(no subject)

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

Im sure that this was already asked but I cant seem to come across a good English to Russian translater online. If possible could someone just point me in the direction of finding one? If at all can anyone suggest good programs for a beginner in learning Russian? Any help would be much appericated.

Comments

[oryx_and_crake]

There is no such thing as a good online translator. And I think that online translator would be no help in learning Russian anyway.

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

Well I disagree and think it would help me out a great deal, hence the reason Im looking for a semi decent one.

[oryx_and_crake]

You see, I know both languages and I also know a thing or two about translation. No one learns a language (especially one that much different from one's own) through an online translator. You will be either misguided or puzzled and eventually discouraged from learning altogether.

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

I never posted I was going to teach myself Russian through a translater.. I just said it would be a great help to me. Im sure everyone has used one before... They arent completely useless.

[giantantattack.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. Not only would it be of no help, it can also undermine actual learning by providing inaccurate translations.

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

Im not looking to be taught Russian through it.. It will just come in handy which Im sure everyone has used..

[ilya1.livejournal.com]

There are no good computer translators for languages as dissimilar as English and Russian. (Ukranian and Russian, possibly.) Unfortunately, whatever you have found already is probably the best you will get.

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

Im sure there are some out there that people perfer.. but ok. Ill use what I have.

[wordchick.livejournal.com]

I don't know if this is exactly what you have in mind, but this is a site that I use to supplement my intermediate dictionary.

http://ftp.vpcit.ru/cgi-bin/dict/bobo/word

[alex-legat.livejournal.com]

try this - http://www.online-translator.com/text.asp?lang=en

[oryx_and_crake]

It translates "Мне восемнадцать лет" (I am eighteen) as "to me eighteen years"

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

I especially like Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com/)'s random translation of «я» as “4”.

[ilya1.livejournal.com]

My personal favorite mishap with an online translator (although Chinese-English and not Russian-English) involved a rendering of "kid's songs" as "songs of deceit."

[nymphatacita.livejournal.com]

which to me would be useful, as that's how I think.

but I do understand what you've been saying about online translators.

[mangiami.livejournal.com]

I really like http://www.translate.ru/text.asp?lang=ru That переводчик works well for me, as well as a machine can. It's slow, but accurate, and I think it has a lot of idioms programmed into it (well... let's not analyze that remark too linguistically in depth, it might be wrong, but you get my drift).

[mangiami.livejournal.com]

So, the thing about these online translators, like other people have pointed out, is that they ARE inadequate and will only give you literal translations. The pragmatic interpretation won't come through in most cases, and it's not going to say, "Hey, look at this perfective. That's important." Don't use the translator for entire sentences, just use it for phrases. Otherwise, you'll be misguided a lot.

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

Oh.. I was just going to use it for certain words.. and I wont be completely relying on a translater.. it just will be a good help once in awhile. Thanks!

[oryx_and_crake]

Even using it for certain words is a bad idea. The dictionary will give you several possible meanings of the word with possibly an indication as to which one is used in a certain context. The online translator never does that - it will just give you a randomly chosen meaning without taking any context into account.
E.g. here's the dictionary entry for the word "run"
http://www.multitran.ru/c/m.exe?HL=2&L1=1&L2=2&EXT=0&s=run
It has more than a hundred different translations depending on the context, while an online translator will give you only one and probably in a wrong tense anyway. Or maybe even a noun when you need a verb (or the other way round).

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

Well as I said.. Im not relying on this thing. Its just something to have.

[nymphatacita.livejournal.com]

You seem to not want to use it to teach yourself, but rather to help you learn... which is how I use it... so I'll give you mine.

translation2.paralink.com

it always assumes one is male (я думал, instead of я думала), it always uses вы (never ты), and it never uses the у + accusitive construction for "have" (it always uses иметь instead). Other than those three, I haven't found any major problems. Generally, I use it as a portable dictionary.

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Thats exactly what I want it for, just a nice source that can help me along the way. I could not use one to teach myself... thats just silly. Im not that slow.

[jasontheknight.livejournal.com]

http://www.lingvo.ru has a decent online translator, but it's only good for words and phrases. It searches specialist dictionaries (science, computing etc) as well as just the normal dictionary, and provides examples that show context etc.

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[ex-dmitri83798.livejournal.com]

use a good online dictionary instead: www.multitran.ru

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[sweetthea.livejournal.com]

http://www.prompt.ru You can actually understand the translation without passing a stone trying to read it :) It works well with phrases and such as well.

[dollfacezombie.livejournal.com]

Haha, Thanks Ive added that to my list.