Your school career dates back a few years and your memories of French lessons are not as fresh? You have hardly had the opportunity to use your French skills? Do you have problems communicating with French speakers at work or in your private life??
In this case you need a reliable and user-friendly translation program. The Internet is teeming with such programs. Some specialized sites offer to translate your resume or motivation letter for a fee. Fortunately, however, there are numerous free alternatives that can translate individual words and even entire pages in just a few clicks.
In the following article you will find out which translation tools you can use to translate your motivation letter into French and what to look out for.
Avoid bad translations
Be careful if you use a translation program. Because even computer-assisted translation tools can deliver poor translations under certain circumstances. Even the best programs make mistakes. Translation software can be faulty especially if it involves, for example, colloquial expressions, idioms or even idiomatic phrases. Such phrases cannot be translated word for word, otherwise they will lose their original meaning.
The French daily Le Monde tested several translation tools in 2017, finding gross errors in the translation of poetic texts and press articles. Some tools could only do well in translating technical terms.
Conclusion: translation programs are only helpful if you use them correctly. Also, do not forget that the person you are talking to knows that French is not your native language. It will take this into account if your translation contains some inconsistencies.
Pay particular attention to the translation of pitfalls. For this reason, you should write your cover letter with simple and concrete sentences that can be easily translated from German into French.
Which online translators are recommendable?
Even people who are talented in foreign languages use translation programs. Because not everyone has native speakers in their environment who can help them with the translation in the desired target language. With these online tools, you can solve the problem on your own and without much effort.
Some IT companies have now become aware of the need for these programs and their importance in professional and private life. Online translation services have therefore become numerous. Many are free for private use and, above all, easy to use.
Since it's difficult to make the right choice with the huge range of translation tools available, we in the Connexion-Emploi editorial team have listed 4 of our favorite tools for you and explained the pros and cons of each one.
1) Google Translator
Google Translator is the best known, most important and most reliable translation tool on the Internet. The service is provided free of charge by Google. The program is regularly improved and equipped with new features. The input of the source text is done by keyboard or voice input. By clicking on the button Translate a document you can upload and translate whole text files. Google Translator also offers the possibility to listen to the translated text. Thus, errors in pronunciation are avoided. The program now supports 103 languages.
On the go, you can use Google Translator's free mobile apps for Android and iOS.
2) DeepL
DeepL can easily stand up to its competitor from Google. The company that developed this service describes itself as specializing in the development of artificial intelligence for languages. This service translates texts and documents with up to 5.000 characters translated for free in different languages and with the highest precision. It is even possible to load data for later complete translation and downloading. However, in order to work with the data translated by DeepL, you need to subscribe to the DeepL Pro service.
The biggest advantage of DeepL is the display of alternative translations. Instead of delivering a single version, you can choose between different translations depending on the context. The program is currently only available in seven languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Polish. This is also the only negative point.
3) Lingenio
The online translator Lingenio is offered by the language technology company Lingenio GmbH. In addition to the translation, you will receive information about the individual sentence elements or. to French grammar, and thus you can optimize your language skills at the same time.
While most translation tools translate the entered text immediately, with Lingenio you must first click the Go button! click. This may not be a significant disadvantage, but it does make the translator a tad slower than the competitors. Moreover, the program is available in just 4 languages: French, German, English and Chinese.
4) PONS
The PONS dictionaries originally existed as a print version. However, the German publisher has meanwhile made a free online version available. You don't need any additional plug-ins to use the PONS online translator, only your regular Internet browser. The online dictionary is easy to use and supports a total of 23 languages.
PONS also has some disadvantages. For example, the service cannot translate sentences. Uploading text documents is also not possible. Nevertheless, the service remains a reliable alternative to Google& Co.
In the following table you will find a list of the most important and most frequently used terms in French CVs and letters of motivation: