Decent Latin-English Online Translator

[zunshynn]

Is there any kind of decent online translator that works for ecclesiastical Latin that anyone knows of?

I recently started praying some of the divine office from the Antiphonale Romanum pdf file from SanctaMissa.org... and I like it, but sometimes I have a hard time understanding the rubrics because they're in Latin, so I've tried using the translators that pop up when you google Latin-English translators, but they don't make the slightest bit of sense... I'm thinking because it's not for Ecclesiastical Latin. I mean I know an online translator is going to be pretty lame, and I don't need something really accurate, just something that sort of makes some sense so I know where to go!

So, I was just curious if any of our Latin people know of something that might work.

Thanks!

[jeffpugh]

You might have to do it manually. Get out the ol' dictionary.

[missionseeker]

I think you should just email Lauren and have her do the work. After all, she's the one who love it.

[zunshynn]

[quote name='missionseeker' date='18 April 2010 - 10:10 PM' timestamp='1271650212' post='2095951']
I think you should just email Lauren and have her do the work. After all, she's the one who love it.
[/quote]

LOL. She's already putting off her Latin homework though.

[Totus Tuus]

There is nothing online that I am aware of that will accurately translate Latin to English except for online dictionaries, which will give a variety of definitions. Latin is different from modern languages in that regard. You can't just plug in a Latin sentence and have a program that will spit out an accurate English translation because each Latin word tends to have many meanings which can be very different from each other. You have the know the context and the author's history of using that particular word sometimes to know which is the best definition to choose.

Also, as an inflected language the word order would come out completely wrong in English, and unless it were a super amazing translator, I don't know that it'd be possible to produce a comprehensible Latin translation without human intervention unless it were a really straightforward, simple sentence, or it required you to add punctuation between clauses (i.e., there can be multiple subjects and other parts of speech in the same sentence because they are parts of different clauses, so for a computer to be able to recognize which words agreed in a complex sentence-- meaning it would have to recognize individual clauses in sentences-- I can only see that working if it required you to use some kind punctuation, like a comma, between clauses. But punctuation didn't exist in Latin, so even that would be kind of futile...).

Sorry for the long-winded response. I would recommend Witaker's Words if you want a good dictionary, though: http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/wordsonline.html

And if you're talking poetry, it's pretty much out of the question to have an accurate Latin-English translator because not even the rules of inflection always apply to Latin poetry (they syncopate words and stuff... it's annoying haha).

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='missionseeker' date='19 April 2010 - 12:10 AM' timestamp='1271650212' post='2095951']
I think you should just email Lauren and have her do the work. After all, she's the one who love it.
[/quote]
I'm no longer known as the official Latinist of Phatmass.

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='zunshynn' date='19 April 2010 - 12:11 AM' timestamp='1271650267' post='2095952']
LOL. She's already putting off her Latin homework though.
[/quote]

Oops. My laptop is literally sitting ON TOP of my Latin homework right now, which is sprawled all over my desk.

[zunshynn]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' date='18 April 2010 - 10:08 PM' timestamp='1271650114' post='2095949']
You might have to do it manually. Get out the ol' dictionary.
[/quote]

I think that would leave me more puzzled than trying to use babelfish or whatever.

seriously though... I get why the prayers are in Latin... but why do the freaking rubrics have to be? I mean, even the copyright page of that stuff is in Latin!

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='Raphael' date='19 April 2010 - 12:11 AM' timestamp='1271650282' post='2095954']
I'm no longer known as the official Latinist of Phatmass.
[/quote]


Feel free to disseminate and/or correct any and all of what I saw regarding the subject!

[CatherineM]

It's not just the rubics. All the canon law decisions end up in latin too.

[missionseeker]

[quote name='Raphael' date='18 April 2010 - 11:11 PM' timestamp='1271650282' post='2095954']
I'm no longer known as the official Latinist of Phatmass.
[/quote]


No you are. TT and ZZ were just in the convent together.

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='missionseeker' date='19 April 2010 - 12:20 AM' timestamp='1271650824' post='2095961']
No you are. TT and ZZ were just in the convent together.
[/quote]

Yes! This! ^^

[zunshynn]

[quote name='missionseeker' date='18 April 2010 - 10:20 PM' timestamp='1271650824' post='2095961']
No you are. TT and ZZ were just in the convent together.
[/quote]

So I can demand ungodly amounts of work from her without compensation with a slighter twinge of guilt.

[missionseeker]

exactly.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Totus Tuus' date='19 April 2010 - 12:13 AM' timestamp='1271650404' post='2095958']
Feel free to disseminate and/or correct any and all of what I saw regarding the subject!
[/quote]
No, I would have said the same (but not as well-put). A Latin-English translator would be pretty ineffective.