Good news for international readers: Thanks to Google Translate, you can now read this blog in several dozen languages. Just click on the language you want in the box to the right.
(For those of you reading this via email, Google Reader, etc., here are some example links: German and Spanish.)
P.S. Kudos to the WordPress member who wrote the code for this.
Awesome. And it reads correctly in terms of meaning (not just translating word for word in a way that might not make sense), at least based on your post above.
For many years I’ve been saying that it would be great for a mostly-fluent speaker of a second language to be able to read in that language online and click on any word he doesn’t know for a translation. I don’t know whether or not that feature/application exists today (as part of Google Translate or other application). Back in 1990 when I spent a quarter on exchange in Barcelona (at IESE) during my MBA it was tedious to look up every Spanish word I didn’t know (and couldn’t figure out reliably). I’d still have to deal with the same inefficiency reading stuff in Spanish today; Google Translate will at least enable me to open a window with the translated version (or print it out) and check that way, although ideally it would be great to just click on a particular word for the dictionary translations and/or the “in context” meaning.
The above would apply to someone seeking greater fluency in the other language, but aside from that, Google Translate will enable people to read more writings from perspectives around the world, which could be great on a number of levels (business; perhaps reducing chances of international conflicts insofar as it fosters greater understanding*; etc.)
* The potential to reduce conflict somewhat is not far fetched. On a related note, just the other day I saw on CNN’s Amanpour a great segment about a Palestinian having translated into Arabic an Israeli author’s book (which itself tried to reflect both Israeli and Palestinian perspectives) with the hope of increasing understanding of the “other side’s” historical narrative related to a longstanding conflict. I don’t see the video on her show website, but here’s the transcript http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1003/11/ampr.01.html
At least in Italian the translation is really pretty lame; nouns and verbs don’t agree and metaphors are translated word for word in ways that probably don’t make any sense. This still is a work in progress.
[PS I write in English and use native Italian human translators a good deal and am fairly sensitive to these issues]
For example the translation of my PS in the last comment comes out as:
[PS scrivo in inglese e in uso nativo italiano traduttori umani un buon affare e sono abbastanza sensibili a questi temi]
PS I write in Engilsh “in use native Italian” translators “a good price” and I am somewhat “sensitive [plural]” to these issues.
It is not obvious that this would mean much to an Italian reader.
That’s too bad. Thanks for trying it out.
I noticed the “P.S.” did poorly in several of the other languages as well.
I’ll be interested to see if Google’s translation algorithm improves.
Hey, I like all your blog posts, keep them coming.