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How a German company (DeepL) managed to be better than Google
Thread poster: Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
Jun 13, 2018

http://www.spiegel.de/plus/deepl-der-deutsche-unternehmer-ist-besser-als-google-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000157181383

(German, paid)

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2018-06-13 19:28 GMT]


 
Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 05:51
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Anyone tried Pro? Jun 13, 2018

Can you do this directly in Excel with DeepL Pro?

Cell A1 = text
Cell B1 = text translated via DeepL

(Without having to copy back-and-forth, of course. That I can do with Goo).


 
Gerard de Noord
Gerard de Noord  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 05:51
Member (2003)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Don't send us to a paid article Jun 13, 2018

Don't send us to a paid article, DeepL deserves better.

Cheers,
Gerard


Tom in London
Jorge Payan
neilmac
Richard Varga (X)
 
Jean Dimitriadis
Jean Dimitriadis  Identity Verified
English to French
+ ...
DeepL Pro Jun 13, 2018

Hello Daniel,

Apart from an optimized privacy conscious Web translator (texts are not stored online), DeepL Pro - https://www.deepl.com/pro.html - offers API access.

Note that Google Translate and Microsoft Translator also include API access.

Your CAT tool may already have a connector for DeepL’s API.

With some translation software, you can take Excel
... See more
Hello Daniel,

Apart from an optimized privacy conscious Web translator (texts are not stored online), DeepL Pro - https://www.deepl.com/pro.html - offers API access.

Note that Google Translate and Microsoft Translator also include API access.

Your CAT tool may already have a connector for DeepL’s API.

With some translation software, you can take Excel cell A1, and export its translation to B1, and so forth.

Example: I know for a fact that CafeTran offers both a DeepL Pro connection and an Excel filter with that export capability.

With the API access, you may also be able to create or use a script (or something similar, depending on your OS) to take advantage of the clipboard while querying the API.

Otherwise, for a ready-to-use solution, you might want to check out GT4T - https://gt4t.net/en/ : It brings MT engines (including DeepL) at your fingertips, irrespective of the application you use, as long as you work on a Windows platform (which is not my case).

Jean

[Edited at 2018-06-13 20:59 GMT]
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Shouguang Cao
 
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
TOPIC STARTER
Paper edition Jun 14, 2018

Gerard de Noord wrote:

Don't send us to a paid article, DeepL deserves better.

Cheers,
Gerard


Too bad that it’s hidden behind the paywall. Will scan the printed edition for any interesting quotes. To be continued...


 
Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 05:51
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Tried Jun 15, 2018

OK, I gave DeepL a honest try for DE>IT and it's thumbs way down. A few inexplicable issues:

- Omission of whole phrases, like 10 or 12 words at a time.

- Inconsistent terminology, i.e. same technical term translated in 3 or 4 different ways.

- Mixing definite and indefinite articles (how hard is it to get "der" and "ein" right?).

- Terms in English, as DE>IT is still done with DE>EN>IT.

All in all, to produce the same result it to
... See more
OK, I gave DeepL a honest try for DE>IT and it's thumbs way down. A few inexplicable issues:

- Omission of whole phrases, like 10 or 12 words at a time.

- Inconsistent terminology, i.e. same technical term translated in 3 or 4 different ways.

- Mixing definite and indefinite articles (how hard is it to get "der" and "ein" right?).

- Terms in English, as DE>IT is still done with DE>EN>IT.

All in all, to produce the same result it took at least the same time/effort or more.

EN>IT was perhaps a bit better, but still with heavy editing needed that took almost as long as translating anew.

If an artificial intelligence translates within the same (patent!) document 40 times "Bauteil" as "componente" and 2 or 3 times as "parte", that sounds more like artificial dumbness.

Conclusion, humans are safe (for now, and provided that they use natural intelligence).

