I need to find a way to translate any answers or comments that I have
received from this forum that are not in English. Furthermore as our
company begins to do business in foreign countries we will need to be
able to send emails in English that upon arrival end up in the
client's native language, as well as their responses written in their
native language and received back in English. Additionally we need to
be able to go to web pages and read foreign websites in English. There
may be other instances that I am unaware of at this time where we will
need this ability. I have found a few instances where some of this is
possible in a few languages like Spanish and German however for the
majority of languages I have come up empty handed. If the solution is
some type of internet site(s) that offer this service then great, if I
need to go out and purchase software that costs $ 1 or $ 50,000 then
that's fine too. I just need options to consider.

Thank You,
Joel

Hi,

A friend of mine has a small publishing company down here in The
Netherlands and he basically had the same problem (because of all  the
different EU languages).
I contacted him and did further research and I came to the followinf
picture concering translation options.

First of all, there are different types of translators:

-Machine translation: 
"Machine translation is also called "automatic translation" or simply
translation software. Machine translation software translates text in
one natural language into another natural language, taking into
account the grammatical structure of each language and using rules to
transfer the grammatical structure of the source language (text to be
translated) into the target language (translated text). Machine
translation cannot replace a human translator for demanding
applications such as legal or literary work, nor is it intended to."
Translation.net FAQ
http://www.translation.net/tsfaq.html

-Word by Word translation:
"Word by word translation translates each word or phrase that it
understands, but does not take grammar into account. Word by word
translators are generally not as effective as automatic or machine
translators, but still can be very useful, for instance as a
translation aid."
Translation.net FAQ
http://www.translation.net/tsfaq.html

-Simple dictionaries:
These are basically availible for every language in the world but it
is not practical in your case as you can only translate an individual
word at a time.

The problem is that, the more sophisticated the translating software,
the less different languages it is availible for.
Machine translation would be most ideal for you but there are a lot of
languages for which no Machine translation is availible.
I don't know which languages you want to able to translate from and to
so I'll just give a list of all international languages wich are
translatable and split them according to the type of availible
translation (Machine, Word or Dictionary)

-Russian:
Machine translation: 
Pragma 1.0: http://www.trident.com.ua/index.html
LogoMedia Translate for Windows (from $99):
http://www.translation.net/logomedia-trans.html
PROject MT Russian Translation Software ($599):
http://www.translation.net/promt.html
Systran Translation Software ($79):
http://www.translation.net/systrans.html
Reverso Pro Translation Software: ($495):
http://www.translation.net/reverso.html

-Arabic:
Machine translation:
An-Nakel Multilingual Translation System ($1695):
http://www.translation.net/an-nakel.html
Sakhr Enterprise Translation:
http://www.translation.net/sakhr-set.html#features

-Chinese:
Machine translation:
LogoMedia Translate for Windows (99):
http://www.translation.net/logomedia-trans.html
TransWhiz Chinese Translation Software (249):
http://www.translation.net/transwhiz.html
Systran Translation Software (79):
http://www.translation.net/systrans.html

-French:
Machine translation:
Systran Translation Software (79):
http://www.translation.net/systrans.html
LogoMedia Translate for Windows:
http://www.translation.net/logomedia-trans.html
Reverso Pro Translation Software ($495)
http://www.translation.net/reverso.html
Neurotran: http://www.translation-experts.com/neuro.htm

Word translation:
Word Translator: http://www.translation-experts.com/wordtran.htm


-German:
Machine translation:
Systran Translation Software http://www.translation.net/systrans.html
LogoMedia Translate for Windows
http://www.translation.net/logomedia-trans.html
Reverso Pro Translation Software:
http://www.translation.net/reverso.html
NeuroTrain: http://www.translation-experts.com/neuro.htm

Word translation:
Word Translator: http://www.translation-experts.com/wordtran.htm

-Hebrew:
Machine translation:
Targumatik 2002 Hebrew Translation:
http://www.translation.net/hebsoft.html#trans
Targumatik Lite: http://www.translation.net/hebsoft.html#trans

-Italian:
Machine translation:
Systran Translation Software
(http://www.translation.net/systrans.html)
LogoMedia Translate for Windows
(http://www.translation.net/logomedia-trans.html)

-Japanese:
Machine translation:
Systran Translation Software
(http://www.translation.net/systrans.html)
ATLAS for Windows (http://www.translation.net/atlas.html)
LogoMedia Translate for Windows
(http://www.translation.net/logomedia-trans.html)

