An Analysis of Korean-English Translation Errors in Google Translate

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify types of errors that occur when using Google Translate and to suggest more effective ways to benefit from machine translation translators. The topics in the 30 news articles dealt with health and diet. The researchers directed the error analysis by comparing the English translation of the original Korean text with the eleven categories and their sub-categories. Among those translated by the Google Translate Program, according to our research, the number of sentences that contained errors was 365 (67.2%) and that of correct sentences was 178 (32.8%). Sentence structure errors, the highest of the eleven categories, recorded 172 (21.31%) cases, followed by nouns with 143 (17.72%), and verbs with 119 (14.75%). The findings emphasize the need to learn how to use machine translators effectively. Finally, Google Translate users need to avoid using complex sentences and vague words when translating Korean text into English.