Google Translate – What Every User Should Know

This article was originally published on AQText's blog. AQText is a professional translation
agency. For this and other original AQText blogs please visit http://www.aqtext.com/blog.

Would you believe seeing a clause from Google's Terms of Service could become a jaw-
dropping experience for a group of professionals and business owners? Neither could I, until
last week I presented a short resources workshop to a Jerusalem networking group.

When asked whether they use Google Translate in their workflow, almost one half of the
participants raised their hands. However, when I showed a slide with the following excerpts
from Google's TOS, hands clapped over mouths all around the room:

“ …By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual,
irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt,
modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any
Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.”

“… You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content
available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has
relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in
connection with the provision of those services.”

In human language that means that by uploading any content to any one of Google's
services, including Gmail, Docs, and Translate, we allow Google unlimited use of our content
and give up all rights to the privacy of information. (I would love to be proven wrong on this,
but after searching through all of Google's licensing and privacy materials, I have not been
able to find anything to the contrary).

Google already makes extensive use of search word analysis for displaying ads that match
the content of Gmail messages. As Orwellian as that may sound, the greatest privacy issues
are posed by Google Translate.

Translators should understand that all content uploaded to Google Translate is immediately
used by the company for future translation unit matches. This is especially poignant when
using Google Translate in conjunction with computer-aided-translation tools, such as Trados.
(Trados actually warns users of possible privacy issues before enabling the Google Translate
option). By turning on Google Translate, we give Google access to both source and target
texts. Google then replicates those matches whenever anyone else tries to translate even
remotely similar text strings.

From conversations with colleagues, I have heard of instances in which Google has returned
100% perfect matches on translation units containing proprietary client information
(including company names). That means that somebody somewhere had already used
Google Translate while working on sensitive documents. These strings can now surface as
fuzzy matches. That sets the stage for data mining.
The same is true of any public translation memory. Although a CAT tool with access to an
automated translation service can be a powerful timesaver, our clients' privacy and
proprietary rights take precedence over any considerations of expediency. Before enabling
any information-sharing service ask yourself the following questions:

 Have you signed a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) with your client? If yes, you are
prohibited from sharing any information with a third party (yes, Google is a third
party).
 Even if there is no NDA, would the client mind making this information available to
others? You can never know the answer to that question. Even seemingly innocuous
information may be considered highly confidential by a particular client. It is always
prudent to ask for permission.
 In regard to public translation memories, such as MyMemory, does contributing a
translation memory violate the client's privacy? Although MyMemory makes it
possible to hide company and brand names when using its service, it is not always
sufficient for maintaining appropriate confidentiality.

Unarguably, it is unpractical to read End User License Agreements for every website we
encounter on the Internet. However, translators must understand the terms of any service,
which has access to confidential information on their computers.

If you would like to learn more about translation and small business technology and
resources, come to my Tools for Wordsmiths workshop on June 21 at Writepoint. Contact
me for more information.