Comparison of Free Web-Based 
German-English Translations

Seven free web-based German-English translation programs are compared here.  The translations provided by all of them are very crude, but they can be very useful for people who cannot read German. No one is significantly better or worse than the others. Individual words and phrases may be better with a particular program, but not consistently so. However, there are some practical differences in their use. The comparison was made by pasting in German text documents. However, most of these programs can also directly translate web pages while preserving the original document formatting.

Five of the websites seem to use the same Systran software. They are:

http://babelfish.altavista.com 
http://www.systransoft.com
http://www.dictionary.com/translate 
http://www.systranet.com
http://www.worldlingo.com 

However, there are significant differences.  For example, Systranet intersperses German and translated sentences, but it requires signing up with a password each time it is used.  Systransoft provides a box with four lines of translation immediately under a box with four lines of German, and one can scroll down both in parallel.  
   
• Another approach is used by Tranexp:
  
  http://www.tranexp.com:2000/InterTran

When the cursor is placed at the end of each word, it provides alternative translations for that word.  The translated document is not as easy to read as some of the other programs, but this feature can be a significant advantage.

• Free Translation uses a fourth type of software, which is sometimes better and sometimes worse than the others. 
  
  http://www.freetranslation.com
  
  It is limited to 10,000 characters, but can be printed directly from the website.
  

If you discover any important additions or changes, please email Arthur Obermayer so that this information can be updated.