Translation of Snippets and Web Results

What does it mean when I see "translate this page" next to a search result?

Google offers a free service that automatically translates pages published in languages other than English. Not all languages are translated and not all pages in those languages we do support are translated completely. Nor does the translation software recognize text within images, so these remain untranslated.

When you click on the "translate this page" link, you will be taken to a version of the page that has been automatically translated into English. You can choose to view the original page instead by clicking on the "view original web page" link in the top frame of the translated page or by going back to the Google results page and clicking on the large blue text link at the head of your selected result.

  What languages can be translated into English?

Currently, Google offers English translation from Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese.

  When will you support additional languages for translation?

Google is working on support for other languages and will introduce them as soon as the automatic translation meets our standards. It is difficult to project how long this will take, as the problem is a complex one and each language presents its own unique challenges.

  The translation isn't as good as I'd like it to be. Can you make it more accurate?

The translation you are seeing was produced automatically by state-of-the-art technology. Unfortunately, today's most sophisticated software doesn't approach the fluency of a native speaker or possess the skill of a professional translator. Automatic translation is very difficult, as the meaning of words depends upon the context in which they are used. Because of this, accurate translation requires an understanding of context, as well as an understanding of the structure and rules of a language. While many engineers and linguists are working on the problem, it will be some time before anyone can offer a quick and seamless translation experience. In the interim, we hope the service we provide is useful for most purposes.