
Basically they say that word or phrase x has been most frequently translated as word or phrase y in this language so that’s what we’ll always use for our translations, as it gives us the best odds of being correct. They have then developed a set of statistical matches. Let’s hope they’re right on the reliability score, because this is the cornerstone for all their translations. Yep that’s right, Google Translate is all about maths and odds, not meaning!Įssentially Google has built up huge databases of existing translations produced over many years by human translators that they have adjudged to be reliable and accurate.

Instead its translations are based purely on statistical occurrence. Many people are surprised to learn that Google doesn’t actually try to understand the meaning of each sentence as a whole, as a reader or human translator would. How Google Translate works – the source of its (in)accuracy problems
