ELL+and+Google+Translate

__ELL and Google Translate __by Fay Hrysikos, Summer II, 2012  Edited by Stuart Grimes, Summer 2015 ELL is a person who is learning the English as a second language in addition to their native language. Many ELL students bring their cultures into the classroom. Teachers need to be informed about the ELL students’ cultures and be able to embrace all cultures within the classroom for success to be achieved. ELL students run into several problems in the classroom such as teachers and English speaking students do not pronounce words phonetically, they may use slangs and various dialects may hinder correct phonetic learning. ELL students have difficulty with verb tense changes, vocabulary, pronoun usage, and the spelling rules of the language. Google Translate is a free automatic translator that offers translations for 57 languages. Google translate is a service that translates text and webpages. It offers features that allow English and non-English speaking persons to read and listen to the translations through a Read phonetically link. An ELL student would benefit using Google translate by having the opportunity to translate words, phrases, sentences quickly and easily without paying for a human translator. Several barriers that an ELL student could face are not having the personal feel of the translation, the idioms, voice, and character. Google translate does not offer the new trends of the modern language and the evolution of language. An Ell student would be able to get beyond these barriers by learning and understanding the language first then learning how to complement the culture/language by interacting with humans. ELL students would be able to work with other students or with an adult to assist with the software. In my own conversations with various ELL teachers, they do point out some issues surrounding Google Translate. The primary complaint is that the software is often inaccurate. Frequently a student might lack either reading or writing literacy in their first language and the sentence or words to be translated might be spelled incorrectly or the student is unable to write or type them into Google Translate at all. Additionally, the English language has a tremendous amount of multiple meaning words and it is easy for them to get confused by a computer. An example of this would be 'bear' (the animal), 'bear' (to put up with) 'bare' (naked). They will totally change the meaning of what the student is trying to say. Google translate has created an app. that allows a student to say a phrase into the device and will translate into their native language. This is great in theory, but ultimately a machine is interpreting human language in a way that it believes is correct, but in reality is not a real sentence. Think about the problems you likely have had with Siri and miscommunications! I in no ways mean to discount this technology because I certainly believe that is a valuable tool and a step in the right direction. It often works great for single words or short phrases. However, for longer more complicated thoughts (student going to the nurse, parent-teacher conferences) is in inadequate. Additionally, when translating an entire document, it is necessary to have a native speaker or someone who is fluent in the language to read through and proof read the document to ensure its accuracy.

Reference Articles: Google Translate Help- [] Wikipedia- [] English Language Learners by the National Council of Teachers of English. ====Digital Trends: < http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/how-accurate-is-google-translate/>====