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Friday 24 September 2010

Google translator Ruins Swahili-English Meaning

Many people have been laughing when reviewing or translating swahili words into English by using google translator...
I did not pay critical attention regarding these translations until recently when I tried to translate what I had written using google translator.

What came out of it... ugh!....senseless meaning, in fact, if you know well swahili language, you may think something is wrong with your computer or your eyes :-)

It is my hope that google company will review swahili vocabularly and put more appropriate words to enable appropriate translation.

7 comments:

Subi Nukta said...

It's really laughable.
I usually have fun with it when bored of if I want to find some online fun, and drift away from 'some seriousness' the best texts to translate are the "scam messages" LOL ha ha, they sent me one and that's how I knew they target Swahili speakers by using these free translating tools.
There is an Indian blogger who also posted that Google translation in their language was also funny. So I guess it applies to all languages, we have to help them make it better (anybody with a volunteering spirit? or nothing for free from the GIANT web? nhe he - money talks).

NB: Are you aware of "natoka Tanzania" and it translated to "departed from Kenya"?
see here and here

EDNA said...

Hahaaa,this is real fun.

emu-three said...

Its real fun, but is it for fun? Something must be done...!

Simon Kitururu said...

Subi I have the same habit when bored.:-)

Does anybody seriously trust Google translator?

John Mwaipopo said...

the whole issue of translating from a source language to a target language is complicating even for a human transolator. apart from being funny, google translator is a good attempt, although it should not be trusted fully. you could use it for starting. it's helpful when you know the grammatical matrices of your target language but you fall short of content words.

i didn't know its operation until this post http://issamichuzi.blogspot.com/2010/03/globu-ya-jamii-kwa-kiinglishi.html

nilicheka mpaka basi

Subi Nukta said...

Mtakatifu Simoni, nafurahi kufahamu kuwa katika kundi simo mwenyewe nhe he, nimefurahi.

Mpendwa John, nhe he, yaani ukitaka kufa mbavu, we nenda kwenye hii linki, http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&sl=sw&tl=en#sw|en| halafu bandika hapo kwenye kiboksi linki ya web/blog yoyote unayotaka mfano "mwaipopo.blogspot.com" halafu hit 'Translate', subiri kidogo uone majibu yanayoshushwa, utakufa mbavu ucheke hadi cha keshokutwa yake.

chib said...

Pia usisahau, google translator inachekesha, ukiweka translate page, hata kama ni ya kiingereza, mradi tu pale imeandikwa swahili to english, basi unaweza kufa mbavu, kwani ina-translate kiingereza kwenga kiingereza kwa assumptions ya kiswahili kwenda kiingereza, maana yote inavurugika.
I am very happy to share experience for thjose of you who has been using translator, I had never done before in a serious manner, ha ha haaaa, mpaka