Web-based automated translation services can be very useful. Mostly for getting the gist of a phrase or short passage.
They can be surprisingly good at times, but on the other hand they often provide a stark reminder of the sharp limitations of computers, no matter how powerful they become.
Google announced this week that Irish was being added to the list of languages available in Google Translate. Google spokesman Simon Morrison told the Irish Times there would be teething problems as the system may not accurately pick up certain phrases and words.
We gave Google Gaeilge a try-out. We fed in one of the best-known passages of text in the universe, The Our Father, as Gaeilge, and we got back:
Our snake is a non,
that your name naofar
That your kingdom dtaga
That please
on the ground as at non.
our daily bread give us today
Well and our debt
Mhaithimidne as our own debtors
And do not allow us gcathú
but free us from the bad.
At this point, it’s probably safe to say the score is one-nil – Irish grammar is one up on Google’s Gaeilge translation:
- Many individual words have been translated accurately (kingdom) and some phrases (daily bread)
- There is one clever but misguided assumption that “do thoil” (your will) here is part of the phrase “le do thoil” (please)
- Some words have not been attempted (naofar, dtaga, gcathú)
- And then there is Ár nAthair…
Was it a fair test? Probably not, in that the source language is highly idiomatic, and is so well known in many languages.
Google’s Gaeilge is not bad, considering this, but we at AMAS won’t be using it translate life-or-death documentation – from Irish or any other language – any time soon.
