I am confused yet again
I am confused yet again. I have used many translation sites (like here, Google Translate, WordReference, etc.), and all of them always have different translations than each other. I always use the translation that I get from here, because I feel that it gives the correct translations. All the other sites either don't give the correct translation. Or, it might be correct, but it's either missing an accent or it is spelled wrong. And sometimes they can't translate what I typed in.
Here is an example of what I mean:
Original sentence (from English): I like to watch American football.
My translation (from my own Spanish knowledge): A mí, me gusta ver fútbol Americano.
SpanishDict's translation: Me gusta ver el fútbol americano. (Which translates to, "I like watching football.", "I like watching the football.", and "I like seeing the American soccer.")
Google Translate's translation: Me gusta ver el fútbol americano. (Which translates to, "I like watching football.)
WordReference couldn't even translate my sentence.
The first translation that SpanishDict gave, "I like watching football." is the sentence that I used, but the other two don't make sense. I wasn't talking about watching the football, or watching the American soccer. I was talking about liking to watch American football.
I was just wondering that, out of all of the translations I've given, whether my own translation was actually correct or not.
Always feel free to correct my spelling & grammar if it is not correct. 
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5 Answers
The part that you mentioned as being confusing is the part about "I like to watch fútbol americano" vs. "I like "watching" fútbol americano. In English both ways are correct, but in Spanish you have to use the infinitive. So when you run it through the translator it could come out either way, i.e., "to watch" fútbol or "watching" fútbol.
Machine translations are always iffy. The software does the best it can, but frankly, it's not very perceptive. That's how "fútbol americano" became "American soccer" instead of "American football."
The "A mí" in your personal translation is fine for emphasis, but unnecessary. "Me gusta" makes it super clear to whom football is pleasing.
Definite articles are used more in Spanish than in English. That's just how it is. In many contexts we say "el Sr Lopez," but we never, ever say "the Mr Lopez." We say "jugar al fútbol," but never "play the football." Hence, "el fútbol americano."
This is something that I do when I am unsure.
Take the answer that you get after typing in your sentence and put it back through the translator in the other language. This often hghlights potential issues.
Then remember that: I like to watch American football and I like watching football are not really that different. While you use one I might use the other to express the exact same idea.
Sometimes when I get stuck trying to translate something I try to re-state it in English (there are usually several ways) then translate the alternatives. Rigidity makes learning and especially speaking very difficult.
You just use "the" if you are comparing them or want to emphasize the type of football.
You see, to me there is only football that later was hispanized to "fútbol". The football that's played in America is just a glorified form of Rugby.
I found some interesting history of the word "soccer."
In the 1860s, as in most of history- with records as far back as 1004 B.C.- there were quite a lot of “football” sports in existence being played popularly throughout the world and of course, England. Many of these sports had similar rules and eventually, on October 26th, 1863, a group of teams in England decided to get together and create a standard set of rules which would be used at all their matches. They formed the rules for “Association Football”, with the “Association” distinguishing it from the many other types of football sports in existence in England, such as “Rugby Football”.
British school boys of the day liked to nickname everything, which is still somewhat common. They also liked to add the ending “er” to these nicknames. Thus Rugby was, at that time, popularly called “Rugger”. Association Football was then much better known as “Assoccer”, which quickly just became “Soccer” and sometimes “Soccer Football”.
In the beginning, the newly standardized Rugby and Soccer were football sports for “gentlemen”, primarily being played by the upper echelons of society. However, these two forms of football gradually spread to the masses, particularly Soccer, as Rugby didn't really catch on too well with the lower classes. This resulted in the name switching from “Soccer” and “Association Football”, to just “Football”; with the first documented case of the sport being called by the singular term “Football” coming in 1881, 18 years after it was first called “Soccer” or, officially, “Association Football”.
The game gradually spread throughout the world under the lower class name of “Football”, rather than “Soccer” as the “gentlemen” called it. The problem was, though, that a lot of other countries of the world already had popular sports of their own they called “Football”, such as the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, to name a few. In these countries, the name “Soccer” was and, in some, still is preferred for this reason.
So remember, it's the Brits' fault it's called "soccer."
