A discussion about translation services, translators, and translation software

Today KnowMoreMedia.com, (KMM, for short) a business blog network and parent/host of this blog, launched its official company website.  A press release was featured prominently on PRWeb.com, a leading news site for business matters on the Web.  Before the end of the day, an Italian Web monitoring site has commented on the press release and the site, in Italian.  KnowMoreMedia is eager to know what was said.  How can they find out?  Let's count the ways.

They can try Babel Fish Translation, an automated service that I only recently warned about as being unreliable and of poor quality.  But if all they want is the gist, Babel Fish might be enough.  Let's see.  The Italian comment, published at Blogs4Biz, says:

"L'ennesimo blog-network debutta sulla scena planetaria: l'ultimo arrivato è Know More Media, nanopublisher californiano dal nome piuttosto impegnativo che gestisce e sostiene una squadra di weblog dedicati espressamente al business e specializzati in "finance, sales, management, marketing, operations, customer service, and information technology". L'offerta iniziale conta 37 blog ma, attenzione, non è tutto oro quello che luccica: basta visitare il sito centrale del network per scoprire che ben 30 di essi sono sottodimensionati in quanto a organico e hanno urgente bisogno di "redattori". Se pensate di avere le carte (e l'inglese) in regola bloggare in un simile contesto, è l'ora di farsi avanti."

Running it through Babel Fish, we get:

"The nth one blog-network toes make one's debut on the planetary scene: the last one arrived is Know Medium More, nanopublisher Californian from the rather impegnativo name that a square of weblog manages and supports express dedicates you to the business and specializes to you in "finance, sales, management, marketing, operations, customer service, and information technology". The offer begins counts them 37 blog but, attention, is not all gold which luccica: enough to visit the situated one they of the network centers in order to discover that very 30 of they are sottodimensionati in as far as organic and have urgent need of "editors". If thoughts of having the papers (and English) in rule to bloggare in a similar context, are the hour are made ahead."

I rest my case about the quality of Babel Fish, but KnowMoreMedia still doesn't know what has been said about them.

KMM could hunt around until they find a Web-savvy Italian friend, or friend of a friend.  This could take a while.  Or they could try other online (machine) translators, though the results aren't likely to be much better.

A better route is to ask for an urgent translation from a real, live, qualified translator via either ProZ or TranslatorsBase.  These are both listing sites for translators.  KMM would have to post the request and be willing to pay about 10 cents per word, or about $10-15, but they would probably find someone to do it the same day.  Another option is to turn to a brick-and-mortar translation firm, or a freelancer listed with the American Translators Association, but I don't imagine that many of them could reply the same day for less than $20.  Am I wrong here?  If there are similar sites that you want to promote, or a better way to get the job done the same day, or instantly, for about the same cost, please let me know.

FYI, using my skills in Spanish, the Italian comment says something like:

"The latest blog network to debut on the planet: The recent arrival is Know More Media, a California nano-publisher with a rather imposing name that cooks up and maintains a fleet of business-only weblogs specializing in 'finance, sales, management, marketing, operations, customer service, and information technology'.  The initial offering has 37 blogs but, beware, not all that glitters is gold.  A visit to the network's homepage is enough to reveal that a whole 30 of these are unfilled and have urgent 'help wanted' ads for 'editors'.  It's time [for KMM] to step up and get their ducks in a row."  Alternate ending: "... put the horse before the cart."

The last sentence is a very loose, and perhaps bad, translation, but that's why they ought to turn to a pro.