| When faced with a foreign language document | | | | alternate form to input into the engine. |
| that has landed upon our desk, unless fairly | | | | Even with no prior linguistic knowledge, online |
| proficient in the source language, many of us will | | | | translations are very often more than sufficient |
| be temporarily taken aback. Whether we have a | | | | to give one at least an inkling of a texts' meaning; |
| basic knowledge of the language or none at all, | | | | a major attraction of online translations though, is |
| we will then be faced with a choice - whether to | | | | that an online translation is free and for many |
| opt for a free online translation or a professional | | | | businesses and private individuals, a free |
| translation. | | | | approximation of a text suffices well enough. |
| An online translation can be a legitimate aid to | | | | There are of course, circumstances where an |
| linguistic decipherment. It is especially useful in | | | | approximate translation is not acceptable and in |
| instances where one already has a basic | | | | these instances, you are best advised to take up |
| knowledge of the source language but not quite | | | | the services of a company that can provide |
| enough to translate the entire corpus of the text. | | | | professional document translation services. |
| In most cases, a simple substitution of words | | | | One such circumstance is when attempting to |
| from one language to another carried out by the | | | | translate an English document into another |
| online translator, although very mechanical in its | | | | language. This is invariably done for business |
| output (being as it is, a dictionary based word | | | | purposes and as with everything that a company |
| substitution), will enable one to use existing | | | | produces, its quality, or lack thereof, will directly |
| knowledge combined with previously unknown | | | | reflect upon your business' reputation. |
| translated words, to arrive at a satisfactory | | | | The other obvious circumstance where only a |
| approximation of the whole. | | | | professional translation is acceptable is whenever |
| With previous knowledge of a language one is able | | | | any type of legal, financial, medical, technical or |
| to bypass the main weakness of online translation | | | | business critical translation is required. The 'bottom |
| engines; as previously mentioned many of the | | | | line' with these types of documents is that |
| translation engine's algorithms carry out a | | | | anything other than a clear and accurate |
| dictionary based translation. As you can imagine | | | | translation that conveys not only the document's |
| though, this might not always produce a | | | | meaning but also the original intent behind the text |
| translated output with regard to the many | | | | is a sure road to business disaster. |
| tenses, conjugations or cases (e.g. nominative, | | | | In summary, it can be fairly said that; if a linguistic |
| accusative and dative), common to most foreign | | | | 'guesstimate' will suffice, then an online translation |
| languages. In these cases only a prior knowledge | | | | will see you through. For anything that really |
| of a language will enable one to isolate the root | | | | matters though, you had best seek the services |
| verb or case components in order to arrive at an | | | | of a professional translator! |