Is It A Good Idea To Use Free, Online Translation Tools?

You should never rely on free, automatic online translation tools that have sprung up on a number of sites and purport to translate English into any number of major world languages, or these foreign languages into English. This is certainly the case if you need to produce official translations, write articles for publication, or even for translating your personal website into another language.

Online, instant translation services are highly inexact and they will frequently translate your words literally, without much regard for context and cultural variations in the use of a specific word. As such, in most cases, you will find yourself with--at best--a very poor translation and at worst, with one that is almost totally incomprehensible. The only time you might want to consider using an online translation tool is if you already speak the given language, but you just want to write a quick letter or e-mail and would like to see a second opinion in terms of how it can be written in another language. In this case, you will be able to take the online translation and correct any glaring mistakes.