lucy24 - 9:43 pm on Dec 14, 2011 (gmt 0)

###. Are you thinking about using Google Translate to generate text for public consumption? I would never, ever dare do that. Only to find out what text in some other language says.

I agree it's getting good. I can take their Spanish translation of {much-requested picture book}, plug it back into the translator and come out with something reasonably similar to the English original. But it only takes one slip and you're in "We desire you carnally" territory.

If you've ever been on a forum with a non-native speaker of English, you must have done the Dictionary Dance at some point. Funny that Italian was mentioned, because that seems to be where I do it most often ;) Sooner or later your non-native speaker will use an English word that doesn't seem right but you can't figure out what they meant. So you look up the various Italian meanings, go to the other half of the dictionary and look those up, and you'll see what word they were aiming for.