If you're thinking about posting something on DU in Russian,

[MineralMan]

You might try using Google Translate to convert your English words into Russian in the Cyrillic alphabet. You can copy and paste that into your DU message. However, what you end up with might just not be what you intended.

Google Translate doesn't always give you a good translation, especially if your English words have multiple meanings or if you're just translating random words.

Here's my suggestion, if you don't actually speak Russian at all: After you do your initial translation, reverse the process and translate what Google gave you as the Russian translation back into English. If it doesn't give you your original English back, then keep trying after changing your English wording.

Google thinks literally, and may choose a Russian word that means a different meaning for one of your English words, since many words in English have multiple meanings. That can get you in trouble. Keep trying, and remember to capitalize appropriately and use punctuation if you are trying to translate a sentence. But...whatever you do, test your Google results by back-translating.

Disclaimer: I do speak Russian, courtesy of the United States Air Force, which sent me away to a full-immersion, 24/7/365 language school back in 1966. After that they gave me some things to do with that new skill. My Russian abilities have diminished after 50 years of infrequent use, but I am still conversational in the language and can read newspaper-level material. My advice here is simply designed to help people get better translations from Google.

[Adsos Letter]

1. My Russian teacher in high school learned the language in the Army.

Went to the Defense Language Institute at Monterey, California.

They taught him to speak street Russian. Spent his enlistment in Alaska, listening to Soviet fighter traffic.

He gave us a pretty decent vocabulary of cuss words, along with the other stuff.

[madamesilverspurs]

2. Good advice.

One of my college professors related a story about how new translation software was tested. He said that idioms provide the ultimate test; if a phrase was translated into another language and came back in its original form, the software worked. His favorite example of test failure was the idiom, “Out of sight, out of mind.” It was translated into Russian, and came back as “Invisible idiot.” To be on the safe side, he recommended carrying a Berlitz book.



.

[NCTraveler]

3. I went to make a post in Russian yesterday.

I don't know the first thing about the language. I used google translation for a sentence. Then I tried it in reverse. Totally different meaning. Then I used another translator. Again, different.

[NightWatcher]

4. I flunked out of Russian and I'd never try to post in Russian

Flirted with a girl, didn't pay attention to the teacher, failed miserably.

[duncang]

5. Just as a reminder

Remember dipshit donnie saying putin had called him brilliant. But even though the russian word translated to brilliant it was meant as flamboyant. So it gets pretty complicated.

[Nevernose]

6. I translate in/out of Creole a lot

Google translate barely functional, at least in Haitian. Mostly a whole lot of humans guessing. It does seem to work better if you translate one word at a time, with no tenses or conjugations.

Instead of "Let's meet at noon in my office," it has to be "Appointment. Here. Noon."

[SwissTony]

7. Even with languages reasonably close to English, Google Translate can stuff things up.

Some months ago, I was asked to translate some Dutch text into English. The people who wrote the Dutch text can speak English, but they thought a native speaker approach was better.

I tossed up as to whether getting GT to do some of the work might help me. I decided to use it. Some bits came out reasonably well. Other bits just didn't make sense and other bits actually contradicted the original text. It actually cost me more time to "translate" the GT English into English than it would have to translate the original Dutch.

[LeftInTX]

8. It messes up Spanish gender alot

I don't know why

[MineralMan]

9. What I've found in using Google Translate to

translate English into language with which I'm familiar is that how I write the English text makes all the difference. I've done a lot of this, because back a few years, I was selling mineral specimens to collectors all over the world.

What I learned was to avoid any word in English that had multiple meanings, and to write short, simple, direct sentences. By watching what I wrote initially very carefully, I finally learned how to write business letters in English that back-translated perfectly. It took a while to develop that way of writing, but it worked very well, and I often got compliments on my ability to write in Russian, French, Spanish and German. Of course, I didn't actually write in any of those languages, but I did write in English with those languages in mind.

If I can't speak conversationally in a language, though, I don't attempt this trick. I need to be able to check the translated result for myself. Even back-translation isn't adequate if it's not a language you already know.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

10. If you are thinking about placing something in DU in Russian,

You can try to use the Google Translate for the translation of your English words into Russian in Cyrillics. You can copy and insert it into the message of DU. Nevertheless, what you finally can be just not that you wanted.

Google Translator not always gives you good translation, especially if your English words have several values or if you just translate casual words.

There is my offer if you actually don't speak Russian at all: after your initial translation, cancel process and translate what Google has given you as Russian translation into English. If he doesn't give you the original English, continue to try after change of the English formulation.

Google thinks literally and can choose the Russian word which means other value for one of your English words as many words in English have several values. It can cause in you troubles. Continue to try and you remember that it is necessary to use correctly a letter and to use a punctuation if you try to translate the sentence. But... what you did, check the results of Google by back translation.

Denial of responsibility: I speak Russian, is kindly provided to the Air Force of the United States which has sent me to full-scale 24/7/365 language school in 1966. After that they have allowed me something to make with this new skill. My Russian abilities have decreased after 50 years of infrequent use, but I still talk in this language and I can read newspaper materials. My council is simply developed here to help people to improve the translation with Google.

[MineralMan]

11. Looks like you translated my OP into Russian and then back-translated.

It didn't turn out TOO badly. However I was not writing for Google translation when I wrote that. Had I been trying, The translation would look a lot better, I'm sure.

Nice illustration of what I was trying to say.