Top English to French Translators: Review of Popular Machine Translation Engines

We’ve compiled evaluations from experts in English to French translation to judge the range of machine translation engines exhibited on MachineTranslation.com. The expertise of these professionals enables us to gain a deeper understanding of the advantages and drawbacks of these tools.

Our aspiration is to streamline your translation process and enhance its relevance. You can also apply this feedback while translating to customize the results of the output for your specific needs. This will help you have greater assurance in the precision and pertinence of your cross-lingual interactions.

Specifications

Language pair: English > French

Language family

• Indo European > West Germanic > English

• Indo European > Romance > French 

Available Engines: 54 engines support the translation of this pair
Review Type: Human Evaluation

Our Top English to French Translators

Thanks to these evaluations by professionals in the field, you will be able to make knowledgeable decisions about the ideal resource to meet your demands. You’ll possess the understanding to pinpoint the best machine translation engine for conveying your message.

Google Translate

What our translators say about Google Translate for English to French…

“Google Translate Translation is inaccurate and unintelligible. It is the second poorest translation. For example, "gross inequality of food" is translated to grossière inégalité de nourriture in French. This is a word-for-word translation. The best rendering is inégalité flagrante de la nourriture.”

-Gilbert

“This is a word-for-word translation without any other consideration. I think the whole test is much more difficult to understand when translated by Google Translate. Despite Google's ongoing efforts to improve the quality of its translations, there are still frequent errors, particularly when translating complex sentences or technical texts. This often leads to a misunderstanding or distortion of the original meaning. Here the only thing Google really does well is the grammar. I could not find any grammatical or spelling mistakes.

When I choose the first sentence of the paragraph, a human translator would translate this sentence by Nous vivons à une époque, dans une culture, où la vérité apparaît comme un jeu, où l'arrogance est le fruit de l'ignorance, où l'objectif du grand mensonge n'est pas son acceptation par tous, mais l'indifférence personnel. So, the aim here is to see how close is the translation provided by Google to this translation. When comparing this sentence, we can easily remark here that the part Arrogance is ignorance matured has been translated literally to l'arrogance est l'ignorance mûrie which has no meaning.

Also, taking another part of the same sentence: where the aim of the big lie is not universal acceptance. This has also been literally translated to le but du gros mensonge n'est pas l'acceptation universelle. Here the term big lie should be translated to Grand mensonge which is an official translation of this expression but it is weird that Google Translate could not even find this word when every other tool found it. When taking the second sentence, the gap is larger.”

-Morel

DeepL

What our translators say about DeepL for English to French…

“DeepL provided the most accurate and fluent translation. For example, this translation is perfect Cette vérité morale fondamentale, nous la connaissons instinctivement et sans ambiguïté.  (We know this fundamental moral truth instinctively with no ambiguity.) ”

-Gilbert

“The first point of difference lies in the translation of ‘fair game’. Deepl's translation uses the expression de bonne guerre, which conveys the idea that truth is considered acceptable or legitimate.  A human translation would be la vérité apparaît comme un jeu, which conveys the idea that truth is treated as a game, a notion closer to the original meaning. 

The second point of divergence concerns the translation of matured ignorance. Deepl's translation uses the expression ‘ignorance mûrie’, which captures the idea that arrogance is an advanced or developed stage of ignorance. A human translation would be fruit de l’ignorance, which suggests that arrogance stems from ignorance, a more common formulation. 

The third point of divergence is in the translation of the aim of the big lie. Deepl's translation translates le but du grand mensonge (‘the aim of the big lie’), which is correct and faithful to the original meaning. A human translation would render the idea of l'objectif du grand mensonge n'est pas son acceptation par tous, emphasizing that the aim of the lie is not to be universally accepted. ”

-Morel

Amazon

What our translators say about Amazon for English to French…

“Amazon translation is more acceptable. This following rendering is exact: et c'est exactement ce qu'il en est parce que nous l'avons fait consciemment ou inconsciemment (which is exactly the way it is because consciously or unconsciously we have made it so).”

-Gilbert

“Among the online translation tools under consideration, this one is the best. Of course, not all sentences are correct, but it's as close as you can get to a human translation, with a more judicious choice of words. It seems to be using advanced machine learning models to improve the accuracy and fluency of translations. The result is sentences that are generally faithful to the original, well-structured and natural. When we speak truth to power would be translated by a human as lorsque nous disons la vérité sans crainte ou réticence en présence de personnes puissantes ou des autorités’, while in the Amazon translation it is translated as lorsque nous disons la vérité au pouvoir. The human translation takes into account the idea of speaking without fear or reluctance, while the Amazon translation does not. 

