For those with knowledge of more than one language, or for those who want to translate information or text, the two leading search engines offer services that just may come in handy when searching for information or when you need a translation.

Google Translate

Google has built its service from the ground up, while Yahoo! bought an online service called Babel Fish. Google's service in particular relies on, among other things, already existing and known translations of websites and texts. Google also encourages user participation in improving the translations it generates. Though these types of services cannot be expected to provide completely accurate translations they may assist in giving you a general idea about the nature and type of information on a website.

There is a link to a 'language tools' service on the home page of Google, which lists much the same services that exist on the Google translate page. Via this link you can use services that translate either a body of text or an entire web page.

Also available is the option of changing the language that appears on the Google search page. This is done by selecting one of the many interface languages listed, or by selecting to search Google by one of the many country domains available. My experience with this is that the search results highly rank websites that are from the countries whose language or domain you have chosen.

If you enter the service via the link (provided above) you can also access a dictionary search and there is some toolbar functionality you can add to your browser via the 'tools' tab. Also available is a 'translated search', which returns Google search results in English as well as the language on which you have requested to run a translated search.

Yahoo! Babel Fish

Yahoo does not appear to place a link to its language service on its home page, you're given the limited services of translating either a body of text or a website.

Reference: May 2008, volume 78:04