Today it is impossible to imagine working with a computer, installed programs or office documents on it without knowledge of any foreign language at least at the elementary (school) level. Of course, most often this refers to American English , which in the world is a kind of universal standard. However, quite often it may require knowledge of other languages (for example, to master a specific program or translate correspondence from foreign partners from non-English speaking countries). And here, many translators and online machine translation systems, which at the moment have very broad capabilities, provide invaluable assistance. But which translator is the best and most accurate? To answer this question, we will try to consider some of the most popular software products and online services, as well as find out the advantages and disadvantages of each of them.
Which translator translates best: the main problems of all machine translation systems
To begin with, let's immediately agree that we will not separate the programs as far as possible installing them in stationary or mobile operating systems. Almost every application below has versions for different operating systems. As for online translators, they can be used at all, regardless of which system is installed on a computer or mobile device, because here you only need a web browser and Internet access.
Before considering the most popular programs and services, it is worth mentioning separately that not all of them are equivalent in quality of translation and basic capabilities. It is believed that none of the well-known programs or related services can fully provide accurate translation from any language. This is mainly connected only with the peculiarities of the use of certain expressions even in different regions of one state. In addition, variations of the same language (dialects), depending on the region, can differ quite strongly.
As an example, we can cite the enormous difference between American, pure English, Scottish and Irish dialects. In the same Ukraine, the language used in the western regions is so unlike the one used by the central and eastern regions that residents often understand each other with difficulty (and this is not a matter of pronunciation!). Finally, the construction of sentences can change quite strongly, and if you strictly follow the rules for using words and their location in a sentence, the translation can turn out, as they say, “clumsy”. Yes, and in specific narrowly focused areas of translation, problems can be observed. That is why it is almost impossible to say unequivocally which translator is the best.
However, machine translation to that and machine translation is not welcomed by specialists even in technical tasks. And if you can translate individual words, phrases or sentences very close to the original, then the translation of entire texts containing the same idiomatic expressions, specific language, proverbs or sayings, alas, can not be considered.
Most popular translators and online services
But let's get back to the programs and services themselves. As for the automated translation systems, which are used, for example, most often in the post-Soviet space, among all the huge variety that is currently presented on the market of software and online services, several main systems can be singled out separately:
- Google Translate
- “Yandex. Translator";
- PROMPT;
- Babylon 10;
- SYSTRAN;
- Babelfish;
- ABBYY Lingvo;
- "Office OFIS", etc.
Of course, this is only a small part of everything that is presented on the Internet, but for now, let's limit ourselves to this.
Google Translate, Bing and Yandex.Translator
The first software product and a similar Internet service, as is already understood, is being promoted by Google, is embedded in the browser of the same name and search engine.
It supports more than 90 languages, can recognize printed and handwritten text, voice, supports quick translation of labels when you hover over the camera, translates entire pages to a URL, has a very wide database of glossaries. This system does quite well with translations, but some functions, such as adding words and phrases to dictionaries, are available only after authorization.
The Bing search engine translator is actively promoted by Microsoft, however, it differs from the product described above only in that it does not have voice acting and examples.
Talking about which translator is better, you can’t ignore the Russian service Yandex, which in some ways is very similar to Google and Bing.
It is more aimed specifically at the Russian-speaking audience, has almost the same capabilities and carries out translation at about the same level. However, many users wondering about which translator is better - Yandex or Google - prefer the domestic service. When it comes to translating a single word or sentence, all of these systems are on the same level. But many people don’t take into account that Yandex and Bing have restrictions on the number of entered characters (10,000 and 5,000, respectively), but Google doesn’t have such a limit. But in Yandex and Google there is a transcription and variants of the use of a word or phrase with examples of synonyms or antonyms, but in Bing this is not.
PROMPT
If we consider questions about which translator from English to Russian is the best of all, many experts and users prefer the PROMPT system.
The program can be installed on a computer, integrated into office text editors, or use the online service Translate.Ru. Both products are noteworthy in that you can take advantage of the choice of topics for translation, and not look for meaning among all the options presented.
Compared with the above systems, the list of examples of the use of a word or term is much wider. That's just the translation does not automatically appear immediately after entering text.
Babylon
If you understand which translator is better, it’s worth mentioning separately about the Babylon 10 system.
This product is the most primitive and can only be used to translate one or more words, providing the user with related concepts in the form of synonyms. It is not worth using it as a professional tool, but, for example, for schoolchildren or people who do not know a certain language, it is suitable precisely because of its simplicity. If you need a more functional solution, you can purchase special software options for business.
SYSTRAN
This translation system is one of the oldest, since the beginning of its development dates back to 1968.
The experience of its creators is really huge, but the main service looks too simple, and you can use additional functions only after official registration or purchase of a software product.
Babel fish
If you understand which translator is better, it’s worth mentioning separately about this system. True, surprisingly, it is clearly focused not on Russian-speaking users.
It is not clear why, but there is support for the same Ukrainian language in the direction of translation, and there is no Russian language as such!
ABBYY Lingvo
Sometimes users have legitimate doubts about which translator is better than Google Translator or its analogues.
Without a doubt, the ABBYY Lingvo package is one of the most powerful systems because it has support for a large number of languages, allows you to translate texts even from pictures and photographs, provides several options for translating and using words, etc. True, pronunciation pronunciation is not provided for all language packages. The hint system also looks quite interesting when, when entering a word and phrase, several examples of their use are immediately displayed, which sometimes helps to find the most accurate interpretation.
Proling OFFICE
As for the software products of this package, the Ruta / Play system is mainly used.
However, its specificity lies in the fact that it is designed exclusively for translations from Russian into Ukrainian and vice versa. Of course, during installation, the application can be integrated into text editors, which is a very convenient solution for Ukrainian-speaking users. The quality of the translation is at the highest level, there are several additional dictionaries, but the online translation system looks somewhat inconvenient.
Which translator is the best and most accurate?
It goes without saying that not all existing machine translation systems have been described above, in fact there are many more, but these are the most popular. It remains to take stock. Speaking about which translator is better, by and large, it is impossible to single out one. However, if you take into account some features and features of installed programs and available online services, you can give preference to Google, Yandex, PROMPT and ABBYY Lingvo products. Perhaps it is they who can divide the first places among themselves and rightfully deserve all attention from the users.