Warning about the use of computer translators......:)
Here is a brief video demonstrating the horrors of machine translation. We have discussed this at length in the forum, especially in regards to the banning of these translations for certain threads.
So of course, we know not to use them here. Most of us who have been studying Spanish or English long enough realize that the translations are wrong more often than they are right.
So, just when I think this is a non-issue in my life, along comes my husband to torture me. After five visits to Spanish speaking countries in a very short period of time, he now has a ton of Spanish speaking friends on FB. Over the past few weeks, he kept telling me strange stories that didn't make sense about our friends. Apparently, our friends on the other end were also just as confused by some of his responses.
Mystery solved:
He discovered those wretched machine translators on his own!
I post this as a warning to everyone here. You never know in what capacity these translators are going to resurface in your life....even if you have kicked the addiction to them. So, I guess, when I have the time this weekend, I will have to go over his old emails and FB updates (since I'm rarely on there) and mend some fences and repair some relationships. 
8 Answers
A very useful warning Nicole underlying the unreliability of machine translations Thank you
Talking of donkeys Q. Do you know who the most famous don key is in historical literature? A Don Quijote lol 
Well it surely is true. I would never try to write a sentence or a document using a machine translator, But is sure is helpful when reading or, when trying to decipher some odd bit of language, At least it will help to understand or "point the way" to the answer.
A while ago a SD friend put a large document into the translator and the result was pretty good really.
So again, after all this, the translators have their benefits and drawbacks ,use it with care and thoughfulness, always double check when in doubt.
Machine translators faithfully follow the rules of the language. It's a shame that real languages don't follow their own rules much of the time.
I wanted to see how good the translators here were, so I tried running the following phrases through and back:
The weather is nice = El tiempo es bonito.
El tiempo es bonito = Time is tuna.
Perfectly valid translations, completely wrong, and quite hilarious. On the upside, "Time is tuna" has become my catch phrase.
Machine translators faithfully follow the rules of the language. It's a shame that real languages don't follow their own rules much of the time.
First of all, machine translators follow the rules provided/implemented by their programmers. These are never more than a sub-set of the "rules" that can be found in grammar/usage texts (and often subject to the flawed understanding of the programmers [who are often more inclined toward the maths and sciences than the language arts]).
Secondly, no book (or collection of books) has ever provided all of the rules of a language. Nor, unless the nature of human languages undergoes a radical change, will they ever.
More importantly, one needs to understand that the "rules of the language" as many understand it is nonsense. The "rules" come after the fact. They are attempts to explain/codify the prevailing practices.
Historically (and in the present), there are "experts" who attempt to impose their notions of what is correct on the "unwashed masses". When such attempts are based on historical precedents (of the language) they have some success but when they simply reflect arbitrary prejudices, they almost always fail. With apologies to the fundamentalists, languages evolve. The so-called "rules" are descriptions (written after the fact) of prevailing practices. Perhaps, however, some of them will be those that prevail among the "elite"/"educated".(especially when they were young).
This is not to say that such practices serve no function at all. In the long run, they do not preserve the "purity" of the language but for a while they provide a convenient yardstick for supporting social discrimination. As one can sneer at others for not knowing which fork to use at a formal dinner, so too, one can label various usages of language as "lower -class"/"uncultured". (Do not, however, make the mistake of assuming that the "innovators"/"corrupters" of language always win out. More often than not, their "improvements"/"innovations" die out within a short period of time.)
Paco said:
So again, after all this, the translators have their benefits and drawbacks ,use it with care and thoughfulness, always double check when in doubt.
Yes, I have benefited on occasion when double checking something here or there, but I always have a certain level of doubt. Now when two or three different translators give me the same or a very similar response, I have a bit more confidence.
As Pesta says:
Machine translators faithfully follow the rules of the language. It's a shame that real languages don't follow their own rules much of the time.
Last night, an acquaintance called because her ex-husband had posted several things on FB in Spanish. He is Chilean and she speaks no Spanish. She told me she had used a translator and thought he was threatening her, etc. When I told her what he had really said, she wondered how the translator could be so far off.
I explained that not only are translators not always accurate, but when you throw in misspellings, poor grammar and Spanish text abbreviations, there is no way you are going to know for sure what the person is saying through a translator.
The only sensible use for machine translators as far as I can see is to translate from Spanish to English, or the other way if you are a Spanish speaker.
I have found with the three translators here, and my knowledge of English, I can then decipher the correct meaning of the Spanish. Unless what was said is very idiomatic of course.
Having seen the sentences the translators come up with in English I wouldn't rely on them for Spanish as my knowledge isn't good enough to correct them.
Mi estimado amigo Paco dijo:
"always double check when in doubt"
If that's the case, I'll be double-checking, double-guessing, double-taking (you get the picture!) every single time! jeje
Thanks Paco! 