[Edited at 2018-06-15 04:56 GMT]
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Tom in London
neilmac
Richard Varga (X)
 
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
TOPIC STARTER
It's not about DeepL taking over from us professionals ... Jun 15, 2018

It's not about DeepL taking over from us professionals: it's about how we, qualified and experienced translators, can benefit from the typing aid and the nice trouvailles that it offers. Nice wordings that other human beings in the past have created and that were harvested, processed and made available by DeepL. No need to panic, just relax and enjoy how elegantly others have formulated. I'm not afraid to admit that (especially) DeepL has made my daily work even nicer (and it was already very ni... See more
It's not about DeepL taking over from us professionals: it's about how we, qualified and experienced translators, can benefit from the typing aid and the nice trouvailles that it offers. Nice wordings that other human beings in the past have created and that were harvested, processed and made available by DeepL. No need to panic, just relax and enjoy how elegantly others have formulated. I'm not afraid to admit that (especially) DeepL has made my daily work even nicer (and it was already very nice).

Don't expect DeepL to translate perfectly, just harvest as much as you can from its suggestions and enjoy DeepL's lucky finds. Use it as a typing aid that also offers translations for long words that miss one letter etc. and that aren't recognised by your own term base.

Daniel Frisano wrote:

OK I gave DeepL a honest try for DE>IT and it's thumbs way down. A few inexplicable issues:

- Omission of whole phrases, like 10 or 12 words at a time.


Never experienced that in my language pair.

- Inconsistent terminology, i.e. same technical term translated in 3 or 4 different ways.


It's you who is the captain on your ship. You decide which one of the offered (interesting?) alternatives you'll use. Choose the right one, and use it. Save it for future reference: like you said, chances are that these perfect suggestions/nice wordings aren't offered in the next segment to be translated, take it from your own glossary then, that you've quickly built with DeepL's help. Use DeepL to improve your style (yes, I'm really saying that).

On a side note: A really smart CAT tool, like CafeTran Espresso 2018, can override DeepL's suggestion with your preferred term.


- Mixing definite and indefinite articles (how hard is it to get "der" and "ein" right?).


I translate from German 'all day' and as far as I remember, I never experienced this. (I'm not trying to say that you did experience this problem, I'm just stating my experience.)

All in all, to produce the same result it took at least the same time and effort or more.


For me DeepL is a real time saver and a smart typing aid.


EN>IT perhaps a bit better, but still with heavy editing needed that took almost as much time as translating anew.


This might be caused by the fact that DeepL translates everything to English first. Which can lead to very 'funny' (okay, at least on the first 1000 occasions) translations, where 'Dichtungen' are translated with 'seals' (in the sense of sea animals). But nothing easier than to prevent this occasional stupid glitch (CafeTran!) that indeed can blur the positive image.


If an artificial intelligence translates within the same (patent!) document 40 times "Bauteil" as "componente" and 2 or 3 times as "parte", that's more like artificial dumbness.


Use a CAT tool that allows you to prevent this nonsense.

For me, DeepL and CafeTran Espresso 2018 is a winning combination.

[Edited at 2018-06-15 05:12 GMT]

Edit: I forgot to mention that if DeepL occasionally offers a suggestion that sounds very strange to you, you'd better investigate this suggestion on the web. Chances are very high that this (in your ears) strange sounding translation is ... indeed the correct translation for your source term. I've had this nice experience several times now, mostly related to terms from EU directives.

So, DeepL can be a detective and investigation aid too .

[Edited at 2018-06-15 05:22 GMT]
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Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 05:51
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
No thanks Jun 15, 2018

As a true language lover, this is what pisses me the most:

Untitled-4

I mean turning a subjunctive into a lame indicative because AD (artificial dumbness) apparently can't be bothered with verb moods. Come on, even stupid Google does better:

Untitled-5

For good measure I'll stay away from all of this, lest I get slowly sucked into such mediocrity...


Hans Lenting
 
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
TOPIC STARTER
For clarity Jun 15, 2018

Daniel Frisano wrote:

As a true language lover, this is what pisses me the most:

Untitled-4

I mean turning a subjunctive into a lame indicative because AD (artificial dumbness) apparently can't be bothered with verb moods. Come on, even stupid Google does better:

Untitled-5

For good measure I'll stay away from all of this, lest I get slowly sucked into such mediocrity...