-Korean:
Machine translation:
Systran Translation Software
(http://www.translation.net/systrans.html)
LogoMedia Translate (http://www.translation.net/logomedia-trans.html)
(Magellan Complete Language Package required)

-Portugse:
Machine translation:
Systran Translation Software
(http://www.translation.net/systrans.html)
LogoMedia Translate for Windows
(http://www.translation.net/logomedia-trans.html)

-Spanish:
Machine translation:
Systran Translation Software
(http://www.translation.net/systrans.html)
LogoMedia Translate for Windows
(http://www.translation.net/logomedia-trans.html)

-Bosnian:
Machine translation:
Machine: http://www.translation-experts.com/neuro.htm
Word: http://www.translation-experts.com/wordtran.htm

-Bulgarian:
Word: http://www.translation-experts.com/bul.htm

-Croation: 
Machine Translation:
NeuroTrain: http://www.translation-experts.com/neuro.htm

Word translation:
Word Translator: http://www.translation-experts.com/wordtran.htm

-Czech:
Word translation:
Word Translator: http://www.translation-experts.com/che.htm

-Danish:
Word translation:
Word Translator: http://www.translation-experts.com/wordtran.htm
-
Dutch:
Word translation:
Word Translator: http://www.translation-experts.com/wordtran.htm

-Finnish:
Word translation:
Word Translator: http://www.translation-experts.com/fin.htm

-Greek:
Word translation:
Word Translator: http://www.translation-experts.com/greek.htm


I hope I've been helpfull so far, I will give you more information in
the Clarification.

Thanks,
paul_b_18-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by paul_b_18-ga on 07 Jun 2002 03:47 PDT

-Hungarian:
Machine translation:
NeuroTran: http://www.translation-experts.com/neuro.htm

Word translation:
Word Translator ($249):
http://www.translation-experts.com/wordtran.htm

-Icelandic:
Word translation:
Word Translator ($179): http://www.translation-experts.com/ice.htm

-Latin:
Word translation:
Word Translator ($39.95):  http://www.translation-experts.com/lat.htm

-Norwegian:
Word translation:
Word Translator ($174.95):
http://www.translation-experts.com/wordtran.htm

-Polish:
Machine translation:
Neurotran: http://www.translation-experts.com/neuro.htm

Word translation:
Word Translator ($224.95):
http://www.translation-experts.com/wordtran.htm

-Romanian:
Word translation:
Word Translator ($39.95): http://www.translation-experts.com/rom.htm

-Serbian:
Machine translation: 
Neurotran: http://www.translation-experts.com/neuro.htm

Word translation:
Word Translator ($69.95):
http://www.translation-experts.com/wordtran.htm


Now I'll give you a short overview of the different translation
options per language.
Note that Machine translation will be most suitable for your situation
although it's availible for fewer languages.
My advice is: buy the machine translation packages for the languages
for which they are availible and buy word translation packages for the
other languages.
Arabic: machine
Bosnian: machine
Bulgarian: word
Chinese: machine
Croation: machine, word
Czech: word
Danish: word
Dutch: word
Finnish: word
French: machine, word
German: machine, word
Greek: word
Hebrew: machine
Hungarian: machine, word
Icelandic: word
Italian: machine
Japanese: machine
Korean: machine
Latin: word
Norwegian: word
Polish: machine, word
Portugese: machine
Romanian: word
Russian: machine
Serbia: machine, word
Spanish: machine

I mentioned the following popular programs in the list:
-Word Translator
-NeuroTran
-Systran Translation Software
-LogoMedia Translate for Windows 
-PROject MT Russian Translation Software
-Reverso Pro Translation Software
-An-Nakel Multilingual Translation System
-Sakhr Enterprise Translation
-TransWhiz Chinese Translation Software
-Targumatik 2002 Hebrew Translation
-ATLAS for Windows

With all of these program you will be able to translate full webpages,
e-mails and other documents in one go. However, these programs will
not automatically translate incoumming or outgoing e-mails: you will
need to manually engage the translation proces. This isn't a big
problem though as a lot of these programs can translate with one click
of a mouse.

If you also want to translate documents on paper, you'll need an OCR
package which can convert it into a Word document.
Popular OCR packages are:

Omnipage: http://shop.voicerecognition.com/itemdesc.asp?CartId=7588863RORPI2-ACCWARE-93&ic=SS-OMNIPAGE-PRO
FineReader: http://www.translation.net/finereader.html


I hope this answer is to your satisfaction. If you have _any_ more
questions, please ask for a clarification and I'll be glad to give you
more information.

