The best online translation tools and why you shouldn’t use them for texts on your website: The technology is wonderful, and it is so advanced that nowadays we can even use it to be able to communicate in situ in different languages. I was amazed when, on a trip to Russia where nobody knew how to answer me in English, the Google translator (in its offline version) allowed me to communicate with family people or others and survive during my first night there.
The Best Online Translation Tools
For this reason, today I would like to recommend you the best online translation tools from my point of view. I have used them all, and my experience with each of them has been exceptional. It is increasingly common for companies to demand to receive their translations with very tight delivery dates, something that causes translators to have to work in record time. To streamline your work, there are Computer-Aided Translation (CAT) tools.
How Do Online Translation Tools Work?
TAO tools allow translators to perform the translation process more quickly and store them in translation memories and then reuse them in future translations when repetitions are found in the content. Thus, these tools allow:
- Translate faster, extracting full or partial suggestions from your translation memory when you need it.
- Have a rigorous consistency of terminology and style.
- Translate by segments or phrases that make the process more visual, quick, and easy.
- Save the translations made in the translation memory.
Let’s see three of the most relevant on the market and their characteristics:
What Are the Best Online Translation Tools?
Online translators are really useful for day-to-day tasks. I constantly use them myself at work as a communication manager because every week, I receive emails in different languages. If you decide to use one, these are the best online translation tools in my experience.
1. Google Translate
It is the first online translation tool that you will find if you search for the word ‘translator’ in Google (as expected). You don’t even have to enter a website since Google itself gives you the option to translate from the search engine itself. Currently, the platform has 103 languages. It is a truly wonderful tool that can translate text, video, images, and voice in real-time.
The platform itself can detect the language you are trying to translate and has applications for iOS and Android (compatible with 50 and 90 languages respectively) that work offline, which saved my life in Russia on my first night there (thanks Google!). Finally, its free version is limited to 5,000 characters: more than enough for the use that we are going to give it.
2. Trados
It is one of the best-known computer-assisted best online translation tools on the market, with more than 185,000 users worldwide. Created by SDL, a company specialized in managing customer experiences. These are some of the outstanding features that the tool offers:
- Simplified project management system, which allows you to manage languages, files, and dates in one place.
- The system recognizes the location and context of words and phrases to offer the best translation.
- Independent or integrated terminology management system.
3. Collins Dictionary Translator
With more than 30 languages at our disposal, just like Google’s. The Collins Dictionary translator can automatically detect the source language and also gives us the option of listening to the pronunciation of the word we translate, which is really useful when We have any doubts in this regard.
4. Deepl Translator
I am really a fan of this online translator that can translate up to 42 languages. It seems to be one of the most powerful because it has translations that really come close to what is grammatically correct in each language. At least that’s the case of translations from Other Language to English. I understand that you use very advanced artificial intelligence tools, and it shows. I highly recommend it for translations from Other Language to English and vice versa.
5. Wordfast
With more than 25,000 users, this company, based in France, produces the second most used translation memory in the world. Wordfast is basically a collection of Word macros that uses translation memories similar to those of Trados. Process files in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access.
- Intuitive interface based on Microsoft Word.
- Access to an extensive database for terminology management.
- Integration capability with multiple external resources s as dictionaries and machine translation tools.
A very important feature of this translation program is that the free version can be used indefinitely, but in this case, the translation memory is limited to 500 segments. For reference, the demo version of the TRADOS memory is limited to 100 segments.
6. Word Reference
Although it is not a real-time translator like the ones mentioned above, Word Reference is a benchmark (worth the redundancy) in terms of word translation and meaning search. I have personally had many doubts, especially regarding false friends, phrasal verbs, and phrases made.
This platform not only translates words but also provides very useful examples (for example, of how to use that word in a sentence) and offers synonyms of the word or phrase. It is an essential tool for me, and it should be for any Other Language speaker who is learning English.
7. Linguee
I’ve been finding out quite a bit about which are the best online translation tools, and I was very surprised that almost all the lists overlook Linguee. This multilingual dictionary works as a search engine. As with all online translators, you can choose a source language and a target language.
When doing your search, the platform will give you access to hundreds of translations made by people on various websites, blogs, and online platforms.
It is especially useful to me when I have doubts about the syntax of a phrase because the fact that newspapers, academic texts, or trusted websites use phrases similar to mine seems to be a guarantee that a sentence is well written.
It is a tool that I use constantly, and specifically, it helps me a lot to check that the prepositions I use are correct. If you are another Language-speaking English speaker, I know you empathize with me. The way to know which preposition to use in each case is long! But in Linguee you will find a great ally 🙂
Other translators or Google translator?
There is no doubt about the usefulness of this type of online translation tools. However, when communicating an idea, concept, or message in a professional way, you should rethink whether they are the best option to translate your texts from one language to another.
Being bilingual, I am aware of the lack of tools such as the Google translator to translate texts correctly. Without a doubt, if we want to use them to avoid starvation in Russia or because we have any doubts about any word, they are more than recommended. Now, if we try to translate a sentence with subject, verb, and predicate for professional use, the story changes. Do not say if the phrase we use is subordinate.
It is worth mentioning that the grammar of each language in the world is different. Each language has its own rules, and despite the fact that online translators are very helpful at certain times, there is still a lot for them to translate a sentence complying with the grammar of each language.
Conclusion
The conclusion is clear. The online translation tools are fantastic, I am a huge fan myself, and I use them all the time. However, when it comes to translating the texts on your website or professional platform, I highly recommend trusting a professional.
If you’re from the class that only names Google Translate as a translation tool, you’re in the right place! Sprachcaffe members want to tell you their tricks to translate from one language to another with some ease, as we believe that it is important and beneficial to share our knowledge on the subject for those who are looking for ways to improve their language learning. Do you join us?
