Eric Salahub
Eric.Salahub@orst.edu

Before I set out to review Easy Translator, I had no experience with translation software. This lack of context made setting an evaluative benchmark a difficult task. On one horizon sat the sublime science fiction promise of Star Trek's Universal Translator and on the other the incomprehensibility of trying to read an unfamiliar language. I decided that a good place to start the review was Easy Translator's own promise of competence, "Computers can't always produce perfect translations. Sometimes computer translations are awkward or even humorous. But for casual documents and for getting the gist of text in other languages, Easy Translator translates with the accuracy and quality you need." In my estimation, this is reasonable as a minimum criteria for evaluating translation software; after-all, any insight into an otherwise unreadable language is an accomplishment. Beyond this baseline, however, I believe that for translation software to be useable in any productive way, it must offer a translation that enables the reader to meaningfully engage the text. That is, the comprehensive foothold into the text granted by the software must be sufficient to allow the reader to formulate questions and begin a dialog.

Attributes and Functionality:

Easy Translator offers language translation between English, Spanish, German, and French. Running the software opens a floating menu bar from which two translation functions are accessible. The "Clipboard" function performs the indicated translation on any text that has been copied to the clipboard (Windows 95). The "Web" function is utilized once a Web page is loaded. The translated Web page retains all images and active links. The software also contains a grammar reference document for each of the four languages.

I found the software very user friendly from the installation process to the actual translations. The floating menu was unobtrusive and functional. The translation process was slow on my machine, a 75Mhz Pentium with 16 megs of RAM. Using the "clipboard" method, the translation of the e-mail document I used in this review took 2 minutes while the translation of the Web page using the "Web" feature, took almost 24 minutes.

In testing the performance of Easy Translator I endeavored to simulate how the software might actually be used in the practice of philosophy; I relied on two cases. The first case involved translating and reading a Spanish language e-mail which was posted to an environmental issues newsgroup. The second case focused on a German language Web site which detailed philosophy resources on the Internet. In both cases the author supplied an English language version of their text. For each case, my method consisted of a comparison of three documents: the original, the supplied English version, and the translation performed by the Easy Translator software.

Case #1: The Spanish Language Newsgroup Posting

I believe that Easy Translator met its own benchmark in translating Spanish to English in this relatively non-technical e-mail. Though the translation was a bit awkward, I was able to follow the general meaning of the e-mail. Here are brief comparative excerpts:

Original Spanish version

Métodos

1. Auto-educación en materia de desarrollo sustentable a nivel municipal, regional y global, tomando en cuenta las diversas perspectivas culturales y sociales, y utilizando como punto de partida los elementos de Reconocimiento por Alta Sustentabilidad de la COCEF.

Methods

1. Car-education in matter of development sustentable to municipal level, regional and global, taking into account the diverse social and cultural perspectives, and utilizing like point of departure the elements of Recognition by High Sustentabilidad of the COCEF.

English Version supplied by the original author

Methods

1. Self-education of sustainable development at a local, regional and global level, taking into account different cultural and social perspectives, using BECC High Sustainability Recognition elements as a starting point.

The obvious limitation of the software is apparent in the contextual mis-translation of "auto" to "car." With this exception, however, I think you will agree that Easy Translator has more than met its modest goal of giving the reader the "gist" of what was intended. It is also apparent that the software has met my more rigorous (albeit vague) requirement of enabling critical engagement with the text. Based on the software's translation, one could certainly compose a response to the author asking for clarification.

Case #2: The German Language Web Site:

http://www.uni-jena.de/~xnx/tabula_rasa.html

I was less impressed with the software's translation from German to English. Again, here are brief comparative excerpts:

Original German Version

Die TABULA RASA hat zwei Hauptanliegen: Zum einen ein informelles Forum zu bieten, auf dem erste wissenschaftliche Krabbel- und Gehversuche gemacht werden koennen, zum anderen wollen wir aber auch wissenschaftliche Arbeiten in einem Stadium der Diskussion zugänglich machen, wo die Thesen noch nicht bis ins Letzte abgeklärt sind.

Easy Translator's English Version

The TABULA RASA has two head concern: to the one an informelles forum to offer, accessibly want to make, on which first scientific krabbel- can be made and Gehversuche, to the other we however also scientific work in a stage of the discussion where the theses are not yet into the last abgeklärt.

Our two main concerns are: a) to offer an informal forum where first (second, third,...) steps into science can be brought to a wider public with the hope to raise comments and criticism, b) to publish scientific papers at a stage, where the patterns of argument and the main statements are not yet fully established.

Based on my experience with Easy Translator's German to English translations the software does meet its own modest goal of providing a reader a general "gist" of what a document says. As to my benchmark of allowing a reader to meaningfully engage the text, I assess marginal attainment at best.

Over-all I was pleased with the performance of Easy Translator. It falls far short of meeting the sublime promise of unfettered cross-lingual communication but it offers significantly more functional utility than might be expected. From my standpoint as a working philosopher and educator, I am excited by the potential shown by Easy Translator.

Easy Translator retails for $129.00. More information on this product is available from the Transcend Web page.

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