* * * * * We're secretly using Babelfish > **To:** > **From:** > **Subject:** RE: updated translations of conman.org into 8 languages > [although I never responded or sent them email in the first place] > **Date:** Mon, 20 Oct 2003 03:36:29 -0400 > > > Could you please check our updated translations of conman.org into eight > languages, if you don't mind, at: http://www- > topsites.com/update.htm?d=conman.org&v=1010&e=w&p=t [1] > > Do they look OK? If so, there's no need to reply. Simply paste the > following code onto your web pages. This will make your web site readable > by the 90% of the world who can't read English (for only $5 a month). > > > > Thanks, > > John > As unsolicited email goes, it could be worse (“Increase your mortgate by 3″ with all natural ingredients!!!!!!!!”) and I am curious as to the translations they've supposedly done. So I check. And yes, there on the page is Conman Laboratories [2] in eight different languages (and I must say I do like the look of the Japanese, Chinese and Korean versions). But not everything is translated: ragtag, bug-free and what I can only assume are misspelled English words that didn't get translated. This to me screams “machine generated” translations—come on, if Google [3] can fix my spelling, and even I can handle misspellings [4] it can't be all that hard to handle. Scrolling to the bottom of the page are some rather interesting notes: > * Costs: We charge $5 a month for our translation services. After a free > trial period, we will contact you to see if you would like to continue. > * Copyright: You are welcome to try out our translation links but you may > not copy our actual translations of your pages unless you prepay a year's > translations services. > * Pasting the code: You must paste our code while you can see your html > code and it must look exactly like this after you have pasted it. Some > web design software require that you first paste the code into your > Notepad program, then copy and paste it into your html code. (This > removes html formatting.) The code will not work if your visitors can see > the code. > * Frames: The translation links may not work properly when you put them on > framed pages. > * Non-English pages: The links translate English in other languages. If you > click on them while viewing an already translated page (e.g. if you try > to translate German in Spanish), you will get an error message. > * Manual Translations: If you prefer, we can also translate, edit and > design your multilingual site entirely by hand. That gives you more > control and accuracy but it increases your cost to 29-cents per word per > language. (The 29-cent covers both translation and html design.) > Five bucks a month? That, I can see for a site that changes quite often, or adds content on a continual basis, but for a mostly static site? Not really. I was also curious as to the HTML (HyperText Markup Language) being generated since I am rather sensitive to these issues, and that's when I found out how TopSites [5] is doing their translation. Right at the top of the page, I found the following comment: > > Nowhere on TopSites' site did I see mention a partnership with Altavista's Babelfish [6]. Not one. And given the garbage HTML being generated: > > > "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> > > > > > > > > The Boston Diaries - Captain Napalm > > I'm not sure I would even use them, Babelfish or not. They didn't even bother to translate the title (although I'm not sure if this is a limitation of the pseudo-software TopSites is using, or of Babelfish itself). So much for strict HTML 4.01 compliance. They didn't even bother to set the language code in the tag like I did. Sheesh! Think I'll pass … [1] http://www-topsites.com/update.htm?d=conman.org&v=1010&e=w&p=t [2] http://www.conman.org/ [3] http://www.google.com/ [4] http://literature.conman.org/bible/ [5] http://www-topsites.com/ [6] http://babel.altavista.com/ Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org .