How effective are machine translations?
There are many free translation machines in the Internet. Google has one under its language preference section. Altavista has Babel Fish. Strictly Spanish offers a translation machine on its website. Visit our Spanish Translation page to access it. There are many more and some are better than others. Translation machines are only effective if you are trying to get the gist (basic understanding) of an email or correspondence. However, translation machines have limitations. To clearly see their limitations, translate an email from English to Spanish in a translation machine that you like to use, and then re-translate it back into English. You will find a translation that probably does not read smooth and has lost some of its intended meaning. You should not use machine translations for anything other than getting the gist of an idea, correspondence or email. Your image is too important. There are legal ramifications with faulty translations. You can lose customers and prospective custome
