So, I just finished N4 (Wahoo!), and I wanted to change my "Studying" to say that I'm revising N4 material. So I wrote N4復習. Then I got thinking. "Well if I was in Japan, and someone asked me what I was doing, I'd have to say that I was revising/reviewing N4, not just N4 review". I thought, easy enough, it's a する verb, so just change the する to be A-ing and then it'll be sorted.
「私はN4を復習している。」
Sorted, I thought. Then I put in into google translate and Google Translate says "I have to review the N4." I'm like, that's odd, maybe I'm doing it wrong, to test I'll use some other する verbs so I used 運動している and 散歩している and google translate goes "Is in motion" and "taking a walk". So, now I'm wondering if maybe 復習 means something other than what I thought, or maybe I'm messing it up because of the number of things I'm trying to say or something...
Well the fatal error you commited appears to be the use of Google Translate. So far the JP-EN-JP translations are a big mess. The way you wrote it afaik is correct, and about what Google translated it as, that would be more along the lines of 「N4を復習しなければならない。」no?
Dude, what? Individual words, perhaps... but even then, any number of sources (I use nihongodict) are better.
Thankfully (my plan is to do more and more translation work as I get closer and closer to "retirement"), computer language translation will never be... anything but what it is. Partially due to my "contributions" to Google Translate and other translation tools. :P Sabotage!
Actually, the results of machine translation between European languages have been surprisingly decent recently. There has been huge progress compared to even 10 years ago. But at this point I don't see how Japanese<->English translation can reach that level. I know they used to draw on the translation memories people created inside google translator toolkit, and probably still do. When I used gtk for a while translating some anime episodes, I realized that Japanese is one language uniquely unsuited for it. There are just so many phrases that need to be translated in an entirely different way depending on context, it makes your translation memory database practically useless. Especially when you're translating dialogue, like in manga or video. So I feel like this particular mistranslated phrase could be the result of those faulty memories from other translators -- it simply made sense to them to phrase it like that in some context, even if it isn't what it means grammatically.
That's true. Japanese being a much more vague language (a subject? I don't need a subject, you can guess!) with less expression (we should never express our opinion if it is not the popular opinion) will make machine translation hit or miss. I just hope it's miss until I'm no longer around. :P
Welp, I can see a whole lot of people are pretty annoyed that I used google translate. Yeah, I know it's not the best, I know it makes mistakes but I just wanted to use something as a quick check. I didn't want to sit for a good long while and ask natives on an app (wasting their time) and frankly I don't really have all that many sources to double check what I do. I have a number of sites for learning, and I have books, but I really don't have anything to double check other than either A) Going on an app and praying someone can be bothered to check it, or B) shove it in google translate.
I'm glad to at least see that I didn't mess up the grammar as much as I assumed I had. Thanks to all of your responses, but to those saying not to second guess myself, you'd be amazed how much I can mess up even a very simple sentence, it's honestly quite embarrassing! (T_T)
Also @ lostinwakayama (oh good god you have a long name) I honestly either use renshuu or a physical Japanese dictionary in order to look at singular words.
Just to be clear, I didn't tell you to stop second guessing yourself. I told you to stop using google translate to second guess yourself. You seem to think that google translate is "at least better than nothing". But your own experience should make you realize that it's worse than nothing. Simply do not use it to check your text, it will lead you astray.
Now, if you want a reliable and expeditious check of your Japanese writing done by native speakers, I can't recommend Lang-8 highly enough. http://lang-8.com/ The only catch is that you'll have to do the same for them.
Just to be clear, I didn't tell you to stop second guessing yourself. I told you to stop using google translate to second guess yourself. You seem to think that google translate is "at least better than nothing". But your own experience should make you realize that it's worse than nothing. Simply do not use it to check your text, it will lead you astray.
Now, if you want a reliable and expeditious check of your Japanese writing done by native speakers, I can't recommend Lang-8 highly enough. http://lang-8.com/ The only catch is that you'll have to do the same for them.
Aye, sorry I worded that badly!
I'll avoid google translate like the plague from now on, and I've seen lang-8 and I use the HiNative app version for my phone, but for quick things like this, I feel more like I'd be a trouble to the people more so than I'd actually be useful to them. Thanks though :)
I haven't used HiNative myself, but I have to believe people help you there because they want to help, and they look forward to you asking them. You aren't troubling anyone by asking questions, quite the opposite.
Not saying "don't use Google translate". I'm saying "if you use Google Translate, make sure you give it a once over and see how it 'feels'". If you're not in enough of a situation to determine whether something Google Translate tells you is probably true or probably not, THEN don't use Google Translate.
And never let Google Translate be the deciding factor in whether you think anything else aside from Google Translate is wrong.
