Interaction with google translate or other translation software

[Aldarin]

Even with the questionable quality of translation programs, SE will probably never use a third-party translator due to terms of use conditions on products. This means that they would need to go into negotiations with the third-party company in order to determine acceptable product use and would most likely cost money. For such a small part of the game that has had little complaints that is not likely to happen. The most likely response to complaints about translation issues would be to expand the auto-translator in game.

[Sidicas]

Google Translate is worthless...

The Japanese know written English well... Know more English than you probably think.. You are better off writing English.. Keep sentences short... As I am now... Makes it easier to understand... You should have no problem.

[Kaedan]

I speak Japanese, and I can tell you that Google translate is very, very bad. It can screw up even the simplest of things.

The auto translate feature is actually pretty good. You'll be able to communicate much better if you just stick with using that rather than trying to use the crap which is google translate.

[Grit]

I don't think the answer to the problem is to integrate any sort of online translator into the game. In addition to being difficult-to-develop.. it's just shouldn't be necessary.

The answer is to add a Full-screen mode that has Alt-tab functionality. Then you can copy text from the game, freely tab to your google translator window, paste it, and vise-versa. Cntrl+C and Cntrl+V required.

Most of the time the in-game translator is good enough. So the need to alt-tab to your browser for a google translate isn't that much of a hassle.

[Reika]

I believe the major problem people have (and dont know about) with google translate is - you have to write properly and spell all your words correctly ^^. Try translating "I do not have time to play with you." then try translating "I dont have time to play with you."

You will find they have different results, the second one sounding very funny ^^ all because there is no ' in the don't. "I don't have time to play with you." will also give proper results. The difference between Google Translate and more sophisticated software like Babylon is Babylon wont even try to translate the word if you mispell it, Google will throw something in there and make it look like it was properly translated. You still have to spell and write properly even with Babylon tho ^^/

My point is, there is no real problem with Google translate. Just write in your language PROPER and you will yield positive results ^^ not perfect at all, but better than gibberish and your message is more likely to get across.

Babylon is like.... Perfect as long as you write properly, so be like me and fork over some monies for great translations lol. (not, it still wont tanslate 'Broken' language)

[Soukyuu]

My argument against machine translation: Once I tried to translate a Japanese sentence to English. The Japanese version was something along the lines of "where do you live?" or something, i don't remember the exact wording anymore. For some absurd reason, the English version came out as "are you living in a cave?".

So no, full sentence machine translation is bad. At least when you translate word per word and keep you sentences short, there shouldn't be any misunderstandings.

[NICKYMON]

Although I am happy with the current system, it would be nice to bridge the gaps between the communities of players and tools like this could help do that. After all, we're all playing together.

[Altaeiu]

To extend on this idea, I think it would be good to make this "google translate" thing as an add on. This is so people who want it, can have it. Google translate isn't exactly perfect but its something. Babel fish is pretty good, that is, if its still there. The problem is, adding anything extra to the interface might cause problems. The interface is so crowded I don't know where they would put it. It may or may not affect game lag or interface lag (doubt it). Or it could just be a little button uptop called "translate". I don't think they could use the google translate program though. I think they will need to make their own which might be a time waster. Of course, I think that's what auto-translate is, isn't it?

[OJtheLIONKing]

Google translate is fairly bad. I sometimes do translation on visual novels as a side hobby and I use a translation aggregator to help on tough sentences, and google translate is almost never right. It's probably the one product from google I can't really depend on to do its job well, at least with Japanese.

However, the base idea is ok. Another thread mentioned addons, maybe if they allow sanctioned third party addons someone can make one that works stuffs furigana in for those of us who can understand Japanese but aren't too good with Kanji, and/or something that can translates selected lines from the chat log.

As far as official options, the issues with third-party companies and their translation software have been mentioned already, and dedicating man hours to program and money to license the software many people might not use is probably not the best idea right now, but possibly in the future when the game's better off.