Is Google translate for Korean accurate?

culture learning korean Oct 31, 2022

Google translating from English to Korean sounds like a robot from 1000 years ago who time travelled into the present.

The poor thing doesn't understand that other countries have different cultures - heck it sounds like he barely understands that other countries even exist!

He also doesn't get the concept of expressions, context and don't even try explaining personal relationship to him or he'll freak the hell out.

 

He's trying his best - bless him - and we can understand him at the best of times! But he sounds so completely out of place.

 

Let's ask our friend for some examples.

 

We'll go easy to start with:

Yes, absolutely correct - good job buddy!

Let's take it up a notch.

 

Yes… Although  he hasn't taken into account the 'casual' way of saying hello '안녕' and they are used in VERY different situations - check out this blog on who to speak casually to!)

But it's okay - we'll let this slide.

 

Next one.

Now it's starting to sound a bit weird. In Korean we rarely say the 'subject' of the sentence - 'I', plus now he's given us the dictionary form (stem) of the word - i.e there is no formality to this sentence.

 

So yes, this does translate 'accurately' but you will never hear anyone speak like this.

 

The more natural sentence would be "방탄소년단 사랑해" or "방탄소년단 사랑해요" - depending on formalitiy.

 

Going from Korean to English is a little easier because the English language doesn't have cultural context like respect to consider.

Look at this example.

 

This is the respectful way to tell someone they're pretty so the English translation is perfect.

But when flipped over, now we've got something very different - same structure as the sentence above. It's obvious that our friend is not keeping up.

 

And then we have things like this.

 

Again the translation is very 'accurate' but this is absolutely not what Koreans would say as a response to 'thank you' in almost all instances. This is an extremely proper way of speaking. Like maybe politicians would say this to each other when they're on the news.

I personally have never say this before, nor have I heard anyone say it in real life.

 

The most colloquial way of saying 'you're welcome' would be '아니에요, 괜찮아요' or even just a simple '네' also works.

 

When should you use Google translate?

 

If the reason you're using Google translate is to communicate with a Korean 'in the wild' then go for gold! We will understand you!

But if you're studying Korean as a beginner then I suggest staying away, MOST of the time - only use it to cross-check what you already know.

Plus only ever use it for nouns (even nouns, you will need to question it) unless you're already familiar with Korean culture and how conjugations (Verb Variations) work.

 

Never trust Google's word at face value always question it - he means well but he's not going to be helpful.

 

Conclusion.

 

If you are looking for ACCURACY then yes, Google translate, can confirm - is very accurate.

But language is not MATHS - there isn't one universal answer across all languages.

 

Like 1+1 = 2 in every country.. (correct me if I'm wrong).

 

Language is an expression of human life - even people who speak the same language have different ways of expressing themselves right?

 

Sorry Google - you're a smart cookie but leave this one to the humans, buddy.

Speak Korean like a native. Not a textbook.

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