mono

AltaVista's Korean to English Babel Fish Translation Service sucks.

Over the past year, I have tried to use this Systran powered service at least 50 times, with various sources, and it has failed miserably every time.

Here is the result of my last translation attempt, a text I received from a Korean ISP as a response to a complaint that a weblog they host was hotlinking to images on my site:

How are you. Customer! You are customer center consultation unit Um position right. The line of inquiry of the customer tried to receive well. First, the reply to be late position point grade is sorry in meaning of a passage of the customer. It delivered the hardship with corresponding blow him in the corresponding manager. The customer you pe the interest to send see will requite with the service which recovers. Only cold weather Ji it waits a spring and the warm hour sending nine bedspreads, you pe while using, are anxious or there is a fact which is inconvenient, the staring route our you pe to inquire at any time at the customer center it wishes. The customer, it will increase, Thank you.

I have no idea what this means. Granted, Korean is an extremely difficult language to translate into English. Korean grammar, which is similar to Japanese, bears no linguistic resemblance whatsoever to English: sentence structure, syntax, use of particles, verbs, and adjectives, levels of politeness, etc., all differ, save for a few loan words. Writing software that does a good job of translating between these two languages is a challenge.

A challenge that Systran obviously is not up to.

The only reason I have repeatedly used the service is to follow its progress, and see if it is getting any better. After almost a year without any visible improvements, I can conclude that it is not.

AltaVista:

Take the Korean to English service down, and stop wasting people's time.

Oh, sorry. Here you go:

How are you. Service provider! You are customer feedback unit Um position as before. The hardship stopped is anxious and there is a fact which is inconvenient. It is sorry, in summer and sixteen Swedish meatballs. Please blow the corresponding manager, Thank you.

In the meantime, I am eagerly awaiting the warm hour of spring, and receiving those nine beadspreads. It will definitely increase. Thank you.