BE CAREFUL. Online translators are not perfect. Of course, humans are not perfect as well, but online translators are even worse. They're like monkeys trying to translate one language into another. Not gonna work.
So I've decided to post some tips to help people identify when someone is using a translator.
Example I: Someone with 6-7 years of formal study not using a translator
高校生の時に、長野県に住みました。留学のために、アメリカから日本に初めて行きました。子供の頃からずっと日本に行きたかったのです。それは私の夢でした。アメリカの高校で二年間日本語を勉強しましたから、日本に着いて、少し分かりました。しかし、分からなかったことが多かったですから、一生懸命勉強しました。
When I was a high school student, I lived in Nagano Prefecture. In order to study abroad, I went to Japan from America for the first time. Since I was a child I had always wanted to go to Japan. That was my dream. Because I had studied Japanese for two years at my high school in America, when I got to Japanese I understood a little bit. However, there were a lot of things I did not understand, so I gave all at studying.
When I was a high school student, I lived in Nagano Prefecture. In order to study abroad, I went to Japan from America for the first time. Since I was a child I had always wanted to go to Japan. That was my dream. Because I had studied Japanese for two years at my high school in America, when I got to Japanese I understood a little bit. However, there were a lot of things I did not understand, so I gave all at studying.
Notice that in the Japanese "私" is only used once. In natural Japanese, the Japanese rarely use pronouns (I, you, he, she, etc). Online translators will ALWAYS use pronouns. I have yet to see one that doesn't when it's not necessary. Also, if you notice, word order isn't the exact same as the English translation. While I tried to keep them as similar as possible, there are differences. (i.e: "kodomo no koro" is "when I was a child" but translated word-for-word in Japanese word order it's "child's time/age/era"). Watch for these.
Example 2: Someone using a translator to look smarter
こんにちは、こんにちは、親愛なる仲間。私はあなた、日本語とである調査するべ
きそのような楽しみの言語同意する。何百年私が学校で調査しているドイツ人よ
りより多くの楽しみ
きそのような楽しみの言語同意する。何百年私が学校で調査しているドイツ人よ
りより多くの楽しみ
Intended translation
Hello, hello, dear fellow. I agree with you, japanese is such a fun language to study. Hundreds of years more fun than the german I'm studying in school.
Actual translation
Hello hello the dear companion. The language of such the enjoyment that
should be investigated it is in you and Japanese agrees to me. I for
hundreds of years am the enjoyments more than the German who is
investigating at the school.
should be investigated it is in you and Japanese agrees to me. I for
hundreds of years am the enjoyments more than the German who is
investigating at the school.
Totally different, no? The grammar structure is NOT Japanese at all. The gist of what was trying to be said has been lost. For starters, the Japanese would NOT say "konnichi ha" twice in a row. Secondly, the second sentance makes NO sense at all. I'm not even going to try and deconstruct all that's wrong there. Thirdly, the last sentance has a bunch of mistakes, the biggest of which is the fact that "german person" (doitsujin) was used instead of "german language" (doitsugo). I could go into more mistakes, but it's 4:30am and I need to get to bed and I'm a 15 minute drive down the highway from my bed.
