Google Translate Books: Bad Translations from Spanish to English

About this video

(Summarized from the Arabic caption track.) Dale warns against translating books with Google Translate or other online translation programs, calling it a bad idea for published work. He explains that some self-publishers game KDP by taking one publication, running it through online translation into multiple languages, and claiming the result as extra content to stuff a book. He stresses that translation programs are not 100% accurate and create major discrepancies from the original. To prove it, he takes English book blurbs, translates them into Spanish, then back into English. A fitness blurb starts nearly perfect but then distorts body descriptions and introduces odd wording and random capitalization. A self-help blurb changes key ideas, turning wording about frustration and denial into wording about deception. A horror story collection blurb similarly garbles its story premises, and a reference to an anthology/editor comes back as ‘anthropologist.’ He concludes that while bad translations are funny, doing this wastes readers’ time, attention and money, and authors should leave translation to professionals.

Key takeaways

• Do not publish books translated solely with Google Translate or similar online tools.
• Some publishers abuse machine translation to stuff one book with multiple-language versions as filler content.
• Round-trip translation demonstrably distorts meaning, wording and tone, even in short blurbs.
• Examples in the video show fitness, self-help and horror descriptions returning with wrong or nonsensical terms.
• If you translate your work, hire professional translators instead of relying on free programs.

Episode details: published August 24, 2017 · 5:05 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

← Previous: How to Make 50 Dollars Fast Online with Audible ACX Audiobooks · Next: Draft2Digital Review: Is D2D Worth It? →

All Dale L. Roberts videos · Dale L. Roberts profile · Dale L. Roberts on YouTube