Can I buy a program which will enable me to write in English and translate to German so that I may post to this list and enable me to enter German words from postings for translation to English?
Thank you.
Alton Buehring
Odem, Texas
There are programs that you can purchase but I see many people use the
following translator site. http://babelfish.altavista.com/
Jim Decker
California Central Coast
Thank you.
Alton
There are programs that you can purchase but I see many people use the
following translator site. http://babelfish.altavista.com/
There are several others as well, such as freetranslation.com
Those are helpful for your own use, but never use them to translate something that you plan to send to someone else.
The results can be, at best, funny or strange or embarrassing. At worst they can be insulting and rude, and of course, totally wrong.
That said, I still use them to help get the gist of a message.
Mona
Thank you.
Alton
You can also use Wolrd lingo translator but as Mona says it will
translate in a kind of way that you will just be able to understand
in another language. Not always a true translation but near enough to
know what someone is trying to tell you. Below is the tranlation of
this wording including this very sentence. 
Good luck.
From MaryJane.
German translation of above from World Lingo (I hope it is correct )
>>>>
Sie k�nnen Wolrd Jargon�bersetzer auch benutzen, aber, w�hrend Mona
sagt, �bersetzt es in einer Art Weise, die Sie gerade sind, in einer
anderen Sprache zu verstehen. Nicht immer eine zutreffende �bersetzung
aber nahe genug, zum zu
wissen, was jemand versucht, Ihnen zu erkl�ren. Unter ist das
tranlation dieses Wording einschlie�lich diesen Satz. gutes Gl�ck.
Von MaryJane.
One of the problems with using a Translator program is that the person
writing the letter may be to long winded for the program to translate it
coherently and then the sentences may be disjointed. Sentences should be
brief and to the point. Do not use colloquial sayings.
An example would be, if you wanted to know if there was a barber shop in
town ask " was there a barber shop in the village" not "where did the men go
to get their ears lowered".
Jim
Thank you.
Alton
Often our 'artificial intelligence' equates to a heap of technical rubbish. Auto language translators are a classic example. Better than nothing naturally, but far from perfect. As Jim noted, "tell" it in a straightforward manner (avoid using any ambiguous words) what you want and it "should" obey. Google also has a set of 'language tools' towards the right side of the screen, which attempts to translate foreign text somewhat appreciably.
I'm afraid there is no easy way to devise a computer program that would be able to translate accurately and with high consistency. Even in human translation, the process is as much art as it is science, as sometimes an idiomatic expression in one language must be changed entirely to make sense in another. The ubiquity of modern slang and colloquial terms only further complicates matters.
Our friend Don Watson <dwats@cox.net> has a translation mailing list you might want to look into
- translation-l-request@rootsweb.com
- translation-d-request@rootsweb.com
- http://members.cox.net/hessen/donstrans.htm
You could also send your text (40 line limit I believe) to trans@genealogienetz.de <or> trans@genealogy.net. The first line of the message body should read:
#GER>ENG (for a German to English translation)
#ENG>GER (for an English to German translation)
More info re this at <http://www.genealogy.net/gene/www/abt/translation.html>
Now and again certain of our German members also volunteer their services, but here one must dance lightly (impositions being, alas, impositions). 
Jb