14 DAY TRIAL // The world is still as big today as it has always been, but the Internet has made it a lot shorter. Being able to communicate with someone on the other side of the world as easily as with someone on the other side of town does have its own challenges, the most notable one being the linguistic barrier. In the virtual space of the Internet you can run into people from any part of the planet, as such having a common language is important. While English is as ubiquitous in the virtual world as it is in the real one, straying from the mainstream Internet will leave you on forums and sites that can be in just about any language. At this point, unless you yourself know the language or somebody else who could do a quick translation, the only option is a translator. There is a large number of them available online and a few you can download and always have on hand, such as Easy Translator.
What it does Easy Translator, as its name implies, is a little program that you can use to easily and quickly make translations from one language to another. Useful for either entire blocks of text or just single words and with support for a very large number of languages, this application is all you need for the majority of quick translation tasks.
Working with it A translator application's job is easy to describe in just a few words, but complex in execution. Fortunately, the end use doesn't have to worry about any of that, since it is all handled behind the scenes. All user interaction with Easy Translator is accomplished through its main window, which is incidentally its own window. Split in two panes, the top side lets you input the text you would like translated while the bottom one shows the translated result. It only really has one button too, a big one with "Translate" written all over it.
To get started, one first needs the text to be translated. This can make its way into the application in all of the ways commonly employed for these things. Copy and Past both fully work for the text frames, as does drag and drop, and last but not least, you can simply open a document. Although the application will let you open just about anything, do bear in mind that this is rudimentary and any additional application specific information besides the pure text will leave you with a lot of garbled characters. Once the text is there, you need to choose the appropriate language current and target languages. Many of the online sites let you choose these independently, but Easy Translator keeps them grouped up in pairs as single options. Naturally, most people will gravitate towards the drop down menu at the bottom of the window. While this will get the job done, long menus that stretch both up and down can be a pain to find things in. A far better choice is to go the way of the Languages menu in the menu bar, which has a selection of current languages, each with a submenu for target languages. Once the appropriate languages have been set and the big button clicked, you have to wait for the application to do its thing, which can take a while depending on the length of the text you are working on. Once it is done, you can copy, drag or save the text out of the application and be on your way.
One word While these applications are generally used by people who have no grasp of the current language and just want some idea of what is said in the text, they can also be quite good for people who do know both languages and just want to look up the translation of the occasional word they don't know or can't remember. Using the application like this is identical, except you only have the one word to deal with. Easy Translator takes quite a long time even for just a single word, if it is the first time you are using that particular language pair, either because of having quit the application or just changed from another language pair. All subsequent translations take significantly less time, becoming near instantaneous.
Unfortunately, using the application this way is treated no differently than using it for large bodies of text. You can only work with language pairs and only one of them at any given time. The program cannot search all available language libraries and show hits in a centralized manner, which is a shame since this functionality would have added a new level of usefulness to the application.
Lost in translation Like with all such applications, the algorithms used for translating will get the job done, but the result is nowhere near perfect. Linguistic subtleties, sentence structure as well as names and terms can and will all get butchered to some degree. While the end translation will let you get a pretty good idea of what was being said in that particular text, it will not be presentable. The only exception is very simplistic text, such as those found in children's books, which will nearly always translate well word for word anyway.
The Good Fast and simple, it offers a local equivalent to the many services available online. The languages selections are pretty comprehensive although not exhaustive, and the user interface is as simple as can be.
The Bad One word translations could be handled a bit better, both in terms of initial speed and number of languages that can be worked with at the same time.
The Truth If you prefer using a local application rather than visiting various sites for your translation needs, look no further than Easy Translator. It lives up to its name making translations as easy as they can be.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
