The right english translation?

[mg78]

so, this s basically a question for who is not ENG mother tongue.
have u some1 helping for the translation or do u put all your texts in google-translate and... "who *******cares"?
my translations sometime are full of errors, so i need a solution... i dont like publish a comic with grammar errors.

[zoonland]

I NEVER use Google Translate to translate from italian. Italian is a nightmare to translate for an automatic translator like Google. I use my english skills (I studied english for 15 years at school), then I use the websites "Wordreference" and "Reverso Context", sometimes even Urban Dictionary (very rarely) to get more accurate translations.
I keep making mistakes, but less than they would be without using these tools. Sometimes I ask on forums, and I've been told there is a specific subreddit on Reddit for grammar issues and translations (I didn't find it).

[SandraMJ]

I'm an English teacher, and I only recommend using Google Translator when you have doubts about a single word. Write a whole sentence there, and you'll get something mangled.

[lyon]

I used to play a game with my friends where we'd put the same sentence through google translate over and over again to see how jumbled up it would get. Even after the first pass there would be a bunch of errors, but after a couple of rounds it would be unintelligible.

Like SandraMJ said, use it for individual words, but even then I'd be careful because English can be tricky when it comes to context. Certain words are really dependent on context, so you're really better off using an actual translation dictionary, because you'll have the definitions available to you too.

[ratique]

Is there anyone you know that is amazing at English? It is good for you to try and translate it as good as you can by yourself, but I can't imagine publishing something before having someone read it one last time. There simply are some things us non-English speakers just don't know.

[UzukiCheverie]

Definitely try and find someone who can translate your comic for you. Google Translate will get you nowhere and will just send you even further back than where you started. There's a reason that a recurring joke with it is translating something five times and translating it back again - it's all just garbled, automatic mess that doesn't take any actual grammar into account.

[SpavVy]

I have an English and Portuguese version for my comic.
English is my mother tongue but Portuguese is not, I actually have someone who is helping me with the Portuguese translation.
Do not use google translate because it's a mess...
Just partner up with someone it will save you the frustration later.

[Aloredd]

If all else fails you could put it into google translate ONCE and then have someone who knows english go through and put it into sentences that make sense (if you could find someone, that is). I'm willing to help out if you need it (English was one of my best classes in school, and I was always a step ahead of my classmates....not meaning to toot my own horn or anything but I was reading by the time I was about 3)

[AnnaLandin]

Either brush up on your own English skills, or get a native speaker to help you. Google Translate is useful for single words or a single, simple sentence, but is NOT a substitute for an actual translation.

I speak English as a second language - I'm Swedish - but I have spent years and years improving my own language-skills to the point where I don't need help with translations. I do, however, still hit snags every now and then; I'll write something that sounds okay to me, but sounds weird to a native speaker. Not necessarily wrong; just not normal.

I had an interesting discussion on Twitter yesterday with native English speakers who did not know that "contemporaneous" is a synonym for "contemporary" - and it turns out that "contemporaneous" sounds a bit dry and academic to their ears. If I'd just gone with the information I got by looking the word up in a dictionary, and then used it in a story instead of the word "contemporary", that would have sounded weird to native speakers.

[yartzanaserenade]

Read books. When I read books my English gets better because I unconsciously pick up the author's writing style for a while. It's really helpful.

I don't use google translator anymore, but sometimes I do google words I don't know or don't come to mind.
My boyfriend is American so I let him write the big stuff cause he's an amazing writer. I do write most dialogues though. Unless I want a cool manly speech. He helps with that too, indeed I think that more than the grammar, the style and personality is harder to figure out for me, and you can't google that.
That's why is good to read and emulate other people's writing.

Anyways don't be ashamed of translating stuff to check out if they're good, we all went through that phase, just remember that sometimes translator lies.
If you're not very sure just paste the phrase in google and see if someone used it.

[mg78]

so, look like i have to learn ENG.
and find some1, english mother tongue, who wanna do the tester for me.
easy!
well, challlenge acepted XD

[Aloredd]

I'm willing to help you! Just let me know details (you can email me jillynrushton@gmail.com if you want to contact me that way)

[mg78]

deal!! XD
when ready, ll give u the previews by pm.