Translation errors made by Amazon Translate: 
There are no glaring errors in the Amazon Translate translation, but there are a few small differences that don't perfectly capture the original meaning. Also, some parts have been cut. For example: ..Yet despite the constant static.. has been cut so this was not completely translated and not very accurate. 

Overall, Amazon Translate provides a fairly comprehensible translation of the source text. Even though there are discrepancies and omissions that can nuance the original meaning, we can easily remark that Amazon Translate offers a better quality of translation and distinguish itself from the other tools. For example, the first sentence has been translated to Le monde s'ouvre à nous avec autant d'opportunités que de responsabilités..  while every other tool translated this part literally.   

Conclusion: As far as I am concerned, Amazon Translate offers a better translation. ”

-Morel

Microsoft Translator

What our translators say about Microsoft Translator for English to French…

“Microsoft translation is basically done. It is also inaccurate and inconsistent. This is an example among others: Nous connaissons instinctivement cette vérité morale fondamentale sans ambiguïté. We know this fundamental moral truth instinctively with no ambiguity. Verité morale fondamentale sans ambiguité don’t make sense in French. ”

-Gilbert

“The tool generally succeeds in producing comprehensible translations, although there are occasional errors or formulations that do not faithfully reflect the source text.

Here is an example:  l'arrogance est synonyme d'ignorance mûrie. This is not true as the idea behind this sentence is that arrogance is the fruit of a long-lasting ignorance that evolved. 

The translation provided by Microsoft Translator is relatively accurate and manages to convey the general idea of the text in an understandable way.”

-Morel

ModernMT

What our translators say about ModernMT for English to French…

“ModernMT translaton is inaccurate, inconsistent and illogical. In my humble opinion, it is the poorest translation. Example of a sentence: C' est l'inégalité flagrante de la nourriture, des vêtements et des abris qui nous divise, mais c'est la nécessité absolue de justice, de guérison et de miséricorde qui nous unit (It is the gross inequality of food, clothing, and shelter that divides us but it is the absolute necessity for justice, healing, and mercy that unites us.) In this sentence, we can see space between C’ est (C’est) and the word shelter which is rendered in French abris instead of logement in this context. ”

-Gilbert

“This tool provides fairly accurate translations, which necessarily require thorough proofreading. Compared to other tools, this one performs poorly.

Discrepancies:
In a human translation, the expression apparaît comme un jeu conveys the idea that truth is treated as a game. The ModernMT translation uses the expression un jeu équitable (like many other tools), which suggests that truth is considered acceptable or legitimate. 

The second point of difference concerns the translation of ignorance matûre. A human would translate this part as l’arrogance est le fruit de l'ignorance, which suggests that arrogance stems from ignorance. The ModernMT translation uses the expression ‘ignorance matûre’, which captures the idea that arrogance is an advanced or developed stage of ignorance. 

The third point of divergence lies in the translation of we speak truth to power. A human translation would be nous pouvons l'exprimer et reconnaître le pouvoir qui est en jeu, emphasizing the fearless or reluctant expression of truth and recognition of the power at stake. ModernMT's translation is nous pouvons articuler la vérité ('we can articulate the truth’), which captures the idea of communicating the truth. 

The part: malgré la constante statique has no meaning. 

ModernMT's overall performance: 
The translation provided by ModernMT is globally accurate and captures the main idea of the text. However, there are a couple of discrepancies with a human translation, notably in the translation of fair game, ignorance matured and the constant static that has been literally translated. ”

-Morel

 

ChatGPT

What our translators say about ChatGPT for English to French…

“Like ModernMT, Google Translate and Microsoft Translator, ChadGPT translation is badly performed. Several inaccuracy, inconsistency and terminological problems. This is  an example: Nous connaissons cette vérité morale fondamentale instinctivement, sans ambiguïté. (We know this fundamental moral truth instinctively with no ambiguity.) ”

-Gilbert

“While the tool can produce generally accurate translations, there are occasional errors or inaccuracies that require revision. In terms of fluidity, efforts still need to be made to make translations more precise, fluid and natural. Formulations can sometimes seem unnatural or lack coherence.  Last but not the least, we can remark that ChatGPT translated the sentence almost the same way as other tools, anyway there are some slight differences. The part malgré le bruit constant de la rhétorique is a better translation provided by ChatGPT compared to ModernMT and some other online tools. But the part nous parlons de vérité au pouvoir’ has no meaning and could not be accepted. ”

-Morel

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