Translation widget...does it even work at all?

[Mr. E]

Hi. I got an iMac G5 running OSX-Tiger.

Is it just me, or does that translation widget not work?

It would be handy if it did. --Especially for Japanese as I live in Hawaii.

If it isn't all screwed up, could someone tell me how to use it please?

Thanx!

 

[johnnyjibbs]

It works for me. Just type something into the top box and then press return and wait a few seconds. You have to be connected to the internet for it to work though. Of course, its answer should only be taken as a guide, but it's fairly accurate for short phrases.

 

[jamdr]

It's very slow. The funny thing is I remember a time when I could type in some words and they would be translated instantly, but now it takes many seconds for anything to come up at all. Either my internet connection has gotten a lot slower (no) or the translation server has.

 

[Makosuke]

You don't even need to hit return, actually--just type/paste and wait.

Works perfectly for me--takes on the order of one second to translate a small block of text I paste in in Japanese. It does sometimes seem to run slower--I assume when Systran is bogged down--but at least late at night on a Friday it's peppy as anything.

If you enter something, wait for a while, and nothing happens, you might try coming back after a bit--the translation service does flake out on occasion, but it always comes back for me. I have heard stories of it dying more permanently, but apparently it can be brought back is deleting its pref file (widget-com.apple.widget.translation.plist).

Try that, then reload it (click on it, then hit command-R).

 

[Mr. E]

That's how I figured it worked, but not for me. My copy of the program is screwed I guess (I don't think it's my computer...it's only 2 wks old). When I press return, The cursor in the top box just moves down a line. And I have a problem just getting a cursor at all. When I click on the window...nothing happens at all. The only way I can get a cursor is to control click and select "Spelling" or another menu item. Plus...I can only choose English on the bottom box. Is it supposed to be like that? I wouldn't think so as that way you can't translate from English to anything. I already dumped it unfortuneately. Hopefully I'll find it again on the widgets download pg. at Apple (I was actually already looking around quite a bit...and can't find it). Does anybody have a link for the correct pg. by any chance?

Oh...and I have just left words in the box for many minutes.

 

[stevietheb]

I've never had a problem with it, but I always found that going to BabelFish was quicker.

 

[MrSmith]

Yes, as the poster above said you don't need to press return. If you enter ????? (that's 'konnichiha' in hiragana in case it comes out as garbage) it translates it as 'today' instead of 'hello' or 'good day'. That's a direct translation rather than reflecting its usage, but if it fails at that simple task how much could you trust it for complex sentences?

Oh, I've just checked Google translator. That does the same. Maybe you should get a translator with flesh

 

[kretzy]

I don't have any problems with the translator widget, though on occasion it has been a bit slow to respond. I found it VERY useful for translating from german...made my german h/w much easier

Maybe it is your internet connection that is slowing yours down or some other kind of internet related setting?

 

[Mr. E]

I don't think it's my internet connect. I have broadband (cable).

I did try a couple of other free translators. The ones that I found work good, but one of 'em makes the translation w/ the foreign alphabets (not much help usually--especially w/ Japanese...hehe!), and the others are pretty limited in the languages they do (only Euro...no asian). --I didn't try the google one...I'll give it a shot.

Well...I'll look around a bit more for the download location of the translation widget, reinstall, and see if it works. If not--to the trash bin of history with it! You'd think that would be an easy widget to find--considering it was one that came installed on the computer.

Thanx a lot for trying everybody!