Windows Live Translator Launched
By: Nathan Weinberg
Microsoft has launched a new service/feature for Windows Live Search, a Windows Live Translator Beta that lets you translate to and from English.
Right now, it lets you drop in a block of text (up to 500 words) and it will translate the text from or to these languages:
* German* French
* Spanish
* Italian
* Japanese
* Chinese Simplified
* Chinese Traditional
* Korean
* Russian
* Dutch
* Arabic
* Portuguese
You can also give it a web adress, and it will attempt to translate the entire web page for you (minus any words contained in images, naturally). The full site translator lets you display the original and translation side-by-side, top-and-bottom, or as a single video with the other view hovering as you move your mouse around.
Just do me a favor and do try to translate any Russian poetry. There’s a reason scholars study these things their entire careers and never agree on the specific intent of the poet. Leave ol’ Pushkin alone and stick to translating blogs and news articles.
Translation is provided by Systran, which Google and other use, although Google’s translations are different for some reason. There’s also an interesting “computer related context” feature.