[Aloredd]

works for me

and I have to have at least 20 characters to post so here's some filler XD

[AndreZEvolution]

As far as I know translation is not only about being able to talk the language. So google translate is definitely a no no. You should go with someone who speaks both languages or by yourself be able to talk it and own it. Mainly because many of the jokes and references that give that unique taste to a comic can only be understood by those who own it in a very personal way or have lived in the placed they speak the language.
My mexican jokes will not be as funny in english. Mainly because of what we call "albures" which could be understood as 'double sense' jokes. The problem with it is that it only makes sense in mexican spanish.
I just felt I had to say this

[YamamotoRyuunosuke]

My first language is Spanish, but I have been living and studying in the UK for 2 years (in which I have almost never spoken Spanish at all!).
I only make my comic in English, but I would like to make it available in Spanish this year 2016. I don't use many jokes or wordgames in my work, so it will not be a really hard task.
I'll also start studying Japanese at university soon, and I hope to be able to translate it someday.
As for your question, never and I mean NEVER use google translate or any other online translator for full sentences or expressions. Try to figure it out by yourself by learning grammar or ask someone who speaks English or whatever language you what to translate it to. I would recommend to use online translators only for individual words or things that are named by 2 or 3 words.

[koopaconan]

Hi there! A non-english user here (I'm spanish and my mother tongue are both spanish and catalan).

I use a mix of my own english knowledge (learned in school and practised every time I could) with some Google Translator / Wordreference / similar systems just to check if what I'm trying to say is correct or not.

Sometimes I made mistakes, but I think it's all part of a learning curve and it's a matter of time to improve it: The more you translate, the more you read, the more you know about the language... everything counts and it's a very interesting "incremental" process in wich every pice of knowledge you get helps you in the future.

Anyway, and like some other users suggested previously, one thing is being able to express yourself in a correct way (I mean, in an academic way following all the grammar rules and with all the valid syntax that a language has) and another (and maybe that's a totally different thing) is being able to express like a """native""". There're lots of expressions, constructions and even vocabulary that are right but seems weird when you heard it. It's because the person is speaking in an incorrect way? Nope, he's just saying things you understand but in a way that you don't expect.

At this point, I think a non-english author can follow two different paths:

The first one involves using an external translator: Basically you pay someone else (or talk to a friend or whatever) for translate your comic. If you don't mind about improving your english or you just want the world to enjoy your work without worrying about anything else, maybe that's the right way for you.

The other path, and the one that I'm trying to follow, involves a mixture of improving your english for both your use in a comic and in a "personal" context. It's also a funny and challenging way to learn more about a foreign language and become fluent in it.

And, since english it's not the "language for my comic" but probably the "language of the Internet" (not exactly that, but I think all of you get the point) I really encourage you to choose this second way. The possibilites are endless, don't think only in your comic!

[pammella]

I had the same problem with the beginning of my comics, today I've used my sister borrowed

[JustMarshma]

Well, I'm currently studying translatorship in english (my mother tongue is spanish) Please don't use google translate,it's an absolute disaster sometimes, if you don't have a friend to help you out, my suggestion is find someone who knows how to translate things and offer them to do a collab with you

[69Michi]

I used to play a game with my friends where we'd put the same sentence through google translate over and over again to see how jumbled up it would get.

There is actually a channel on YouTube called google translate lyric or something along that line where she put song lyric through google translate a bunch of time, translate English lyric into different language before making Google translate translates it back to English, it yields hilarious result

But yeah, google translate is a bad idea if you want to translate something into another language. I cracked up so hard when I ran my novel chapter through google into English. (My mother language is Vietnamese) In my case, I just try to translate everything on my own, since comics are not as language heavy as novels, I found no problem using my knowledge on English to translate the dialog. If you still can't do it, find a friends who can help you. I have a friend who is in English major occasionally looks through my panels to make sure I write things correctly.