Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
Google Searches
German translation:
Translation not requested
Added to glossary by
Dan McCrosky (X)
Mar 9, 2002 12:28
22 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term
Canada
Re: Google Searches
English to German
Other
This is not a translation question, but a question regarding Google searches. I've noticed quite a few translators on ProZ.com refer to Google hits. If I have a word or term I don't have a clue how to translate, I might search for it on Google and get a lot of hits, but I still won't have a translation. How do I get from one to the other? Maybe you can give me a tip.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks a lot.
Proposed translations
(German)
| 1 | More of the same sort of info |
Dan McCrosky (X)
|
| 5 | synonyms |
Alexander Schleber (X)
|
| 5 | Careful! Sleuthing Can Be Addictive |
Ursula Peter-Czichi
|
| 4 | try narrowing down the search |
wrtransco
|
| 4 | one of the posibilities is |
Elisabeth Ghysels
|
| 4 | mulitlingual websites |
bvogt
|
Proposed translations
1 hr
Selected
More of the same sort of info
Most of the times the KudoZ references you have seen were using Google to check the validity and popularity of a term THE TRANSLATOR ALREADY SUSPECTED WAS RIGHT. The Google or AltaVista searches can also be very useful in comparing the popularity of several target language possibilities.
You can also start from nothing though. Other answers have already been submitted with this general idea, but here it is again. There are two tricks to this, however they take time and don't always work:
1. Search for your English term with the domains .de and language German. If you are lucky, a bilingual glossary or bilingual site (which uses both the German and the English terms) will come up in the hit results.
2. If you don't find anything good with trick one, try your term again without the .de domain and without any specific language. Then do page searches (Strg+F) of each page of the URLs that turn up. Sometimes just scrolling down is faster. If any of the URLs contain the word "english" or "englisch" or any abbreviations like "en", "uk", or "eng", go to the site and if it looks like it has potential, change the term in the URL to "deutsch" or "german" or the abbreviation to "de" or "ger" and then try to go to the new URL. You will get many "Die Seite kann nicht angezeigt werden." messages, but sometimes you can find a goldmine site that translates the entire English site, including your term, into German.
HTH
Dan
You can also start from nothing though. Other answers have already been submitted with this general idea, but here it is again. There are two tricks to this, however they take time and don't always work:
1. Search for your English term with the domains .de and language German. If you are lucky, a bilingual glossary or bilingual site (which uses both the German and the English terms) will come up in the hit results.
2. If you don't find anything good with trick one, try your term again without the .de domain and without any specific language. Then do page searches (Strg+F) of each page of the URLs that turn up. Sometimes just scrolling down is faster. If any of the URLs contain the word "english" or "englisch" or any abbreviations like "en", "uk", or "eng", go to the site and if it looks like it has potential, change the term in the URL to "deutsch" or "german" or the abbreviation to "de" or "ger" and then try to go to the new URL. You will get many "Die Seite kann nicht angezeigt werden." messages, but sometimes you can find a goldmine site that translates the entire English site, including your term, into German.
HTH
Dan
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks so much, Dan! Also many thanks to everyone who gave an answer. I wish I could give all of you points. Olav"
4 mins
try narrowing down the search
by providing other pertinent word.
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Note added at 2002-03-09 12:35:39 (GMT)
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I should add - if you don\'t know, what the term means, try to figure it out from similar context as your text. Then search in the other langue the same way.
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Note added at 2002-03-09 12:35:39 (GMT)
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I should add - if you don\'t know, what the term means, try to figure it out from similar context as your text. Then search in the other langue the same way.
14 mins
Elisabeth Ghysels
Works in: German to English, English to German, Italian to German, and 36 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
526
one of the posibilities is
to search for the term in the foreign language, while limiting Google to searches in your own language, let's say German. But in reality, what usually happens is that one has a well founded idea on how to translate something, and than uses Google only to control, whether this terminology one is planning to use really is used regularly enough (if you only find three hits, then there might be something rotten in the State of Denmark). And be careful not to trust all websites; try to trust only websites which originate from your target country.
Freundliche Grüsse,
Nikolaus
Freundliche Grüsse,
Nikolaus
59 mins
mulitlingual websites
Google Searches may help you to come across multilingual websites where you may be able to finde a translation - which of course, you cannot always accept blindly. You may also find in the context other terms you can enter as search criteria and eventually narrow down your search.
Elisabeth
Elisabeth
3 hrs
synonyms
While Google does (every once in a while) offer a translation of the page in question, most translations are usually abominally bad. So, as Dan suggests, finding a multilingual site can be a blessing. Some sites with competing product ranges (particularly in the technical fields) will have multilingual sites or offer a glossary of terms.
But often, I look for synonyms in the hits that Google delivers. Often these can be found on the firsat short extract of the site, sometimes in the site, if the material covered relates to your context. These sysnonyms sometimes then deliver the translation by way of your normal sources.
Synonyms are also very helpful in dictionaries. Take a root of the term you want, then go from lets say Ernst to the target language, and take the synonyms there to go back to your source language. Often a luminous idea will suddenly arise to help you on your way. The synonyms both in the source and target language can, of course, also again be used for Google or other search engines. A little practice with this technique will usually speed up what sounds like a laborious process.
HTH
But often, I look for synonyms in the hits that Google delivers. Often these can be found on the firsat short extract of the site, sometimes in the site, if the material covered relates to your context. These sysnonyms sometimes then deliver the translation by way of your normal sources.
Synonyms are also very helpful in dictionaries. Take a root of the term you want, then go from lets say Ernst to the target language, and take the synonyms there to go back to your source language. Often a luminous idea will suddenly arise to help you on your way. The synonyms both in the source and target language can, of course, also again be used for Google or other search engines. A little practice with this technique will usually speed up what sounds like a laborious process.
HTH
5 hrs
Ursula Peter-Czichi
United States
United States
United States
Techn. Translation: First Rate Service
Works in: German to English, English to German
Related KudoZ points
:
78
Careful! Sleuthing Can Be Addictive
The Stone of Wisdom:
There is little to add after all helpful suggestion, but this one: By all means use ADVANCED SEARCH. It saves a lot of time.
Here is an example:
Looking for the term 'The Stone of Wisdom' will bring up a huge number of hits. Excluding 'Harry Potter' in an advanced search will make the data base manageable.
However, not too much should be excluded. In this example, if you excluded 'opera' from the search, you would miss a nice learning experience and the most common translation: The Philosopher's Stone.
'Der Stein der Weisen' is the only opera composed by a committee.
See: Googling can become addictive!
There is little to add after all helpful suggestion, but this one: By all means use ADVANCED SEARCH. It saves a lot of time.
Here is an example:
Looking for the term 'The Stone of Wisdom' will bring up a huge number of hits. Excluding 'Harry Potter' in an advanced search will make the data base manageable.
However, not too much should be excluded. In this example, if you excluded 'opera' from the search, you would miss a nice learning experience and the most common translation: The Philosopher's Stone.
'Der Stein der Weisen' is the only opera composed by a committee.
See: Googling can become addictive!
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