Thai - English Email Translation Service

[rrose070]

I just found this website www.thaichitchat.com

It does English to Thai and Vice Versa e-mail translations for what looks like pretty cheap prices - has anyone used it, is it good?

[mangkorn]

Don't know, but you should make sure whether it is done by a computer program, or by an actual, well-educated, bilingual human being. (That sounds pretty cheap for an educated person to do, unless they are working with lots of volume. Good translators are steeped in both cultures - not merely vocabulary.)

Computer-generated translation is incapable of sussing out context and nuance, and may end up as gibberish - or far worse

Caveat emptor...

[withnail]

I'd get in contact with them and ask a few questions. It says their translators are university educated native speakers. So am I, but I'm not a great translator. They/you should also realise that translators should really translate into their native language not from it, so if their translators are Thai then the translation to English is unlikely to be perfect. If it's a computer program then definitely don't waste your money.

[mangkorn]

....translators should really translate into their native language not from it...

Excellent point.

[rrose070]

OK, I justg submitted an email for translation - I'll keep ya posted!

[rrose070]

It worked, and hella quick! I got a copy of my original and the translated version (which I can't read) and my friend's response came back good. I'm pleased!

[withnail]

If it's not too personal you could always copy it here (or send it to me in a PM if you want anything removed first) and we could give you our opinions on the quality of the translation. Even if the recipient was impressed with it there's no guarantee that it's perfect as it's a very subtle process.

When translating between two completely different languages like English and Thai you usually have to make the decision whether to try to closely match the original whilst using less than natural language, or to try and think in the language you are translating into and write(or say) not what the original says but what someone using the language you're translating into would say in the same situation.

You also then get the situation where you have to sometimes translate something that, in the other language, would never be said (or certainly written). Specifically looking at the type of translating we would be dealing with here an example could be that you might write a very honest and to the point email which when translated into Thai sounds too blunt and, consequently, very rude. The translator therefore would have to choose whether to write this or soften it up.

[onanong]

Actually, it is just another translation service. Their rates are comparable to other translation services in Thailand.

[Sinclair]

You can also have a short email translated for free by human volunteers at Freelang - http://www.freelang.net/translation

Edited May 11, 2008 by Sinclair

[rrose070]

Here's the message I submitted to www.thaichitchat.com and the translation they copied to me. Nothing too private here so you get the whole enchilada. I recieved my copy of the translation about two hours after I submitted it. Any opinions on the accuracy of the translation?

Dear Thai Chit Chat User:

The message you recently submitted has been translated and delivered to your

recipient. This email is a copy for your records.

Message to be translated:

Hi Mee!

I'm trying out this email translation service. Hope they get it right.

Just 5 1/2 months until I return! Just booked on Cathay Pacific, departing Seattle on November 26th. Since I'm flying on frequent flier miles (a free round trip), I will have to go through Hong Kong. Since it's my first time in Hong Kong I'm going to stay overnight and do a little exploring.

There is a nasty cold virus going around and I caught it last week. I rarely take antibiotics but I'm on them now. Stupid cough is keeping me up at night.

We had a one year reunion with Charlee and her six puppies. It was so fun to have seven Bassett hounds and their owners in our back yard. The dogs got big fat barbecued ribs for their birthday. They all had their happy dog faces on.

Don't worry, I won't forget to bring the red wine and macaroni and cheese when I come. If I recall you have a preference for merlot, correct?

Chat soon. Can't wait for October!

