Exploring Google Translate

        Greetings!  This week's blog post's topic will center around utilizing Google.  In class, we learned ways to use google to help with research and smarter ways to type in searches.  We also were informed on how students can get access to Office 365 for free!  Students were tasked to create a slideshow with Google Tour Builder.  I shared my presentation on the blog which can be found here!  

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        Chapter 1 of Light, Bright, & Polite by Josh Ochs was assigned for homework.  Personally, I enjoy how Ochs does not waste time and dives straight into the point.  In the chapter, Ochs talks about social media etiquette.  On page ten, Ochs states, "Your tweets should outlast the week, month, and year... if they end up on a billboard for your parents to see or your boss finds your posts in the future."  The billboard analogy is striking because that is what somebody essentially does when they post online.  While it may sound silly, this method can actually save somebody from facing the Silent Opportunity Killer, or SOK.  Anybody can view a post even if your account is private.  Ochs mentions on pages ten and eleven how google records your search history and displays it online (check to see if you are content with the world viewing your history).  Also your posts can be printed and your coworkers can simply look over your should to see your "private" account's content.  Finally, Ochs uses an example from his childhood to show how he was able to make connects.  He mentions how his father would encourage him to invite people for lunch or coffee and listen to them speak about their career in order to learn from them.  A simple gesture created networks that would allow for future opportunity.  When running his small business, he would turn to these people for advice before making impactful decisions on his career and/or reputation.  From the first chapter, the reader can learn simple online etiquette to keep your online profile light, bright, and polite!


        Google Translate allows users to convert foreign language to a language that is more familiar.  Lance Whitney writes on PC Mag useful tips when using the software.  Users can either type in phrases to be translated directed on the app, take a picture of foreign text to be translated, or record the speech of a foreign language with a transcribed translation.  This tool is incredibly helpful when traveling in a country with an unfamiliar language.  With Google Translate, people have opportunities to scan menus at restaurants or figure out how to say "hello" and "thank you" or possibly record a person speaking with real-time conversions.  If using the Google Translate app on a mobile devise, it would not hurt downloading the keyboard that corresponds with the foreign language.  

        Google Translate is a great companion when deciphering documents in a language foreign to your own.  However, it has a reputation of occasionally being incorrect.  The Broken Airplane by Phil Wagner explains how Google translate works.  The application scans documents in multiple languages to pick up on sentence and syntax structure.  This is why Google Translate may not understand slang or dialects.  Wagner shares the Google Translator Toolkit.  Now, people can work together to translate documents and websites.  Once the translation is complete, it can be uploaded to the original site.  Sadly, this program was shut down on December 4, 2019.   


        Wikipedia uses Google Translate to make articles more accessible to a variety of people.  In James Vincent's article on The Verge, Wikipedia will now have two translation programs implemented onto its website.  Prior, Wikipedia only had Apertium has a translator.  This program allows for translations to be made by the software followed by human editing.  Google Translate can translate around fifteen more languages than Apertium.  Wikimedia Foundation, the company that runs Wikipedia, plans to collaborate with Google for a year before reevaluating the partnership.  Plus, with the beauty of editing Wikipages, users can change mistakes from the software at any point in time.  
    
        Since studying abroad in Japan, I have had an interest in languages and foreign culture.  While abroad, I had Google Translate assist me with figuring out hiragana, katakana, and kanji I saw in public.  I felt more comfortable with this application as a crutch while exploring places like Kyoto and Akiba.  It is common knowledge to not use the program while in a language course, yet it is a great tool to figure out basic information without prior knowledge to a language.  

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