Google translations - are they any good ?

It is interesting to use Google translations as a matter of curiosity and see how they fare.

They can amble along quite nicely and translate quite competently until something throws them. 

As long as the context is very straightforward and factual (the cat is under the table) all is well. 

But whenever the context changes or becomes more specific, as happens in the real world, you may end up with gibberish.

So while the Google algorithms are brilliant and produce quite good translations you need to have a human being read them and make sure things have been correctly translated, in context, with the precise vocabulary and terminology of that particular context.

To sum up:  use Google or any other automat up to a point. But have the results proof read. 

This is an expense which really isn’t.