Google translated earthcaches

[+SheepOnTrip]

Number 7 of the earthcache's requirements: "The EarthCache text and logging tasks must be submitted in the local language. Additional languages are encouraged, but the local language must be listed first"

I am seeing earthcaches lately in my current locations that are published by tourists, who are puting their English text in google translate and copying it as a bare minimum lazyness of avoiding this requirement, with no further editing - the result is that the text in local language is sometimes completely unreadable, with many sentances making no since. Here's one line if I transle it as is back to English: "natural ants for a long time big marine strategic importance, and rabbis big cities of the world are on top of them". In one of them even the main subject of the earthcache is a term translate foneticly from eanglish although it doesn't exist in the local language as is, so you have no idea what the cache is talking about. 

It feels like the standarts of ECs in that aspect are very low, and disrespectfull - some of the ECs don't even have translation at all.

There are some non English speaking countries that takes care of translating every EC to English (in proper translation), even though it is not mandatory, just so foreigners can log them. Why doesn't it work the other way round? Respect the local cachers - at least have someone human making sure the translation is readable.

[+hzoi]

Sounds like part of the problem is a lack of coordination with local reviewers who are fluent in the appropriate language.  Geoaware reviewers are a smaller subset of the reviewing community, so I wouldn't expect them all to be polyglots.  But apparently better coordination with, in this case, an Israeli reviewer, isn't happening.

 

When I put out a Norwegian earthcache, I found a local cacher who was willing to help me out and translate the description for me.  They more than earned the hzoi coin I sent them to thank them.

[+hzoi]

p.s. When I was living and caching in Germany, I came across poor English translations from time to time.  In those cases, I emailed the cache owner with a corrected translation they could use.  Entirely up to you, of course, but rather than simply identifying the problem, you could work with the cache owners and be a part of the solution.  Just a thought.

[+SheepOnTrip]

I did that as well, a few times - wrote to the CO about problem in the translation, and volunteer to fix it. And if I'll place a cache outside my country, even if it is not EC, I will try to get a proper translation for the text to the local language, as I know how it is sometimes hard for non native English to read and write in a foreign language.

But I am looking at a cache which is so poorly done, that it is unreadable. I can't even complete the mission, as I am not even convince that the basic assumption the CO makes about the scenery type is correct, by what I manage to understand (reading about complicated geology in English is hard for me, and I couldn't find the main term's aquivilent in my language to search it...). You can see it is google translate even without being able to read it, as it left random words untranslate... It is just like the reviewer thinks "well, who gives a dadgum about that guideline, they should all improve their English". 

So what's the use of a guideline that even reviewers don't care about?

[+Touchstone]

If it were me, I'd probably submit a Listing of my own for the location.  The cache owner doesn't own the location, and if what you describe is unreadable, it appears that the Listing and Description fail the educational intent of the Guidelines that needs to be corrected somehow.   Keep in mind, as hzoi describes, not all the Reviewers are fluent in the language for the area they have responsibility, so you may be asked to provide a translation in a language they are more fluent in.  Looks like you have a pretty firm grasp on the English language, so chances are, you'll be ahead of the game.

Best of luck!

 

[BlueRajah]

There were also many that are older, before the language guidelines were in place.  Years ago every application had to be in English, as the couple reviewers were in USA.  The requirement that it be in the local language was slipped in later.

[+SheepOnTrip]

I know, I am talking about the new ones, who were published after the change of the guidelines.

 

My English is pretty decent, but it is still hard for me to read and answer questions about geology in English, specially since I have no idea how the professional terms translated to my language so I can try to look for material in another language - and google translate definitely can't handle that. When I see a cache like, unreadable and full of mistakes in translation that you can notice it's from google translation without even knowing the language, this it looks so disrespectfull, to both the guidelines and the local people.

[+hzoi]

7 hours ago, SheepOnTrip said:

When I see a cache like, unreadable and full of mistakes in translation that you can notice it's from google translation without even knowing the language, this it looks so disrespectful, to both the guidelines and the local people.

Agree.

 

On the flip side, since the guideline change, I've seen a number of earthcaches crop up that are owned by native speakers and so presumably great in the local language, but that have terrible Google English.  Until William Shatner is elected God-Emperor and forces everyone to switch to Esperanto, I don't see this going away.

[+GeoawareGSA1]

Hi everyone,

This is a good discussion, thanks for bringing it up.

We certainly do not want poor Google translations used for EarthCaches.

I would recommend that people do as hzoi suggested, and find local cachers to work with to obtain a proper translation.

If one notices cache text that is poorly translated, you could contact the CO and/or the reviewer to point this out, and work with them to improve it.

I suppose (not sure if this is too harsh), that if a translation is VERY bad, and you request a fix, and it is not done, one could post a "needs maintenance" note or something like that.

But please work with the CO and reviewer first.

--Matt Dawson, GSA

 

[Malix007]

Hola:

Como se podrán dar cuenta, solo hablo español.

Necesito ayuda para traducir un earthcache al idioma inglés.

Debo abrir un nuevo tema o alguien de acá puede ayudarme?

Gracias!

[+simoktm]

I think that there is a (unwanted) lack of control on the earthcaches.

the fact that they are not physical, means that many tourists, as they want to have a "hide" abroad, create an earthcache every time they go on holiday.

The result is that there are a lot of identical and uninteresting earthcaches for example in big touristic cities as Rome, created by tourists only for their "stats".

Translation in local language is a very big problem, many of them are incorrect ( and not understandable), so it is impossible to answer to some questions for some language speakers.

 

I don't want to blame geoawares (who are giving a great service to the community) but even if they are expert of geology, they can't "Review " correctly a earth written in a language they don't know, but only the English version or the languages they know.

i think that, in order to avoid these problems, in the countries where the Geoaware doesn't speak the local language, a further "check" should be introduced.

For example, after the "review" of the geoaware, who check that the geology is correct, the cache should be checked by a local reviewer, who is not a geoaware but knows the rules and the language...

[+hzoi]

On September 15, 2017 at 7:21 PM, simoktm said:

i think that, in order to avoid these problems, in the countries where the Geoaware doesn't speak the local language, a further "check" should be introduced.

For example, after the "review" of the geoaware, who check that the geology is correct, the cache should be checked by a local reviewer, who is not a geoaware but knows the rules and the language...

I agree. I don't expect geoaware reviewers to be polyglots, but it would be helpful to add this check to ensure that the end product is usable, which is the intent behind the requirement.