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CraigInTwinCities said:
Good for a laugh, folks! (And a blatant attempt to get a sale in Amazon Germany... ;) LOL)

http://www.craig-hansen.com/most-likely/most-likely-chapter-1-in-german/
I haven't practiced my German in close to 20 years, but I caught at least a few errors in the first several paragraphs. Now, use Google translate to turn it back into English and see what you get:

"Runners on your marks!"

Coach at Lansing words, Becky Howard went to their respective track and took their starting point stance. She looked to her right and her heart began beating rapidly, climbing into her throat while she waited for the smoke from the starter's pistol.

"Set!" Cried the coach.

Becky shook her arms. She felt well balanced and patient.

When the smoke appeared, she began to train, the sound of the gun, she reached a moment later. She began to smooth and found their rhythm. In the streets outside, Lucy Ford of the weapon and jack-rabbited jumped to an early lead. Becky did not let it bother them. Pumping their legs, they breathed in through the nose, out through the mouth. She kept her eyes straight ahead and concentrated on maintaining their speed.

As in the first round came to an end, she even drew with Lucie. The younger girl was irregular huffing, her skin glistened with a fine sheen of sweat in the oppressive afternoon sun. When Lucy looked over and saw Becky is running even with her, she panicked and poured on an extra burst of speed. The effort put three steps in front of Becky. She remained there during the second round.
 

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Yup! It's awkward German at best. I posted a whole "retranslate back into English" in the comments section under the German chapter... :)
 

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Google translate from English to German is next to useless.

I've had one of my short stories translated by a professional and even so, my German Beta readers (pre publication) have picked up at least two words on the first page that have been misinterpreted and change the whole meaning of the scene. When I put the transation in Google to English it is jibberish.

Das Ende, oder ein neuer Anfang

Er befand sich in einer Tiefe von mehr als 4200 Metern. Kurt Berkov überprüfte das Sonargerät und brach den Tauchvorgang ab. Er steuerte sein Mini-Uboot, das er liebevoll 'Lucy', nach seiner Mutter, getauft hatte, über den Meeresboden des Atlantiks in Richtung Südwesten. Vorsichtig hatte er Lucy entlang der Umrisse der Meereslandschaft navigiert, wobei er langsam immer weiter abgetaucht war. Er warf einen Blick auf seine Instrumententafel und war beruhigt zu sehen, dass sein Mutterschiff, das Forschungsschiff USS Discovery, sein Vorankommen überwachte. In Lucys Rumpf hatte er sich immer behaglich und geborgen gefühlt, wie ein Baby im Mutterleib. Heute jedoch, nach all den Jahren der Forschungsarbeit, beunruhigte ihn etwas. Ihm war bewusst geworden, dass sich das Meer um ihn herum verändert hatte. Er aktivierte den Bordcomputer und begann mit der wissenschaftlichen Auswertung der Proben, die er mit den Sonden an Lucys Außenwand entnommen hatte.

The End, or a New Dawn?

At a depth of fourteen-thousand feet, Kurt Berkov checked his sonar and stopped his descent. His mini-sub, affectionately nicknamed Lucy after his mother, headed southwest along the Atlantic Ocean bed, gradually descending further as he navigated the contour of the terrain. His instrument panel reassured him that his mother ship, the scientific research vessel, USS Discovery, was following his progress. He always felt comfortable in the safety of Lucy’s hull, like a child in a mother’s womb. But, after years of research work, today he felt ill at ease. He knew the ocean surrounding him had changed. He activated the onboard computer system and began collecting scientific data from Lucy’s external probes.


 
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Yes, as literature it fails, but I have to say, as a professional translator, I'm pretty dang impressed...I mean, wow: there are entire decent sentences there, and not many truly wonky ones. GT has come a long way since I first gave it a whirl two years ago.

I use it all the time to research words and short phrases while translating; it often captures actual usage in specific fields much better than translation dictionaries. (Caveat: you have to actually have an idea what the source-language term means in the context, and know the nuances distinguishing the target-language terms GT returns, before this is in any way useful.)

(Though I bet the results from, say, translating through Swahili or Cherokee would be extremely depressing. GT is only as good as its text corpora.)

 

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Grayson Morris said:
Yes, as literature it fails, but I have to say, as a professional translator, I'm pretty dang impressed...I mean, wow: there are entire decent sentences there, and not many truly wonky ones. GT has come a long way since I first gave it a whirl two years ago.
Grayson, what language(s) do you translate into?
 
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