Google Online Translation Service Needs Improvements

I understand that Google is working hard on its online translation service for other languages to be translated to English language and English to other languages though we cannot expect a perfect translation from Google for a word, for a sentence or for the whole paragraph as Google Translate has its limitations.

Google Translate was introduced in 2007. It is a free service provided by Google Inc. It uses a SYSTRAN based translator which is also used by other translation services such as Babel Fish, AOL, and Yahoo. While Google Translate helps the reader to understand the general content of a foreign language text, it does not always deliver accurate translations since its service limits the number of words, paragraphs or range of technical terms that will be translated.

In addition, it does not apply grammatical rules, since its algorithms are based on statistical analysis rather than traditional rule-based analysis. Google translate is based on an approach called statistical machine translation and more specifically on research. Check Google Translate for the langauge you want to translate. This supports 58 languages so far and still counting.

The below is an example of how Google had beautifully translated my Filipino Tag-alog poem to English language.

Mahal Naming Pangulo—Meron Nabang Napatunayan?
Google: Dear President-Do Nabang Proven? Read GT Service.

Gising ang aking kaluluwa
Gising ang aking pandama
'Ngalan mo'y isinulat ng bayan sa balota…

Google: Awake my soul
My senses awake
'Name the city ever written on the ballot ...

Ngayon ang budhi ko'y nananamlay
Nakikiusap na huwag mamamatay
Ang pag-asa na sa dugo ko'y nananalaytay...

Google: Now my conscience dejected
Pleading not to die
The hope is that my blood flows ...

I am happy that there is Google Translate who can help the readers to understand the general content of a foreign language text but after reading the way GT translated on my works - I felt ashamed first to myself and to people who happened visited and read my blog written in Filipino language - who used GT to translate my works. However, that embarrassment did not change my willingness to continue my blogging hobby and I promised to myself to learn English and work to improve them!

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