I created app.698expat.com because I was so frustrated at how bad google translate can be when translating user generated content (like facebook posts) or messages that require additional context.
For example, in Vietnamese, you need to know the age of the person relative to the speaker to properly address them. If you translate "Hello", Google translate says "Xin Chao" (which is the proper, but bland translation). A more conversational translation would be "(da) chao (anh|chi|co|con|ong|..)", but in order to know which last word to use, the translator needs more context.
example:
me: I am speaking to an older woman. how do I say hello to her in vietnamese?
gpt: When speaking to an older woman in Vietnamese, a polite and respectful way to say hello is: "Chào cô" – if she’s around your parents’ age (like an aunt).
ttepasse•3h ago
Just minutes ago I wrestled again with Youtube which doesn't respect my language preferences and tries to autotranslate not just the titles but also dubs videos in a shitty AI-translation, which I don't want. Youtube doesn't really seem to give you settings for this.
Machine translation may have gotten better, but it is still not right if you speak both languages. It get's the information across but always feels like the uncanny valley, it doesn't feel right. So my preference still is to never have machine translation between languages I already understand.