[NIFL-ESL:6447] Re: alta vista translator

From: Lorraine Dutton (lad-oh@etop.org)
Date: Thu Sep 20 2001 - 09:22:04 EDT


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From: Lorraine Dutton <lad-oh@etop.org>
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Subject: [NIFL-ESL:6447] Re: alta vista translator
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Are you referring to Babel Fish? If so, I would say that it is not an 
effective translation tool. You may be able to translate a word or maybe a 
very short phrase, but definitely not anything longer than that. I have 
even tried translating commonly known phrases, and it almost always comes 
back with gibberish. It is a word-by-word translator; it cannot take groups 
of words and make sense of them as a unit. Using Babel Fish is really no 
different from picking individual words out of a dictionary and stringing 
them together--I would definitely not recommend it as a language-learning tool.

Lorraine Dutton
Academic/Workp[lace Skills Instructor
ETOP/Avaya Communication
lad-oh@etop.org


At 08:40 PM 9/19/01 -0400, you wrote:


>-- My name is Nancy Gulliver. I am a graduate student in the MLIS program at
>San Jose State University, San Jose, Ca. One of the classes I am taking this
>semester is dealing with Adult Literacy. In one of our discussions, the use
>of the Alta Vista translator was raised. We are wondering if this is being
>used and if so, is it an effective tool.
>
>Nancy Gulliver
>Santa Rosa, Ca
>Student MLIS
>beaver1@pon.net



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