Yahoo announced today that they have reworked BabbleFish, the online language translator.

Though I’m not against this type of technology, I just wish it worked better. I ran a test a while back and it wasn’t what I’d say was great. So I tried it again today. I took Genesis 1:1-5 and translated it from English to Dutch and back to English. Here’s the results:

English

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Translated to Dutch

In het begin creëerde de God de hemel en de aarde. Nu was de aarde formless en leeg, was de duisternis over de oppervlakte van diep, en de Geest van God hing over de wateren. En bovengenoemde de God, “liet daar licht is,” en er waren licht. De god zag dat het licht goed was, en hij scheidde het licht van de duisternis. Geroepen god de lichte “dag,” en de duisternis riep hij “nacht.” En er waren het gelijk maken, en er was de ochtend- eerste dag.

Translated back to English

In the beginning the god created the sky and the ground. Now the ground formless was and empty, the darkness concerning the surface of diep was, and the spirit of god hung concerning the wateren. And aforesaid the god, “left there light is,” and there were slightly. The god saw that it was light well, and he separated it slightly of darkness. Called god the light “day,” and darkness called he “night.” And there were the right make, and was there the morning - first day.

If you use the online translation programs, just know that it’s close. Maybe not the best, maybe better than what you can do for translating, but, well, see for yourselves.