Love,

Song

------------------------------------------------------

Translation:

สวัสดี มี

ตอนนี้ได้ลองใช้บริการการแปลอีเมลล์เป็นภาษาไทยดู เพราะคิดว่าจะช่วยให้การติดต่อสื่อสารระหว่างเราสองคนสะดวกยิ่งขึ้น

เหลือเวลาอีกแค่ห้าเดือนครึ่งเท่านั้น ที่จะได้เดินทางกลับไปเมืองไทย ตอนนี้ได้จองตั๋วเครื่องบินของ คาเธ่แปซิฟิกค์ไว้แล้ว จะเดินทางออกจาก ซีแอทเทิล ในวันที่ 26 เดือนพฤศจิกายน เนื่องจากว่าได้ตั๋วฟรี เพราะใช้แต้มสะสมไมล์เครื่องบิน เครื่องจะไปหยุดที่่ฮ่องกง และจะแวะเที่ยวที่นั่นก่อน เพราะว่าเป็นครั้งแรกที่ได้เดินทางไปฮ่องกง พร้อมทั้งจะพักค้างคืนที่นั่นอีกหนึ่งคืน

ที่นี่ตอนนี้หวัดไวรัสระบาดไปทั่ว อาทิตย์ที่แล้วเพิ่งไม่สบายไป และก็ไม่ได้กินยาป้องกันไว้ แต่ตอนนี้ต้องหายามาทาน เพราะไอตลอดทั้งคืน จนทำให้นอนไม่หลับ

ชาลีพาลูกหมาอีกห้าตัวของเค้ามาที่บ้าน หลังจากที่ไม่ได้เจอกันมาประมาณหนึ่งปี กลายเป็นว่าที่สนามหญ้าหลังบ้าน มีหมาบรัสเซทฮาว ทั้งหมดเจ็ดตัว พร้อมทั้งเจ้าของมารวมตัวกัน พวกเราสนุกกันมาก หมาๆทั้งหลายก็ดีใจมากเช่นกัน เพราะได้กินซี่โครงย่างเป็นของขวัญวันเกิด

จะไม่ลืมเอาไวน์แดง และมัคคาโรนี ชีสท์ ไปฝาก ถ้าจำไม่ผิด คุณชอบยี่ห้อ เมอร์ลอท ใช่ไหม

คุยกันใหม่เร็วๆนี้ แล้วเจอกันตอนเดือนตุลาคม

รัก

ซอง

Our goal is your complete satisfaction with our email translation services. If you have any problems or questions regarding your account or our service please email us at [email protected]

Thanks for using Thai Chit Chat!

[email protected]

[aanon]

ตอนนี้ได้ลองใช้บริการการแปลอีเมลล์เป็นภาษาไทยดู เพราะคิดว่าจะช่วยให้การติดต่อสื่อสารระหว่างเราสองคนสะดวกยิ่งขึ้น

I'm now trying out a service for translating emails into Thai, because I think it will help to make contact and communication between the two of us even more convenient. [my back translation]

hehe...well, you can hardly blame them for adding a little marketing pitch!

the rest is ok overall, they missed a few subtle points here and there, but nothing terrible.

all the best.

ps. those who read thai may enjoy this claim from the thaichitchat page. i won't colour it with a translation:

"นักแปลของไทยชิตแชตมีความชำนาญกันทุกคน เพียงแค่มองดูข้อความภาษาไทยหรืออังกฤษแล้ว ก็สามารถแปลคำศัพท์ สำนวนและประโยคได้โดยแทบจะไม่รู้ตัว"

[withnail]

The only other thing (as well as the marketing pitch) that I noticed could be wrong (rather than a subtle point) is where it says ชาลีพาลูกหมาอีกห้าตัวของเค้ามาที่บ้าน I believe this translates to Charlie took another 5 puppies of hers/his to the house. I'm not quite sure whether this suggests that Charlie is also a dog but either way the number is wrong.

Basically it's pretty good though.

[rrose070]

Thanks guys!

I'm definitely going to use them again. Their website says less than a 12 hour turnaround time but they emailed me back with a copy of the translation in less than two hours. I was pretty impressed with that.

[mangkorn]

Thanks guys!

I'm definitely going to use them again. Their website says less than a 12 hour turnaround time but they emailed me back with a copy of the translation in less than two hours. I was pretty impressed with that.

I'm mildly curious about your pen name. They translated it as ซอง - which is the best that anyone could do, without knowing what it means to you.

