Translation Software- the Skinny

[LaoDing]

I'm not sure which forum I should use to post a question about translation software. We all know Baidu Fanyi, but does anyone know of a robust translation software that can be used offline? How is babelfish doing these days? What do translation pros used when they're given a document (I assume they take a machine translation and compare it with the original)?

Thanks for any help. I proofread academic papers now, part-time. These papers are written for universities or companies in China, usually by Chinese who usually write in Chinese and then have the document sent to my company for translation into English, after which it comes to me, the native speaker. I look forward to getting my Chinese up to the point where I can translate as well.

[roddy]

20 minutes ago, LaoDing said:

What do translation pros used when they're given a document

Decades of experience. 

I doubt you'll find anything that's both good and offline, unless you happen to have a data centre in your kitchen - it's like voice recognition, in that it's getting really good, but you need to be hooked into some major processing power. 

[Guest]

As with all translation software, it's not perfect, but it's pretty robust and effective - Google translate.

 

Although blocked in the mainland, it's possible to download an 'offline translation' pack on both iOS and Android. It's brilliant if you're heading to/in China - it has the added bonus of offering live camera translation and the ability to translate any pictures in your photo library.

 

Unsure if it can be downloaded for offline use on desktops, however.