An alternative to Google translate

[NormanH]

I don't use Google translate for French, but for those that do there is a newish alternative for French-English here:

https://www.deepl.com/translator

[Alan Zoff]

I have just tried it, Norman. Seems to work well with quite natural translations of some tricky phrases.

[NormanH]

I thought it was quite good, but it is of course limited to a few European languages.

[suein56]

Seems nifty to me .. so thank you Norman.

I often have quite awkward stuff to translate and whilst I fairly often use Google-translate to give me an overall view it really doesn't handle ne + que plus other similar phrases at all well so I am happy to have a (better) option.

Sue

[alittlebitfrench]

I never bother with these things.

[pomme]

There is an article on it in the latest Connexion France news https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/New-online-translator-more-powerful-than-Google with some a a link to a le Monde article comparing various translation services. In general, Google was still better.

[NormanH]

If it's in the Correction it's usually wrong.[:D]

How that keeps going I will never know..

The Le Monde article is itself hilarious, in that it trials the translators with the Emily Dickinson poem:

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.
And comments on 
" un problème sur l’expression « will do » (« suffira », et non « fera »
Of course the correct translation of 'will do' in this sense is 'suffira' (will suffice) a
and not 'will do'  as preferred by Le Monde so that completely destroys the credibility of the journalists as capable judges
[:P]

[suein56]

ALBF wrote : I never bother with these things.

Mmm, I suppose that you don't often have to deal with nuances as I do.

Sue

[mint]

No good for translating L'invitation au voyage, then?[:)]

And no use whatsoever for describing medical symtoms either.  Because of endorsement on here, I thought I'd give it a test run.  If I used the translation provided, they'd surely send me to a secure psychiatric unit[:-))]

[Chancer]

I never use the sites either, I can read and translate 95% of the document and certainly understand the subject, context and message, there may be a couple of words to look up. When I have used a translator it has given out rubbish that makes it much harder to understand the original, when people post Google translates on forums and ask "what does this mean" I have to ask for the original to be able to answer.

 

When composing something I dont need a translator and would not dare use one having seen the results, again there may be a couple of words or phrases that I may need to look up but when I compose something mentally I am doing so in French and using the vocabulary that I have.

 

I find Linguée.fr excellent and it will often give me a better word or phrase than I would use and lots of different contexts for a word or phrase.

 

Even at the very beginning I would not use web translations, they were frankly appalling back then.

[Chancer]

I tried both the site recommended and Google translate with Mints tagline, both gave good results but Google was pretty much spot on

 

Original text:

 

On dit souvent que l'on craint ce que l'on ne connaît pas. Je crois plutôt que la peur naît quand on apprend un jour ce que la veille on ignorait encore.
Philippe CLAUDEL in Les Âmes grises

Deepl:

 

It is often said that we fear what we do not know. Rather, I believe that fear is born when one learns one day what one did not know before.
Philippe CLAUDEL in Les Âmes grises

 

Google:

 

It is often said that we fear what we do not know. I rather believe that fear arises when one learns one day what the day before was still unknown.
Philippe CLAUDEL in The Souls gray

[mint]

Agree with everything you have said, Chance.  I have NEVER used a translation tool for the very reasons that you have outlined.

You always do know when someone has used a translation site because, guess what, they make English into a foreign language whose meaning is totally obscure[:)]

Like you, I use wordreference or similar for the odd word or phrase and, like you, right from the beginning, I wrote letters, emails, spoke, using the vocabulary and sentence constructions that I do know.  I might have to repeat myself but, in the main, I got understood.  Don't get the same problem understanding or making myself understood these days and I put it down to being brave and just making the best effort I can.

What a good idea to use that little quotation from Philippe Claudel's novel.  You know, I have never actually translated it word for word.  I "get" the meaning as I read novels and papers and don't translate into English unless it's something particularly difficult.  I also agree that Google does it better[:)]

Edit: One very tiny niggle, I'd say " I believe, rather, that..............etc"

[alittlebitfrench]

[quote user="Chancer"]

I never use the sites either, I can read and translate 95% of the document and certainly understand the subject, context and message, there may be a couple of words to look up. When I have used a translator it has given out rubbish that makes it much harder to understand the original, when people post Google translates on forums and ask "what does this mean" I have to ask for the original to be able to answer.

 

When composing something I dont need a translator and would not dare use one having seen the results, again there may be a couple of words or phrases that I may need to look up but when I compose something mentally I am doing so in French and using the vocabulary that I have.

 

I find Linguée.fr excellent and it will often give me a better word or phrase than I would use and lots of different contexts for a word or phrase.

 

Even at the very beginning I would not use web translations, they were frankly appalling back then.

[/quote]

@ Chancer

I said that in one sentence. lol.

My new glasses are good.

[NormanH]

[quote user="mint"]No good for translating L'invitation au voyage, then?[:)]

And no use whatsoever for describing medical symtoms either.  Because of endorsement on here, I thought I'd give it a test run.  If I used the translation provided, they'd surely send me to a secure psychiatric unit[:-))]

[/quote]

Literary translation isn't quite the same thing. There are many factors in addition to the simple literal meaning..

I am surprised that the sites don't work well for medical symptoms however.

I would have thought that that is a fairly technical  vocabulary that can be given quite closely. When I used to coach Doctors in Montpellier it was always the 'small talk' that they got wrong rather the medical things that they got wrong; for example the difference in tone between 'what is the matter/problem,' and 'what happened to you' which rather implies and accident or incident than an illness..

[suein56]

Chancer wrote : I find Linguée.fr excellent and it will often give me a better word or phrase than I would use and lots of different contexts for a word or phrase.

I agree and I thank you every day for the recommendation you gave about it umpteen years ago but ... lots of the references it uses are from Canada ... which, in itself, is not bad but it doesn't always sit well with my well-educated group of French people who want to be able to communicate in 'good' English when they ask me how they can say 'so and so' in acceptable/current English.

Research is never easy ... but fascinating quand même.

Edit : just found the L in DeepL stands for Linguée.

http://www.rtl.fr/culture/futur/deepl-le-traducteur-en-ligne-de-linguee-qui-pretend-surpasser-google-translate-7789879025

Sue