No big deal, but this is slightly amusing: http://thai-language.com/id/132737

[Jandajoy]

And what did it cost you?

[rrose070]

And I thought my Thai nickname "Song" only translated to the number 2! I didn't know about the slang verb meaning...that's funny!

The message was 180 words and it cost me $7.39 USD. Their minimum charge is $3.49 for 50 words and then thirty cents for each set of ten words above 50.

[Jandajoy]

And I thought my Thai nickname "Song" only translated to the number 2! I didn't know about the slang verb meaning...that's funny!

The message was 180 words and it cost me $7.39 USD. Their minimum charge is $3.49 for 50 words and then thirty cents for each set of ten words above 50.

Thanks for that.

[mangkorn]

And I thought my Thai nickname "Song" only translated to the number 2! I didn't know about the slang verb meaning...that's funny!

Those are different words, and are also pronounced differently. สอง is the number two; ซอง means envelope, package, or, that other thing...

Ergo, the difficulty of blind translations. In this case, not the translator's fault, as the word spelling "song" doesn't give any possible clue as to what it's supposed to be.

Who knows? It could've been translated as เพลง

One thing you might do is add some helpful notes to the translator, if there is anything in the original that may cause confusion.

Edited May 14, 2008 by mangkorn

[meadish_sweetball]

As far as I can tell (which is whether the essence of the original is preserved or not, I cannot judge style and register very well) it is quite a good translation.

As aanon and withnail pointed out there are a few minor things that aren't entirely correct though.

The translation says you did not take any preventive medication for the cold, but you will have to get some medicine now because of the cough. Your original stated you usually do not use antibiotics but are taking them now.

The number of puppies, just as Withnail said. It says 5, should be 6.

Some things have not been translated, like 'They have their happy dog faces on', but one could say it is conveyed in another sentence stating that both the dogs and their owners had fun. I guess it is quite a good solution really.

I also enjoyed the marketing pitch.

[mike_l]

The only other thing (as well as the marketing pitch) that I noticed could be wrong (rather than a subtle point) is where it says ชาลีพาลูกหมาอีกห้าตัวของเค้ามาที่บ้าน I believe this translates to Charlie took another 5 puppies of hers/his to the house. I'm not quite sure whether this suggests that Charlie is also a dog but either way the number is wrong.

Basically it's pretty good though.

I've never heard a Thai use เค้า/เขา to refer to an animal (always only มัน or by its name), so I'd think this translation is definitely referring to Charlie as a person rather than a dog. The other thing that struck me as a bit strange was the name "Mee" being written as มี , I suppose that's possible (does anyone know someone with that as a nickname?) but หมึ is more common and would be a better guess I think.

[Rikker]

I'd say it's a decent translation, but not a particularly good one. The translator has very good grasp of Thai, because it's obviously their native language (except that I found it odd to use กิน and ทาน in such close proximity--pick a register and stick with it), but is missing much of the nuance of the English, sometimes even missing rather big things like that Charlee is a dog. This should've been clear from Charlee + six puppies = seven bassett hounds, if nothing else.

Most of the meaning is conveyed, but little of the tone. Feels oddly sanitized. Did they not understand "hope they get it right" or were they just taking liberties with the content for self-promotion? I don't like either possibility from the perspective of a customer. And the tone of "Stupid cough keeping me up at night" is different in the Thai. Also, as has been mentioned, "I rarely take antibiotics" conveys certain facts about the author, and refers to his general habits, where the Thai tells a story more like "I didn't take the medicine (like I should've at first), but now I am taking it because of this cough." No mention of antibiotics, which is nitpicky I know, but moreover doesn't convey the idea that "I rarely take (medicine)" anywhere.

These are all subtle but legitimate differences between the original and the translation. I'm not a Thai so I certainly couldn't do better stylistically. But it feels like a translation made with maybe 75% comprehension, which causes all the differences. Translation is hard work, what can we say.

