Google’s Persian translation tool proves no substitute for professional translation services.

Google have recently added Persian to the list of languages covered by Google Translate, allowing the user to translate documents from English to Persian and from Persian to English via this online tool. However, these translations are machine produced and therefore the quality of translation is much lower than a human translation.

A machine will find it difficult to address all the grammatical and syntactical language rules that a human takes for granted. Grammar is incredibly complex and it is often difficult to appreciate the extent of this complexity. Things that a human will instinctively know will not be so apparent to a computer.

Words with dual meanings cause machine translators a number of problems. In English, the word ‘match’ can be a small stick that you light, a game of football or a way to compare colours. The context in which the word appears will make the meaning apparent to a person reading a particular document, but even something as simple as this is a complex thing for a computer to gauge.

While Google’s Persian translation tool is likely to be of use if you wish to obtain the general gist of a text, for reliable, high quality translations, there is no substitute for professional translation services.