Author Archives: John Yunker

What’s the best free machine translation engine?

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Google Translate is the first place I turn for free machine translation (MT), mostly because it supports the greatest number of language pairs. I use Microsoft Translator as well, but usually only when I want to compare engines. I haven’t used Babel Fish in years.

But which engine offers the highest quality translations? I’m assuming Google, but this is only based on anecdotal feedback and personal experience.

Years ago, IBM developed an algorithmic method of measuring MT quality known as the BLEU score. Google scored well here, but the BLEU score is not without its critics.

Translation, like writing itself, is as much an art as it is a science.

Which is why translators are best positioned to judge the quality of machine translation engines. And although even translators are going to disagree as well, if you get enough of them together, perhaps you can begin to draw statistically significant conclusions.

Enter Ethan Shen and his start-up venture Gabble On.

Ethan has set out to recruit a few thousand volunteer translators to compare the three free translation engines. He asked me to help get out the word. He promises that he will publish the results for all to see. He’s also offering a free Apple iPad to one lucky volunteer. I have no financial interest in the project. I’m just curious to see what engine comes out on top.

Here are the details from Ethan:

We are seeking functional to fluent speakers of any two languages to take 5 minutes to judge and submit their opinion in our dynamic comparison engine (until March 29, 2010). At the end of the 6 week voting period, we will be publishing our results publicly in hopes that our research can to contribute meaningfully to the body of knowledge in this field.

In gratitude for your participation, we are awarding one new Apple iPad to a lucky participant. The survey can be found at: www.gabble-on.com/SurveySelector.aspx.

Which engine do you think is best?

Facebook’s global gaffe

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Facebook, with support for more than 70 languages, promises to do very well in our 2010 Report Card.

That said, a week ago Facebook began rolling out a new design that includes what I believe to be a global design flaw — one that I hope is reversed in the months ahead.

Now, if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile you’ll probably know what I’m talking about when you look at this screen shot from Facebook’s new header:

The globe icon is supposed to indicate “Notifications.”

Globe icon = Notifications?

Perhaps Facebook is trying to extend the concept of “news” which has long been associated with the globe, mostly in the analog world. I live near the Seattle PI news building, which features a rather large globe on the roof:

So I fully understand what Facebook is aiming for.

But in the virtual world, the globe is more often than not associated with language or regional settings, or both. I can pull up a list of more than two dozen web sites that use a globe icon for this purpose — including Apple, Panasonic, Xbox, Autodesk, and E*TRADE.

So I find it troublesome to see such a popular web site using the globe icon for something other than language or location, particularly when there are other icons out there that could have just as easily stood in for “notification.” Like one of these perhaps:

What really is odd is that if you happen to have the translations application activated on Facebook, as I do, you can have two globe icons displayed on the same page — one in the header and one in the footer — both signifying something entirely different.

I’ll admit that I’m more than a little biased here. I’ve been a vocal proponent of using the globe icon for global navigation for nearly a decade. And I’ve worked with companies who have used this icon (or a map icon) and seen a measurable increases in global usability. Over the years, more and more companies have followed along, making this icon even more usable for more people.

What Facebook is doing is not only potentially confusing a segment of users who may expect the globe to be associated with language, but also preventing itself from ever creating a global gateway strategy that leverages the globe icon.

The good news of course is that Facebook seems to redesign its site every few months. So it’s quite likely this little icon will be “tweaked” as well. I’m certainly hoping so.

To learn more, check out my new book The Art of the Global Gateway.

Back to Byte Level

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After more than a year at Microsoft, I have decided to return to Byte Level Research.

It was a tough decision to make. I enjoyed working with the many people who are passionate about globalization. And I enjoyed being a part of one of the most global companies on the planet.

But the time was right for me to move on.

I approached Midge Raymond regarding the possibility of returning to Byte Level and, after much negotiation, she extended an offer.

I am now working with Midge on the 2010 Web Globalization Report Card. As Midge noted a few weeks ago, a lot has happened over the past 18 months. You’d think a global recession would have kept web globalization to a minimum, but the data is showing continued growth.

Shortly after the report publishes, I will be making time for consulting projects. If you need someone to evaluate your company’s web site, train your web and marketing teams, or conduct a conference call on web globalization best practices, please contact me at Byte Level.