Certainly doesn't meet up to the laughable promotional hyperbole that aanon pointed it! ("นักแปลของไทยชิตแชตมีความชำนาญกันทุกคน เพียงแค่มองดูข้อความภาษาไทยหรืออังกฤษแล้ว ก็สามารถแปลคำศัพท์ สำนวนและประโยคได้โดยแทบจะไม่รู้ตัว")

[mangkorn]

Rikker makes very valid points (as do other posters).

So, I might play the devil's advocate - hey, whaddya want for 200 baht?

The intended trade is just like this example: excruciatingly banal notes between farangs and their intended paramours (or "purchases"). No serious professional translator would dedicate him/herself to such tedium, for low pay.

All things considered, it seems like a job done well enough...

(Edit: I also must take the translator's side on this one: "stupid cough" is a stupid notion - and pretty much impossible to translate into Thai - unless you use a mild expletive, which I am sure is clearly prohibited by the company's owners.)

Edited May 14, 2008 by mangkorn

[mangkorn]

The other thing that struck me as a bit strange was the name "Mee" being written as มี , I suppose that's possible (does anyone know someone with that as a nickname?) but หมึ is more common and would be a better guess I think.

Perhaps หมี ?

[withnail]

I agree with Rikker and Mangkorn,

Although I already stated it was a pretty good translation I think what I should have said was a fair job for the money given the particular content. I wouldn't trust them with anything more intimate and agree that you might want to add some notes. Alternatively, you could ask for it to be forwarded to an email of your own and then post it here to be checked.

Despite it being cheap many of the emails they deal with I'm sure would be a lot more serious than this (I'm thinking change the word puppies to million Baht )

P.S. Mike, I have definitely heard some Thais referring to their pets as เค้า/เขา I can remember in particular a doggy fashion show on TV. It has been explained to me though that this is a fairly recent thing among animal lovers and not as common still as using their name or มัน It was the use of อีก in the phrase that led me to believe that maybe the translator did realise that Charlie was a dog. Still got the number wrong though.

[Rikker]

Maybe the translator wasn't sure, and decided to go with เขา because they figured it covered the bases well enough.. assuming a dog is a human is the lesser translation mistake than the other way around.

And yes, for 200 baht, it's much better than I expected.

[mike_l]

The other thing that struck me as a bit strange was the name "Mee" being written as มี , I suppose that's possible (does anyone know someone with that as a nickname?) but หมึ is more common and would be a better guess I think.

Perhaps หมี ?

Yep thanks mangorn, the หมึ instead of หมี was a typo on my part.

P.S. Mike, I have definitely heard some Thais referring to their pets as เค้า/เขา I can remember in particular a doggy fashion show on TV. It has been explained to me though that this is a fairly recent thing among animal lovers and not as common still as using their name or มัน It was the use of อีก in the phrase that led me to believe that maybe the translator did realise that Charlie was a dog. Still got the number wrong though.

That's interesting withnail, thanks - although my experience so far is that using เขา to refer to pets can confuse people, maybe I just don't know enough animal lovers if I've never heard that usage. I'd argue that ชาลีพาลูกหมาอีกห้าตัวของเค้ามาที่บ้าน still seems to be a mistake even without the อีก though, as surely the majority of people reading that would assume ชาลี was a person.

[siamesekitty]

pretty good translation, though I agree with the various points others have made. I admire the smoothness of some parts of the translation, but it loses major points for the mistranslation about the dogs. For me, style is flexible, but inaccuracy is a no-no.

As for the เค้า/มัน issue, I believe มัน has always been the proper word for any animal, but nowadays เค้า is often used, especially on TV and amongst "cultured" people, because เค้า sounds more polite. Kinda like the political correctness in Farangland, where people now tend to say ____-person rather than ___-man.

[rrose070]

I chose Song as my "Thai name" because I love to sing, and my English name gives Thais a rough time to pronounce (actually it sounds quite unattractive...) and I thought song sounded pretty! Still do. Plus it always makes people titter

[freitag1]

I had the folks of http://learn-thai-podcast.com translating some letters. Quick and easy.