does anybody know of any good instant translation sites? I wanted to do an English-Chinese translation but the Chinese on a lot of sites now comes up has little boxed numbers, whereas I'd like to see the genuine symbols many thanks
Computers are crap at translating. I know because I'm bi-lingual and I've had lots of laughs using computers to translate.
The most brilliant thing is to take a phrase you consider simple in your own language, use a computer to translate it into another language and then use a computer to translate it back again.
Try it and have a laugh.
Those little boxed numbers are shown because you don't have the software to display Chinese characters - computers that do have the software show the characters properly.
As already said , online translators are rubbish. They literally translate into the simplest meaning of the word without taking grammar into account.
For example, babelfish translates 'He worked with dogged determination' into
他与顽固决断一起使用
It translates it back to
He uses together with the stubborn resolution
Sid The google toolbar now has a translation tab on it that translates english into many languages,chinese simplified/traditional included,its really simple to use aswell.
I love the bad translations that computers give sometimes though... instruction..... errr well normally leaflets! are great sometimes, my favourite so far is; "the volume shall be moved so to cause the listeners ears happiness"