Boomerang app will double-check Google Translate results

PanARMENIAN.Net - A new iOS app, Boomerang uses Google Translate to translate phrases in 104 different languages; then translates the phrasing back into the original language for you to make sure that what you’re trying to say actually makes sense, The Verge says.

It’s a simple app, but one that could come in handy when you’re trying to say “Sorry for my poor Chinese” and not “poor Chinese person.” Then again, depending on how long it takes to translate and re-translate and re-type a new sentence — the most value might just come from seeing how ridiculous the initial translations are.

Boomerang, which was created by indie app developer Ishmael Shabazz, is free to download, but has ads; for an ad-free experience, you can pay a $1.99 annual subscription. Shabazz said in a note to The Verge that Google charges $20 for every million characters translated through Google Translate, so he’s basically wagering that the combination of ad revenue and subscription revenue will be higher than the translation expenses.

Google’s translation software has gotten increasingly sophisticated in a remarkably short period of time, thanks to the magic of machine learning. Last fall the company said it was starting to use a new technique, called Google Neural Machine Translation, to vastly improve its AI-powered translation system.

Shabazz says he welcomes the day when a tool like Boomerang is no longer needed, but that he foresees it being useful for quite some time.