Try Windows Live Translator!

01 August 2008

Try the New Windows Live Translator Widget

To help extend the reach and availability of technical content across global languages and markets, Server & Tools Online (the group that manages the global MSDN, TechNet, Expression, and CodePlex sites) will be leveraging the latest translation technology from the Windows Live and Microsoft Research teams.

The Windows Live Translator is a web app that can translate English web pages or snippets of text into any one of these supported languages: German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Netherlands Dutch.

The Translator Add-in can be added to any web page and makes it really easy for visitors to quickly translate the page into any one of the same supported languages. The translation is conveniently displayed side-by-side with the original page so that both original and translated languages are available to the reader. There are also other display options available to try out.

I have added the add-in to the header of my blog (see above). The add-in senses the language setting of your browser and offer translations in that language.

Translator Add-in

Translator Add-in

Going forward, we will be using this technology to translate valuable content from MSDN and TechNet Magazine, community-generated content from applications like Forums and Blogs, documentation from the MSDN and TechNet libraries, and more.

So, try it out and send the Translator team your feedback.

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Comments

# Try the New Windows Live Translator Widget said:

PingBack from http://techtoday.110mb.com/2008/08/02/try-the-new-windows-live-translator-widget/

02 August 08 at 12:57 AM
# Jerry said:

I had hoped this translator widget would work for me. However, in my Blogger blog, my sidebar can handle only widgets of about 91 in width. The code for this does not allow me to adjust its width to my needs.

When added, the right arrow drops to a second line. The down arrow does not appear at all.

If you come up with a narrower version, please email me at myriadcreativeconcepts@yahoo.com.

Thanks and good luck with your work.

13 August 08 at 10:11 PM
# Andi said:

I tried this from english to german but the translated text is nearly unreadable :) sorry thats no good

14 September 08 at 6:53 AM
# Michael said:

The text which is translated by Windows Live Translator is not very well to understand. The text which is translated by the human translator is much better. PLEASE TRANSLATE ARTICLES BY A HUMAN TRANSLATOR IN THE FUTURE!!! THANK YOU!

14 September 08 at 1:33 PM
# John Martin said:

@Andi and Michael: thanks for the candid feedback. We'll keep working on it. I might also try writing my blog posts differently so they are easier for the Live Translator to handle.

16 September 08 at 11:42 PM
# Marc said:

The widget as such is pretty cool and I'd love to see it on every machine tranlated page. Translations, however, are far away from being intelligible -- sorry to say that. I tried both French and German translations and would not have had a chance to understand anything without the original text (native speaker in both languages). WorldLingo does not much better, btw. @ John: Modifying the writing style may help in the first place, but would this be a good idea on the long run?

17 September 08 at 1:39 PM
# John Martin said:

@Jerry: Thanks for the feedback, Jerry. I have passed it to the Translator Team, and they tell me the next release should have more flexibility re sizing.

19 September 08 at 12:26 AM
# Matthias Melcher said:

Machine translations vitiate all the expensive usability efforts. If a text for hundreds of readers is not even read by a single human before publication, this is disrespect towards the readers. Obviously you are trying to save money in the wrong place. In German PowerPoint 2007, the contour is STILL translated as table of contents (both from outline), even after SP1.

25 September 08 at 11:50 AM
# Diane Glimp said:

Matthias, I don't agree that machine translation is disrespectful to our customers. Machine translation is in its infancy, and it will get better.  We are leveraging a new technology that Microsoft Research has built in order to provide more localized content for our customers. The great thing about the widget is that it displays the original English content as well as the machine translated content.  That way, if the translation isn't so great, you don't have to use it.  But for some customers who have poor English-speaking skills, the translation will be helpful.  Right now, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) and Chinese Simplified have the highest ratings for machine translation.  German is a difficult language and will take more "training" of the translation memory database to become more usable.  Thanks for trying it out, though!  All comments are helpful.

If you can be more specific about the problem with translation in PPT 2007, I can pass your comment along to the product team.  

30 September 08 at 1:24 PM
# Pieces of me on community... said:

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Genevieve Bell where she talked about

30 September 08 at 2:30 PM
# Ward Pond's SQL Server blog said:

This is the coolest thing I've seen in quite awhile.. Microsoft Server and Tools (the group that brings

30 September 08 at 5:44 PM

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About John Martin

Director & Lead Evangelist, Microsoft Server & Tools Online - the group that manages the global MSDN, TechNet, Expression, and CodePlex sites.
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