I’ve been preparing translations for several years and I continue to be amazed by the number of organizations who use free,web-based text translators for professional translations in their business. To demonstrate why professional, human translators are superior to free online text translators, I’ll show you the difference.
Bad Translations Affect Advertising
Source text:
I help small businesses and entrepreneurs free up their time and money by working virtually, on an as-needed basis, as an event planner, business support specialist, social media guru and translator.
Source text translated into German via www.freetranslation.com:
Ich helfe Kleinbetrieb und Unternehmer machen ihre Zeit und Geld durch Arbeiten praktisch, auf einem als nötige Basis, als ein Ereignisplanungsberater, Geschäftsstützespezialist, sozialer Medienguru und Übersetzer frei.
Now I’m going to take the German text above and have it translated back into English via www.freetranslation.com. If it’s a good translation, the English should be the same as the original source text:
I help make small business and entrepreneur its time and money through works practically, on one as would compel basis when an event planning adviser, business support specialist, social medium guru and translator free.
As you can see, there are some nuances that are not captured with the free online text translator. There are even incorrect words used.
Below, I’ve translated the source text into German:
Ich helfe kleine Unternehmen und Unternehmer ihren Zeit und Geld sparen durch Fernarbeit bei Bedarf, als eine Ereignisplanungsberater, Geschaeftsstuetzespezialist, Soziale Medien guru und Uebersetzer.
I used the free, online text translator to translate my German text that I manually translated back into English:
I help small business and entrepreneur its time and money save via distance work as required as an event planning adviser, business support specialist, social media guru and translator.
As you can see, this is a significant improvement over the text translator.
How is your business translating its content into other languages? Have you had it proofread by a native speaker to ensure its accuracy?
