Google translating Maltese
by di-ve.com - editorial@di-ve.comCurrent Affairs -- 02 February 2009 -- 10:00CEST
The Maltese language is the latest addition to Google Translate, Google’s free online machine translation service.
Google announced the addition of 7 languages – Maltese, Albanian, Estonian, Galician, Hungarian, Thai and Turkish – to its translator on Saturday.
A quick test reveals that the translation is not completely accurate – the translated Maltese anthem asks to “rodd the thing to the owner”, among other things – though Google itself says that “even today’s most sophisticated software doesn’t approach the fluency of a native speaker or possess the skill of a professional translator”.
To improve the quality of translation, the company said, it required large amounts of bilingual or multilingual text, and asked potential contributors to provide feedback through http://www.google.com/support/contact/?translate=1.
A quick test reveals that the translation is not completely accurate – the translated Maltese anthem asks to “rodd the thing to the owner”, among other things – though Google itself says that “even today’s most sophisticated software doesn’t approach the fluency of a native speaker or possess the skill of a professional translator”.
To improve the quality of translation, the company said, it required large amounts of bilingual or multilingual text, and asked potential contributors to provide feedback through http://www.google.com/support/contact/?translate=1.