Translation troubles

With the ease of online translation these days, it is hard for me not to get lazy sometimes and just run text through a translator to get the gist of what it’s saying. Often this is enough for me, but sometimes it’s just so I know what the text is about before looking at it more closely. Usually it also helps with speed (I read and comprehend slowly sometimes).

The other day, I threw some text through a translator, but what it gave me was tantamount to rubbish. The original text was mostly phrases that didn’t have much context, and so the result was even more garbled. I had to struggle to work out exactly what was happening. Then, when I looked at the original text, and looked up a few words, I was better able to work out the intended meaning on my own.

It was a bit of a wake up call for me, both to tell me that my skills were a bit better than I thought, and to tell me that I shouldn’t take the easy way out all the time. No matter how difficult translation may be for learners, it is beneficial as a teaching tool, and may also be the more effective method!