A discussion about translation services, translators, and translation software

We're all aware that technology now offers to replace translators.  Go to the Babel Fish Translation site, the most widely known and popular of the mechanical translation sites, and you will find no disclaimers or warnings about the need for human intervention or the dangers of inaccurate work.  It just offers to translate a block of text in 36 language pairs (mostly the high volume, European languages).  The results are mixed and NOT GOOD.  I use Babel Fish only as an example, and not to pick on them.  There are several prominent machine translator sites.  I just want to point out that they are NOT reliable translators.

From English to Spanish, Babel Fish handled "I need to see a dentist" perfectly but had predictably humorous problems with "I have to see a shrink".  Into Russian, it messed up entirely, (transliterated) "Ya uvidet' dentist."  That's right; it couldn't translate "dentist"!  And the translation of "I have to" is also wrong.  It worked fine into several other European languages, so I think it builds a false sense of confidence to the unwary user who then trusts it into Russian.

I tried a simple phrase from Spanish to English, and Babel Fish screwed it up, changing it from a request to a statement.  Encouraged by this failure, I thought of a good American friend who once asked for my help in wooing a Colombian woman.  He spoke almost no Spanish.  She spoke almost no English.  He wanted to send her a love letter.  Without my help, he might have used Babel Fish to tell her "Quisiera amanecer entre tus brazos."  (That's a line from a Manolo Galván song and it means "I want to wake up in your arms.)  He would strike out, as Babel Fish renders the translation "It wanted dawn between your arms."  TRY THAT LINE ON YOUR SWEETHEART!

I ask the creators of such sites to contact me and defend their services.  I also want an explanation of why they don't put warnings or guidance on their sites.  No attacks intended.  I look forward to improvements.  But let's not let these services present themselves as translators when they are just dangerous amusements at present.