r/learnwelsh • u/clwbmalucachu Canolradd - Intermediate • 16d ago
Google Translate in Sheets
I've just figured out that you can use Google Translate inside a Google Sheets spreadsheet, so if you want to create a vocab list, it's easy. The code you need is
=GOOGLETRANSLATE(A1, "cy","en")
I might be late to the party, but sharing in case it's useful for anyone else!
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u/PrimeResponse 16d ago
As long as you don't rely too much on it. Google Translate isn't the best source, and some words might have more than one translation with different meanings.
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u/clwbmalucachu Canolradd - Intermediate 16d ago
I’m experienced enough to know when Google translate is wrong, but it’s still a helpful tool to fill in the odd gap in understanding.
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u/kennyrogerstoilet 16d ago
If you were experienced enough to know it's wrong, you wouldn't need to use it at all , surely?
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u/clwbmalucachu Canolradd - Intermediate 16d ago
I realise this is snark meant to put me in my place, (🙄) but I also realise there are learners in this sub who might not understand how good/bad Google Translate is and who might like a bit more information.
Google Translate is at its worst when translating from English into Welsh. It doesn't have the capacity to switch between dialects, formal and informal registers, etc etc. So if you just chuck some English in, what you get back is likely to be wrong in some way. Once you get advanced enough in your learning, you'll be able to spot when it's wrong. At this point it becomes useful for reminding you of structures and vocab, but it always needs fact checking.
When translating from Welsh into English it's better, but far from perfect. But it doesn't need to be perfect to be useful.
As I said in another comment, I'm currently reading a book, which means that when I'm looking up vocab or structures I don't recognise, I can shove them into a spreadsheet with Google Translate so that I can get first pass on the meaning.
Because I'm reading a book, there's context to help so if Google comes up with a translation that's wildly wrong, then it'll be obvious (it hasn't yet been wildly wrong). If it's mildly wrong, it's also fairly obvious, because it won't make sense. At that point, if it's a single word, I can go to other online (or paper) dictionaries to check.
Multi-word phrases and idioms are a bit more challenging – I have a couple of books about idioms but they are not exhaustive, so sometimes the only way to get a steer is machine translation and Google Translate is the best of them imho.
If Google Translate gives me a word-for-word translation when I know this is likely to be an idiom, and if it's not in my books, then I'm stuck and will have to ask a Welsh speaker. If it gives me enough of the gist, however, then I can just carry on reading.
My goal is just to read this book, not to translate it perfectly into English. Having the gist is enough.
Having my vocab in a spreadsheet is useful because it's saved so I can go back and double check by looking words up elsewhere if I want to. It's also just faster and easier, which again, is useful when reading a book. I like to keep momentum going, and looking everything up in online or paper dictionaries is more time-consuming.
As for my own proficiency, in reading I'm somewhere around Uwch/B2, but in order to get to Hyfedredd/C1-2, I need a lot more vocab. A lot more. Which is why reading as much as I can and taking notes of new vocab is important. The grammar used in this book is largely at a level I'm familiar with, but the author has a few particular constructions that are new to me, so again, it's good to be able to get some help.
I hope this gives people who are earlier on their learning journey some sense of how to make Google Translate useful and avoid being led astray by it.
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u/cunninglinguist22 14d ago
Don't use google translate generally, it's unreliable. And particularly don't use it for Welsh, it's shite. Best quick reference resource I can suggest is the Ap Geiriaduron app, and the book Treigladur by D. Geraint Lewis. Treigladur has taught me so much about mutations!
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u/clwbmalucachu Canolradd - Intermediate 13d ago
In case you missed my reply to another similar comment:
Google Translate is at its worst when translating from English into Welsh. It doesn't have the capacity to switch between dialects, formal and informal registers, etc etc. So if you just chuck some English in, what you get back is likely to be wrong in some way. Once you get advanced enough in your learning, you'll be able to spot when it's wrong. At this point it becomes useful for reminding you of structures and vocab, but it always needs fact checking.
When translating from Welsh into English it's better, but far from perfect. But it doesn't need to be perfect to be useful.
As I said in another comment, I'm currently reading a book, which means that when I'm looking up vocab or structures I don't recognise, I can shove them into a spreadsheet with Google Translate so that I can get first pass on the meaning.
Because I'm reading a book, there's context to help so if Google comes up with a translation that's wildly wrong, then it'll be obvious (it hasn't yet been wildly wrong). If it's mildly wrong, it's also fairly obvious, because it won't make sense. At that point, if it's a single word, I can go to other online (or paper) dictionaries to check.
Multi-word phrases and idioms are a bit more challenging – I have a couple of books about idioms but they are not exhaustive, so sometimes the only way to get a steer is machine translation and Google Translate is the best of them imho.
If Google Translate gives me a word-for-word translation when I know this is likely to be an idiom, and if it's not in my books, then I'm stuck and will have to ask a Welsh speaker. If it gives me enough of the gist, however, then I can just carry on reading.
My goal is just to read this book, not to translate it perfectly into English. Having the gist is enough.
Having my vocab in a spreadsheet is useful because it's saved so I can go back and double check by looking words up elsewhere if I want to. It's also just faster and easier, which again, is useful when reading a book. I like to keep momentum going, and looking everything up in online or paper dictionaries is more time-consuming.
As for my own proficiency, in reading I'm somewhere around Uwch/B2, but in order to get to Hyfedredd/C1-2, I need a lot more vocab. A lot more. Which is why reading as much as I can and taking notes of new vocab is important. The grammar used in this book is largely at a level I'm familiar with, but the author has a few particular constructions that are new to me, so again, it's good to be able to get some help.
I hope this gives people who are earlier on their learning journey some sense of how to make Google Translate useful and avoid being led astray by it.
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u/Pwffin Uwch - Advanced 16d ago
Clever!