Free Online Translation

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Online Translators for German

Translation Pages • 1: imTranslator.net • 2: Babel Fish • 3: InterTran • 4: WorldLingo • 5: FreeTranslation.com • 6: Google Translation • 7: Ectaco Dictionary

Related Resources • Annotated E-G Glossaries • A Perfect German Translation? • Translation Software • Dictionaries • Germanic Genealogy • Translation Resources • Translators/Services

We're still a long way from anything even close to HAL in "2001" or the universal translator in "Star Trek." The current state of machine/computer translation software—on the Web or on your PC—leaves a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, today's translation programs can be helpful, as long as you understand what they can and cannot do. If you expect to be able to feed any of these programs text in language A and have it produce a polished, grammatically correct language B translation, then you're in for some serious disappointment. As any student of German who has tried this for homework knows, such translations are almost always seriously flawed and require human intervention... and some serious editing. For various reasons, part or all of machine translations can end up as total gibberish. (To find out why, see the articles under "Related Resources" on the right.) But sometimes a "rough draft" translation is all you need, or it makes a good start for a more polished translation.

On the next few pages we have saved you the trouble of looking all over the Web for free online translation. Since some of them use different translation "engines," you may find that one of these free translators does a better job than another. Some also offer more language choices (all include German). But while the resulting translation may be OK, it's very dangerous to assume that it's good enough to use "as is." And remember that "free" is often worth the price (although expensive translation software is rarely much better than cheaper versions).

If you require more serious, professional translation services, some of the free sites offer such services. Also see the many listings we have in our Translating German category. You'll also find more resources for translation and translation software under "Related Resources" above.

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