Kind regards,
paul_b_18-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by paul_b_18-ga on 07 Jun 2002 11:04 PDT

Hi,

Just thought I should let you know that I've also tried to find a good
translation software package which can automatically translate
incomming and/or outgoing e-mails but this doesn't seem to be
availible.

Regards,
paul_b_18-ga

Hi, Joel!

Another useful tool for translating multiple languages is Babelfish.
You may enter in text of 150 words or less for translation ("Thank you
for your inquiry...") or enter the URL of a website that you wish
translated.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

None of these software tools are a complete replacement for a human
translator, of course, but they come cheaper and work faster.  If
polished prose is less urgent than simply communicating your
information, this is usually sufficient.

I would just emphasize what's already been stated: Machine translation
is in no way a substitute for translation done by a human.  It can be
good for getting the gist of something, or understanding something
well enough to find out if you want something translated by a human,
but not for much more.  You might use it for reading some noncritical
business correspondence, but you'd be crazy to use it for writing
correspondence you're sending out (unless it is edited by a human
afterward).

Babelfish is wonderful for a really good laugh. Once I entered part of
a review of mine about beer that I wrote for an opinion site,
translated it into German, and then translated the German text back
into English. I would certainly not want to base my business on
automatic translators like this.  The original and end-result follow
below (BTW, the opinion site in question recognises the intellectual
property rights of its contributors and does not forbid them to
reproduce elsewhere material that they have submitted to the site,
therefore I am fully within my rights to provide the quotations
below).

My original: "[name of beer] is cloudy because the yeast remains in
suspension, instead of settling out at the bottom of the barrel. As
with many other Belgian beers, if you buy them bottled, the custom is
to swirl the bottle round gently while pouring so as to get out any
yeast which might have settled. The concept of drinking a cloudy beer
might be very strange to those of us who are used to judging British
ales on clarity as well as on flavour. However, the yeast does add
significantly to the taste, and it is also good for you, because it
boosts your intake of B vitamins. If you do swirl the bottle, you will
end up with a really large head on the glass. That again is the way
that Belgians like to enjoy their beer; sipping it through the foam
adds to the richness and boosts the flavour even more."

After going into German and back into English though Babelfish: "[name
of beer] is cloudy, because the yeast remains floating, instead of to
stretch at the lower surface of the barrel. As with many other Belgian
beers, if you buy it, filled, the habit is, easily to whirl starting
from bottle, which is when pouring, around each possible yeast to go
out approximately, which could have agreed. The concept of drinking a
cloudy beer could be very strange to those by us, those too British to
judge Ale on clarity as well as on flavour used. However the yeast
adds substantially the taste, and it is good also for you, because it
up-loads your inlet of the b-b-Vitamine. If you whirl the bottle,
terminate above with a really large heading on the glass. Those is
again this way Belgian as to enjoy their beer; the Sipping it by the
foam rubber adds the wealth and loads the flavour even more up."

I like this service: http://www.worldlingo.com

As state above though, machine tranlation is no subsitute for human translation.

xemion-ga

Hello,

Here are a few more links to consider. 
http://www.logos.it/about_us/en/services_documentazione_multilingue.html
http://www.freetranslation.com
http://translation2.paralink.com

Hope these are helpful,
V

Dear Joel,

sending email is one way of advertising, but some receivers might
think you are sending spam, and they might ignore your email.

Why don't you try Google? You can advertise with Google in two ways:

1) Go to ://www.google.com/ads/overview.html, select "Preview
tool" and try it out yourself.

2) Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/main, and try AdWords
Select.

Either way, people will come to your home page. Now you just hire
translators to translate your home page to as many languages as you
want.

The only problem is that you need human translators all the time for
public relations, but maybe you can afford it.

I would suggest the following two sites:
-- http://www.translate.ru/
-- http://world.altavista.com/ (this is redundant)

The first site is somewhat limited in its translation languages, but
provides excellent translations and will also translate e-mails. The
second is good if you are attempting to translate text and/or websites
and provides a broad range of language options, though its
translations are not very good.

://www.google.com/language_tools

Translate (BETA)

Google breaks the language barrier with this translation feature.
Using machine translation technology, Google now gives English
speakers access to a variety of non-English web pages. This feature is
currently available for pages published in Italian, French, Spanish,
German, and Portuguese.
(://www.google.com/help/features.html#translation)