To compare the differences in quality between Microsoft’s Bing Translator and Google Translate, eight phrases were taken unaltered from Italian tourism websites and each one was automatically translated using both tools. The original phrase is shown first (in the Italian language) along with each translation into English.
- Original phrase: La città ha anche un bellissimo centro storico, visitabile anche in bicicletta grazie alle sue tante piste ciclabili.
- Google Translate: The city also has a beautiful old town, accessible by bike due to its many bicycle paths.
- Bing Translator: The city also has a beautiful historic centre, open also by bike thanks to its many trails.
Evaluation: Both translations are nicely done, although Bing’s “open also by bike” is a strange sounding-construction. Also, The British English “centre” spelling was chosen even though no region was specified.
- Original phrase: Ambiente piacevole,elegante e pulito; queste le doti fondamentali del B&B Le Terrazze. Il Bed & Breakfast è la vera alternativa per soggiornare a Taormina in pieno centro storico.
- Google Translate: Nice atmosphere, clean and elegant, these are the essential qualities of the B & B The Terrace. The B & B in the real alternative to staying in Taormina historic center.
- Bing Translator: Nice atmosphere, elegant and clean; These are the fundamental qualities of the B & B Le Terrazze. The Bed & Breakfast is the real alternative to stay in Taormina historic centre.
Evaluation: Google’s “The B & B in the real alternative“ is not correct although neither is Bing’s “to stay in Taormina historic centre.”
- Original phrase: Il servizio, attento e cortese contribuirà a rendere speciale la vostra permanenza qui coccolandovi ed esaudendo ogni vostro desiderio.
- Google Translate: The service is attentive and courteous staff will help make your stay here special pampering you and fulfilling your every desire.
- Bing Translator: The friendly and attentive service will make your stay here special pampering and satisfy your every desire.
Evaluation: Bing’s “pampering and satisfy your” is grammatically incorrect and Google’s “the service is attentive” sounds strange.
- Original phrase:
Invitiamo il viandante a intraprendere il percorso di illuminazione e di sapienza, per intendere i linguaggi dei fiumi di pietra e ascoltare la voce dell’acqua che prorompe dal grembo della terra. - Google Translate: We invite the traveler to embark on the path enlightenment and wisdom, to understand the languages ??of the rivers stone and listen to the voice of water that burst forth from the womb of the earth.
- Bing Translator: We invite the Wayfarer to embark on the path to enlightenment and wisdom, to understand the language of stone rivers and hear the voice of the water that comes from the womb of the Earth.
Evaluation: Google gets confused and produces the following grammatically incorrect phrases: “path enlightenment”, “rivers stone”, and “voice of water that burst”.
- Original phrase: La sua ubicazione lo rende uno dei ristoranti più confortevoli e caratteristici della zona, grazie proprio alla vicinanza a luoghi di carattere storico-culturale e religioso.
- Google Translate: Its location makes it one of the most comfortable and quaint restaurants in the area, thanks to its proximity to places of historical, cultural and religious.
- Bing Translator: Its location makes it one of the most comfortable and quaint restaurants in the area, thanks to its proximity to places of historical, cultural and religious.
Evaluation: Strangely, both Google and Bing get confused with “places of historical, cultural and religious”.
- Original phrase: Le campagne verdi e rigogliose di Corleone vi inviteranno a fare lunghe passeggiate nel cuore della tradizione agricola siciliana e corleonese, dove in ogni angolo il contatto con la natura suscita forti emozioni.
- Google Translate The lush, green countryside of Corleone invite you to take long walks in the heart of the traditional agricultural and Corleone Sicily, where in every corner of the contact with nature arouses strong emotions.
- Bing Translator: The lush, green countryside of Corleone invite you to take long walks in the heart of the traditional agricultural and Corleone Sicily, where in every corner of the contact with nature arouses strong emotions.
Evaluation: Similarly, as in the last example, again both Google and Bing get confused with “green countryside of Corleone invite you”, “agricultural and Corleone Sicily”, and ”corner of the contact with”.
- Original phrase: I pavimenti in cotto, i tappeti, le tende ricamate, così come tutte le decorazioni della camera, sono elegantemente ispirate alla tradizione dell’arte sarda.
- Google Translate The tiled floors, carpets, embroidered curtains, as well as all the decorations of the rooms are elegantly inspired by the tradition of Sardinia.
- Bing Translator: The terracotta floors, embroidered rugs, curtains, as well as all the decorations of the room are elegantly and folklore-inspired art.
Evaluation: Google in this case got confused with “rooms” which should be only one “room”, while Bing incorrectly writes “elegantly and folklore-inspired art”.
- Original phrase: Un soggiorno nel nostro albergo è un esperienza emozionante per la particolarità delle camere e delle suite, l’esclusivo ristorante per gourmet, la Green SPA e le tante altre prestazioni offerte.
- Google Translate: A stay in our hotel is an exciting experience for their special rooms and suites, the exclusive gourmet restaurant, the Green Spa and many other services offered.
- Bing Translator: A stay in our hotel is an exciting experience for the specialties of the rooms and suites, exclusive gourmet restaurant, the Green SPA and many other services offered.
Evaluation: Both Bing and Google incorrectly produce “the specialties of the rooms” and “their special rooms”.
Conclusion: In trying to determine which machine-translation tool is better for short phrases, neither Google nor Bing is the clear winner with the test data that we have selected. Both are incredibly accurate machine translation tools. The accuracy appears to be around 95%; however, a native speaker should always confirm the correctness of the results before using them in both digital and print media. In the case of digital media, the translation should be periodically updated, perhaps in an automated way, since both algorithms are becoming more and more accurate with time.