This is an interesting question that nerds like us often wonder: will services like Google Translate (or Babelfish) which offer automated, or machine-translation on-the-fly online, ever be better than “the real thing,” namely, a human being translating your document?
When it comes to technical translation, the answer, we believe, is most likely “no”.
That is not to say that Google Translate is not without merit. We use it frequently to “get the gist” of a document in a language with which we are not so familiar. For this, it is a great tool. It shows just what the internet can do!
However, we have often seen hilarious translations made by Google Translate, too, which are fairly wide-of-the-mark. While the service will improve with time, it is a long way off being good enough for business use, when accuracy (or, rather, inaccuracy) may cost you money.
Every word counts in a technical document, so you need to know that it is being translated accurately.
We do have a comments section, though, so please feel free to chime in (below) if you have any funny examples of Google Translate throwing up something unexpected!