How Accurate Is Babel Fish?
 

The Backstory:
I belong to a variety of Yahoo groups, and a member of one of these groups sent me an E-mail...written entirely in French. :crazy:
I know enough French to understand what the subject is, but beyond that I'm lost.

The Question:
Is Babel Fish a good enough translater to convert both detailed and abstract concepts accurately, or should I pursue another method of translation?

Thanks in advance for your responses. :)

Um, I don't think so. Babelfish can often butcher a text, only translating the words, but not the sense they might have in relation or in combination with other words.

Better go for another way of translating it.


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Thanks Jazhara. That was pretty much what I expected.
I may give it a try just for laughs.

I would go with another route. As an example, I've taken your post and translated it with babel fish into French and back to English again:

Backstory: I belong to a variety of groups of Yahoo, and a member of one of these groups sent to me an E-mail... entirely written in French. I can enough French to include/understand what is the subject, but beyond that I am lost. The Question: Should fish of Babel east rather good relocate to convert exactly detailed and abstracted concepts, or I to continue another method of translation? Thank you in advance for your answers.

That was surprisingly understandable considering what I have seen Babel Fish do in the past.

If it's important don't trust Babelfish ;).

Fish of Babel east rather bad relocate to convert. I'd ask a French person here on the forums to translate it for you.

I tried Babel Fish anyway, and it did a decent job, although some of the phrasing was very peculiar.
I typed my response to him in English and included an explanation of how I was translating, then I ran the response through Babel Fish and sent it on it's way.
It wasn't a hugely important E-mail, and if Babel Fish translated my words to French the way it translated his words to English, then I'm sure he got a good chuckle out of my reply. :)
Thanks again everyone for your help.

Babelfish is okay to get the gist of the story. In translates most nouns correctly so you usually have a pretty good idea of the meaning.