translation

Google Toolbar for IE speaks your language

Updated July 2 at 10:30 a.m. PDT: The full list of supported languages has been added to the bottom of the story.

Toolbars have long been an effective way for software publishers to add several features to a browser at once, and the Google Toolbar has long been among the most popular of these. Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer introduces revamped translation tools, giving users one-click powers of conversion over many languages.

The toolbar now detects your default language setting and using the Translate button will attempt to convert the page to it. Clicking a link will automatically … Read more

Slow translation

GoNaomi aims to provide a multilanguage dictionary with which users can look up words in different languages and compare them side-by-side within the program's interface. Unfortunately, its slow performance and lack of translation options left little to be desired.

From the get-go, GoNaomi functioned slowly. The program indicated that there was a "fatal SQL" error, which led us to believe that there could be a problem with the program's database. Since the program is essentially a database, this is a very large problem indeed. We tried the program by selecting English as the language to which … Read more

Google, Facebook rush Iranian language support

Twitter has the starring role as opening up Net communications about Iran's turbulent politics, but Google and Facebook are jumping in with their its own hasty efforts.

Google is adding Farsi, or Persian, language support to its translation service, the company announced Thursday night. Google rushed out the support specifically because of events in Iran, said Principal Scientist Franz Och in a blog posting.

"We feel that launching Persian is particularly important now, given ongoing events in Iran," Och said. "Like YouTube and other services, Google Translate is one more tool that Persian speakers can use … Read more

Powerful Arabic-English dictionary

The VerbAce-Pro - Arabic-English-Arabic Dictionary is a simple, intuitive program that lets users translate and define words in English and Arabic. With more than 60,000 entries in each language, the program is a powerful tool for users seeking to navigate between the two tongues.

The interface is sleek and offers two ways to enter text: either type it directly into the program's text box, or click on a word that you want to see defined and translated. Users can adjust the combination of mouse and keyboard buttons they use to define words; for example, the default is Alt-left … Read more

Babylon brings translation to your desktop

The ancient city of Babylon was a crossroads of cultures and languages, and the program Babylon makes good on its linguistic heritage. It can translate 31 languages from your desktop, offers a huge gallery of glossary add-ons, and gives direct access to Wikipedia results in 20 languages. In addition to deeper language libraries, the latest version introduces a new, streamlined interface, single-click document and Web site translation, and a new language detection-feature that recognizes languages without user input.

Babylon translates individual words and phrases on the fly by highlighting and right-clicking or using a hot-key combination that can be adjusted … Read more

Gmail now translates your (scam) e-mails

Translation is making its way into more Google services this month, having just been added to Gmail's labs. If you get a message in a different language, there's a new link that'll show up in the top of the message that lets you translate it to whatever language you have Gmail set to. You can also set it up to do the translation to any language of your choice.

It does the actual translation in just a few seconds, and gets both the subject and body while retaining the original. You can switch back to it by … Read more

Google Friend Connect gets comment translation

Google's Friend Connect just got a really neat new feature: comment translation. It can now unify the language of any comment thread, turning any and all comments into one language. This means that if you have one post in Mandarin, another in Spanish, and yet another in Russian, you can click an option to read them all in the same language.

Google is using its own Translate API to do the dirty work, which means whatever unintentionally bad translations it would do on the Translate site will happen on comment threads. Friend Connect users who already have the tool … Read more

Microsoft releases Web translating widget

LAS VEGAS--Microsoft's research unit on Wednesday released a tool that allows Web developers to let users translate their Web site into other languages without having to leave the page.

The company said a tech preview version of the Microsoft Translator widget is available for download, allowing developers to offer users a pull-down menu to translate a Web page in multiple languages.

The main benefit of the widget is it allows users to translate the page without having to leave a site, unlike other approaches which require a user to go to another Web site first.

Microsoft announced the translation … Read more

Meglobe opens up to other IM networks (and you)

Meglobe, a Web-based IM client that translates conversations in real time is now open to everyone. Previously in private beta, the service has re-launched with a new design and support for Yahoo, AOL AIM, and MSN chat protocols.

If you have buddies on one of these other services who speaks a different language, Meglobe will automatically translate based on the home language you've set as a preference. Previously they would have had to sign up to be a Meglobe member.

More importantly, the service has improved its translation tools, allowing users to make fixes and suggestions to the ones … Read more