yahoo groups
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 18:58
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Thanks for the explanation Fiona | Jun 2, 2011 |
[Edited at 2011-06-02 09:00 GMT] [/quote]
API stands for Application Programmer Interface and it allows you to integrate one piece of code into another. The API has nothing to do with the Google Translate web page, which isn't affected at all by all of this (as far as I know). [/quote]
I googled it after posting but Fiona's explanation was interesting, I didn't realise it could be integrated into websites and iphones etc...
The Google Translate web... See more
[Edited at 2011-06-02 09:00 GMT] [/quote]
API stands for Application Programmer Interface and it allows you to integrate one piece of code into another. The API has nothing to do with the Google Translate web page, which isn't affected at all by all of this (as far as I know). [/quote]
I googled it after posting but Fiona's explanation was interesting, I didn't realise it could be integrated into websites and iphones etc...
The Google Translate web page is still a nice little freeby to have available. ▲ Collapse
| | | | James McVay
United States
Local time: 12:58
Russian to English
+ ...
Thanks for the info, Graciela. That's encouraging.
Meanwhile, I did a short translation today using Google Translate Toolkit and liked it. The kind of work I've been doing lately doesn't benefit from a TM. Nothing ever repeats except the authors' names. It is nice to have a concordance search, though. Both WF Anywhere and Google Toolkit support that in a global TM, but I found that Google Toolkit's global TM content is closer to what I'm translating
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