Re: [Fwd: auto-translation]

The reason why I was reluctant to include the auto-translation in the web
interface in the first place, was that I find the translation provided by
the freely available tools horrible.

I look at some of the reports I have tried to run through these services,
and my view is that it is possible to get the general idea of the text if
you are an adult researcher who is motivated enough to understand the text,
and willing to mobilize a great deal of effort and creativity.

In my opinion, it is absolutely not good enough for a kid who has been
told he must communicate with the author of the translated text. At best,
it will result in hours of laughing over ridiculous texts; at worst, in
considerable frustration.

As Ken has noted, it is easy for the researcher who wants to use these
tools to integrate them into the web browser. Adding them to the site
would, in my opinion, add clutter to the interface, and moreover suggest a
service whose quality is abysmal, and hence reduce the perceived general
quality of our site.

Because of this, I would rather not add this feature to the site interface,
but encourage people to use the existing tools through other means.

Note however, that I'm not trying to sabotage anyone else's work. If we
reach the decision that we really want this added to the site, I will of
course implement it.

The fact that only a subset of the languages we use in our project is
covered by the freely available tools is a problem, but not a major
reason not to implement the interface, should we find it desirable to
do so.

Jesper


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