I do understand what you are saying (although I don't speak Italian). What I was trying to say is that you shouldn't expect perfect sentences from DeepL (or from any other MT system). But that you should use it on a word level. Then it can be a great help. And still, you stay in control.


 
Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 05:51
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Doesn't get much dumber than this Jun 15, 2018

Here's an indefinite article turning definite:

Untitled-2

Articles are the most common words in most languages (at least languages that have articles), and they can't even get THOSE right? Again, even Google does better.

Note also that "Detektieren" and "Erkennung" are both rendered as "rilevamento". This smells a lot like laziness and clients HATE it, and justly so. Why do I need a tool that keeps giving me confusing suggestions?

I'll stop here, but I could go on all day.

[Edited at 2018-06-15 06:56 GMT]


 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 07:51
English to Russian
Sounds ridiculous Jun 15, 2018

How DeepL can be better if it only supports 7 languages?
Google supports 100+
Better for whom?

May be this is reason why your dsicussion of the best ever MT engine is that extremely limited in terms of participants and generally sluggish? No?

Not interesting.


 
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
TOPIC STARTER
Only 7 but more to come Jun 15, 2018

Stepan Konev wrote:

How DeepL can be better if it only supports 7 languages?


Because of the quality of these 49 language pairs?

Better for whom?


For those who notice the quality of the suggestions? Probably because they work in the domain where DeepL harvested its source texts (www.linguee.com)?


 
Phil Hand
Phil Hand  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 12:51
Chinese to English
If only MT tools actually worked this way... Jun 18, 2018

Hans: "...the quality of the suggestions...use it on a word level..."

I would very much like a tool that did this - offered the power of big data and/or AI on the word level, without presenting the results as "sentences" in the target language. Unfortunately MT has to present something to casual users/gisters that looks a bit like a natural text. That's a very useful function when you're trying to get a general understanding of something in a language you don't know. But I've yet to
... See more
Hans: "...the quality of the suggestions...use it on a word level..."

I would very much like a tool that did this - offered the power of big data and/or AI on the word level, without presenting the results as "sentences" in the target language. Unfortunately MT has to present something to casual users/gisters that looks a bit like a natural text. That's a very useful function when you're trying to get a general understanding of something in a language you don't know. But I've yet to find it any help at all when doing a precise translation from a language that I do know.

I remain in the MT skeptics camp, though I admit I was impressed by the naturalness of the English sentences when I used DeepL to help me understand a bit of German background.
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Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
TOPIC STARTER
Some quotes Jun 19, 2018

Hans Lenting wrote:
Will scan the printed edition for any interesting quotes. To be continued...


1

2

3


 
Shouguang Cao
Shouguang Cao  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 12:51
English to Chinese
+ ...
GT4T Mac Dec 2, 2018

Hi Jean,

Just to let you know that GT4T Mac is out. If you go to the website on your Mac and click download, the Mac version will be downloaded.

Dallas

Jean Dimitriadis wrote:

Hello Daniel,

Apart from an optimized privacy conscious Web translator (texts are not stored online), DeepL Pro - https://www.deepl.com/pro.html - offers API access.

Note that Google Translate and Microsoft Translator also include API access.

Your CAT tool may already have a connector for DeepL’s API.

With some translation software, you can take Excel cell A1, and export its translation to B1, and so forth.

Example: I know for a fact that CafeTran offers both a DeepL Pro connection and an Excel filter with that export capability.

With the API access, you may also be able to create or use a script (or something similar, depending on your OS) to take advantage of the clipboard while querying the API.

Otherwise, for a ready-to-use solution, you might want to check out GT4T - https://gt4t.net/en/ : It brings MT engines (including DeepL) at your fingertips, irrespective of the application you use, as long as you work on a Windows platform (which is not my case).

Jean

[Edited at 2018-06-13 20:59 GMT]


 
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How a German company (DeepL) managed to be better than Google






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