The Benefits of a Language Translator

There are more than 6000 recognized languages in the world, so you’re bound to come into contact with a language you don’t understand. But just because you don’t understand another language and the culture it represents doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have anything to offer you. If we want to be open-minded, educated individuals, it’s important to take into account other worldviews and perspectives. But since learning other languages can be difficult and time-consuming, especially after we’ve passed the learning threshold of our youth, we have handy language translators that can help us out.

A language translator can exist in a number of forms. Take the online translator for example. Babelfish is one of the most popular and well-known online translators. You can type in a word, phrase or sentence in one language, then select the option to translate that language into another. This is quite convenient if you’re sitting at home with an wifi connection and if you only need to translate a word or two. Unfortunately, a language translator like Babelfish gets easily confused if you try to translate too much text at once. Often it will lose some of the meaning or translate exactly word for word so that the ending translation sounds very awkward. Also, Babelfish is limited in which languages it can translate. If you’re looking to translate a more obscure dialect, chances are that Babelfish won’t have that option available for you.

Another option is a pocket language translator. These can be taken with you anywhere and are commonly used by people trying to learn English. These devices cost money, so you’ll get a lot better result than with online translators. These days, pocket language translators are very accurate and even include slang so that a person can learn to truly speak like a native rather than someone who has mechanically learned the language. These kinds of translators are most useful for someone who is trying to translate one language into another only. If you’re looking for multiple languages translated, few pocket translators will do that.

Finally, you can have a live person act as a translator for you. The advantage of this is that a person can get a better sense of what you’re asking for than a machine or computer can. The person can also converse with you and help you to really practice a new language first-hand. Unfortunately, you can’t carry a person around with you everywhere you go and sometimes even a person will have difficult translating for you. Not every language can be translated one-to-one into a different language: languages have their unique structures and meanings, and through translation sometimes meaning is unintentionally gained, or lost.

But all in all, a language translator can be a very useful asset to understanding other cultures and expanding your horizons. Every language has something to say, and people to speak it, and you can learn a lot when you speak through the tongue of another, as well as seeing through their eyes and walking in their shoes.