I am currently studying Polish, which is quite a challenge, and I am continually looking for tools to help me. One that I am finding more and more useful is Google Translate. Of course, as is the case with all machine translators, not all its translations are perfect – especially with really complex language – but in my experience, it is a very handy tool, and one that I recommend to my students. Recent reports of its accuracy are also increasingly favourable (see, for example, www www.argotrans.com/blog/accurate-google-translate-2018).
You can find Google Translate on the internet, but it is also one of the apps you have access to once you log into a Google account – and this is the best way, as all the features are then available to you, and it will keep a record of everything you do.
Using the tool for translation
Using Google Translate is easy. First, you key the word you want translated into the box on the left-hand side, either selecting the language it is in or allowing the tool to detect the language. You then choose the language you want it translated into (from the choices above the right-hand box) and the translation appears in the right-hand box. You can select the language you want from those displayed or by choosing from the drop-down menus. If you have logged into your Google account, you can also save any word or phrase you want to keep by clicking on the star on the right-hand side next to the translation.
You can view all your saved words by clicking on the star at the bottom of the screen. All your saved words will appear on the right-hand side. You can also listen to the words by clicking on the speaker icon.
One advanced feature that I particularly like is the ability to add all your words to a Google Sheet, which can then be printed out. You can do this by opening up your saved words and then clicking on the icon which adds the words to your Google Sheets. Google Sheets is like Excel, so you can then make the columns bigger and smaller to tidy up the lists before printing them.
Using the tool with students
Students often create lists of words that have come up in lessons, which they then study. For example, in a lesson on shopping, they might list glasses, shoe shop, bakery, soap and chemist’s. It is a good idea to show them how to save their words in Google Translate and then get them to write a sentence with each one in their L1, using Google Translate to show them what their sentences look like in English (eg I buy glasses at the optician’s, The shoe shop is having a sale of trainers, Our local bakery bakes lovely bread and rolls). By doing this, they have a record of the translated word in isolation but, more importantly, they also have it used in a sentence. This is great for revision. They can also hear the words in context.
Revising multiple words
I am always looking at ways of improving the process of studying vocabulary. One thing that works for me is not just to create a sentence for each word from the list I am studying, but to create sentences using more than one word from the list in each one. Again, Google Translate can be great for this, and my suggestion is to get the students to do this in their L1 and then look at the English equivalents. They can then save these sentences and study them whenever they want. However, remind them that they have to be logged into Google in order to save things in Google Translate.
Making use of the word lists
There are several ways of making use of the word lists created in Google Translate, with the students working in pairs:
- The students swap lists and test each other. Again, this is where the sentences the students have saved can be very useful.
- One student explains a word from the other’s list without actually using it. The other student has to guess what it is.
- One student reads out one of the other student’s sentences and the other student has to name the word they are studying from that sentence. This helps with listening, and allows the students to hear the words they are learning in context.
Using it with your coursebook
I think Google Translate works really well in tandem with a coursebook, as it allows the students to keep a record of all the new words they come across, and to study them. If they have Google Translate on their phones, they can revise the words whenever they have some free time.
If you want to learn more about Google Translate, you might find this video useful: https://youtu.be/7V7r1DLl30w
Russell Stannard is the founder of www.teachertrainingvideos.com, which won a British Council ELTons award for technology. He is a freelance teacher and writer and also a NILE Associate Trainer.
Keep sending your favourite sites to Russell:russellstannard@btinternet.com