What's wrong with Google Translate in Italian?

When you learn a language, sometimes you want to look up a word. Then you can look that up with Google Translate in Italian. You can also type in whole sentences there and see what comes out in another language. The problem is that you can't check if it's right. Only a translator can do that. And he will tell you that when it comes down to it, Google Translate is not recommended.

Why not?

Admittedly, Google Translate can be very helpful. For example, to quickly find out what an Italian (or another foreign) text means in Dutch (approximately).

However, there are the necessary problems:

1. Google Translate only gives one possible translation. While there are sometimes as many as 10 possible translations. For example, consider the word 'bank'. That can be a couch to sit on, or a couch to keep your money. You have a bench in the house, and benches outside in the park. You also have a sea bank, where the sea is shallow, and you have sayings that contain the word bank.
2. Google Translate only gives you a word, the dictionary gives you a word in context. The meaning of a word is determined by the sentence in which it is written. Google Translate doesn't quite get that yet. Google is made by programmers trying to unite philosophy of language/linguistics and logic. That hasn't happened yet (but thanks to RankBrain, Google is getting better at this).
3. Google does not indicate what word it is you are looking for. Is it a noun, an adjective, is it masculine or feminine? While that kind of data is needed if you want to write something correctly in another language.

You can easily test the shortcomings of Google Translate by typing a sentence into Google Translate and then having it translated back to the source language. You will see that you often always get an incorrect sentence, although the meaning is usually clear.

But they understand me, right?

Okay, then we come to a second, very different question:

Why isn't it okay to use the tense with the meaning instead of the exact word or phrase? If you can get the meaning from Google Translate, don't Italians understand you too?

Maybe. But you need to understand the following:

If you are at level A1-A2, but also at level B1-B2, it is essential that the Italian you are talking to is sympathetic and does his best to understand you. You depend on his or her good will for communication. Most people are only willing to show their good will when they see you doing your best.

If you haphazardly talk a long way, strange vocabulary and no grammar it is nice when you are in the supermarket and you want to know where the eggs are. People will forgive you for being a novice and for not really having to speak to you.

However, if you want to express your opinion or feelings, you will be very frustrated if you not only notice that it does not matter, but that there is anything but understanding is shown.

Two examples:

1. As a novice to the Italian language, you do not have an extensive vocabulary. If you want to say in a clothing store that you don't like an item of clothing, you may not be familiar with the term 'give birth' and you will fall back on 'stupid' or 'ugly'. However, you can insult the owner of a shop with this.
2. You can also achieve the opposite of what you want to say: You can't feel 'c*t' in Italian, for example. If you translate k*t literally (not recommended, by the way) you will end up with the word 'fica'. And that again resembles 'figa', which in turn means that you feel super good.

So if you want a sympathetic ear from an Italian, you have to show that you are doing your best. This can be done by weighing your words and through grammar applying. If you don't speak or write enough Italian yourself, be humble. Only then will people bother to listen to your incoherent story of imperfect Italian. Form is often more important than content when communicating with strangers.

Just think of a possible meeting with an Italian who, completely full of himself, tries to tell a story in laborious Dutch that you do not understand. Would you be patient with him? Or would you refer him to someone else?

If you have to, but you don't speak the language

Of course you can teach yourself the language. But even if you speak Italian well, some things are tricky. Especially when it comes to very specific topics or when it comes to business or legal jargon.

If you estimate that the translation is important (and it is when it comes to insurance, emigration, legal matters, real estate, and the like), you would do well to engage a sworn Italian translator.

Such a person not only knows the language, but also creates the goodwill to achieve the goal. In the meantime, you can just continue with what you are good at.