How to Find a Language Translation Program

No matter if you have just unearthed some Dead Sea scrolls or want to know how to say “hello” in Spanish, there are tools to help you solve the language mystery. Language identification was once the work of librarians who could glance at a page and identify an obscure language. This specialized work has been taken over by computer programs designed to ferret out the details of identifying a foreign language. Some language experts have concerns about the accuracy of translation tools, so for academic or legal documents you might want to have a professional review it.

Google Language Detection

Google Language Detection allows you to cut and paste words into a search box. The more text you enter the more likely you are to get an accurate reading. The program is advanced enough that you don’t have to select “From” and “To” as it will be done automatically.

What Language Is This?

WhatLanguageIsThis.com is another tool that provides free language identification services. The text analyzing takes place in the web browser and, unlike Google, no Internet information is sent or recorded.

Polyglot 3000

Polyglot 3000 is a free-download program (see References) that recognizes more than 400 languages, including obscure ones, such as Sanskrit.

Babel Fish

The babel fish (See References 6) is a small, yellow fictitious animal. When it is inserted into the ear it simultaneously translates spoken languages. Babel Fish is also the name Yahoo chose for its online language translation program. Like the other programs, it is a free download.

Google Translate

If you want to know the language of an online document or a web page you can paste the URL into Google Translate. This program does not support many language pairs, but you may be able to determine the source language.

TextCat Language Guesser

TextCat Language Guesser is another free download for language translation buffs. For the best results with this program, feed it as much language as possible. If you want to find out if there is more than one language, separate the entries. “Xerox Language Identifier” and “Applied Languages” are also downloads you might want to check out. (See References 7)

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Reference

• CiteSeer: Language Identirication [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.52.4524]
• Patricia Gorman; Spanish translator; Casablanca, Morocco
• ZDNet: Google’s Automatic Language Detection and Trnslation Service [http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/googles-automatic-language-detection-and-translation-service/312]
• Cnet.download: PolyGlot 3000 3.52 [http://download.cnet.com/Polyglot-3000/3000-18487_4-10457201.html]
• Digital Inspiration: How to Identify the Language of any Text [http://www.labnol.org/internet/identify-language-of-text/8441/]
• BBC: Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/guide/babelfish.shtml]

Resource

• Translation Guide: Language Identificatin [http://www.translation-guide.com/language_identification.htm]