- What is "automatic translation"?
- What does it mean when I see "Translate this page" next to a search result?
- What languages can be translated?
- When will you support additional languages for translation?
- The translation isn't as good as I'd like it to be. Can you make it more accurate?
- Why don't all the results in translatable languages have the "Translate" link?
- I still have questions. Where can I go for more info?
It's translation that's produced automatically by state-of-the-art technology without the intervention of human translators.
What does it mean when I see "Translate this page" next to a search result?
This means you can translate the page into your search language. For example, if you do a search in your language and see a result in another language with a "Translate this page" link next to it, you can click on the link and translate that page into your language. You can return to the original version of the page by clicking on the "view original web page" link in the top frame of the translated page, or by going back to the Google results page and clicking on the large blue text link at the top of your selected result.
What languages can be translated?
Currently, Google offers the following translation pairs: English to and from Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese; and German to and from French.
When will you support additional languages for translation?
We're working to support other languages and will introduce them as soon as the automatic translation meets our standards. It's difficult to project how long this will take, as the problem is a complex one and each language presents its own unique challenges.
The translation isn't as good as I'd like it to be. Can you make it more accurate?
The translation you're seeing was produced automatically by state-of-the-art technology. Unfortunately, even today's most sophisticated software doesn't approach the fluency of a native speaker or possess the skill of a professional translator. Automatic translation is very difficult, as the meaning of words depends on the context in which they're used. Accurate translation requires an understanding of context and of the structure and rules of a language. While many engineers and linguists are working on the problem, it may be some time before anyone can offer a quick and seamless translation experience. In the interim, we hope the service we provide is useful for most purposes. If you have suggestions, we encourage you to post them in our Google Translate discussion group.
Why don't all the results in translatable languages have the "Translate" link?
We only display the "Translate" link when we're certain about the language of the selected page. Some pages may contain multiple languages or insufficient text to provide a high degree of certainty about the language in which they were written.
I still have questions. Where can I go for more information?
Please check out the Google Translate discussion group.
