Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Foreign Gluten-Free and Celiac Blogs

I want to help anyone that just speaks English to be able to read some of the foreign blog postings and understand the basics of what is being communicated. There is this wonderful tool called Google Translate that we are going to use. I use this all the time when I need a few "hints" to work through the meaning of certain Spanish, German, French, or Russian web sites. I can usually get the gist of a discussion without it, but I often have trouble deciphering some of the more complex conjugations.

So, if you want to translate a blog posting, here is what to do:
  1. In your browser, from the foreign-language news page you are on, go to the address bar (at top of browser), right-click (your mouse) and choose either "Copy Link Location" (Firefox) or "Copy Shortcut" (IE) or "Copy" (Google Chrome).
  2. Go to Google Translate 
  3. There will be an edit-box that with a note under it stating "Type text or a website address or translate a document."Place your cursor in that box, then right-click (mouse) and choose "Paste" - this should have pasted the URL of the news-item into the edit box (e.g., https://gluten-free-blog.blogspot.com/2007/03/foreign-gluten-free-and-celiac-blogs.html).
  4. Now, directly above the box where you put the address, there are drop-downs for selecting the from/to languages (as well as "detect language" option, which is generally pretty good at figuring things out) .
  5. Press the "Translate" Button to the right, and, VoilĂ , you should (after a few seconds) be presented with a translation of the gluten-free blog posting - at least a pseudo-translation that is close enough to garner the general meaning from.
Now you can join in on the global, multi-cultural, and multi-lingual gluten-free and celiac news and blog postings when you encounter them. Google Translate also offers the ability to translate a block of English to another language in case you feel compelled to post responses to any blogs, but, I warn you ahead of time: do not expect the reader in the other language to always understand exactly what you post, though it is pretty decent at conversions. 

Also, from experience, the language translator software does better at converting simple phrasings - so, don't get too fancy with any replies unless you know the target language well enough to know if what the tool produces is somewhat accurate :)

5 comments:

ana montero said...

Thank you, Mike. You are wonderful

Mike Eberhart said...

Thanks Ana. I'm happy to have your blog available to more readers. I'll be reading it regularly.

Lynn Barry said...

Thanks MIKE. You have helped me and probably many others navigate the blogsites and internet better because of your thoughtful aid.
Thanks, my friend.

Mike Eberhart said...

Lynn, always happy to hear I am somehow helpful to others :)

Pig in the Kitchen said...

Hello Mike, I've just come across your blog and read it with interest. I've recently started a recipe blog as a response to my daughter's allergies. The recipes are egg, dairy, soya-free, and mainly gluten-free. I am based in France, but UK by origin. I'm going to add a link to your blog. I was interested to read your other post about 'wheat syrup' freaking you out! I'm not a celiac (coeliac), but have just started trying a 'wheat-free' flour for my blog, Wheatex 9010...i wonder if it would be seen as gluten-free in the States? What was the result of the truffle experiment, did you experience any adverse side-effects?! My blog is at:
http://www.piginthekitchen.blogspot.com/

Pigx