Need to Translate? Try Google

Guess what? I am writing this post for the second time. Why? It's just that, my first draft containing five paragraphs wasn't saved when I logged out few hours back. When I rechecked it for polishing, I found out that what remained was only the title. I can no longer remember how I started the article and so, I decided to make this introduction. Oh, by the way, I'm working on OpenOffice.org Writer right now so as to make sure that my write-up would be saved (thanks for the piece of advice Tita Barbie).

If you have the capacity of speaking (may be writing as well) different languages, you are considered to be a linguist. Unfortunately, I am no Jose Rizal (Philippines' National Hero) who has given that acquired talent and I cannot speak Spanish nor Latin like he did.

Surfing the net happens to be one of my favorite habitual past times when I am at the office. Just to kill some time, I usually search for some interesting articles or sites that contain interesting topics that might inspire me to post something on my blog. I am a fan of photography, thus, when I come across a photography related site, I can't help myself but try to look at it, even just for a moment.

It was like yesterday (literally) when I came across one site that really captured my attention. I was (almost) hypnotized by the pictures on it and how the blogger (it was a blog site) related each picture to colors – colors that became alive in those pictures. No more illusion and picturesque descriptions. Only reality.

The blog's name was 'Japanese Color'. I had all the enthusiasm to browse each and every page of the blog since all contains pictures. Pictures which, I know, have other meanings that lie behind each. Then, I got frustrated. Why wouldn't I?..I can't understand the captions! Why? Because they were all written in Japanese characters.

Then, I relaxed. Trying to get back my almost lost temper. I remembered using one  application when some 'alien' messages got into my inbox. I knew it could help.

Google ---> (type the keyword) google translate ---> search

or, to make it easier, just click on the link below:

http://translate.google.com/#

Then, after few minutes, I was able to read the captions. What I did was copy the Japanese characters to the 'text' window in Google translate, chose Japanese in the 'Translate from' tab and English in the 'Translate into' tab. If you are not sure of the language you want to translate from, you may choose 'Detect Language' and Google will detect the language for you.

Now, I will no longer carry the burden of translation in my mind. As long as the web (and Google Translate) is there, I know that my linguist friend will be always at hand..;-)