Greg Mills. Author’s Guide to SuperComputer Translation. Amazon, 2022.

Author’s Guide to SuperComputer Translation is an introduction to the challenges of using available computer power to translate documents and books into various languages. This is meant primarily for self-publishing, but one would think that publishing companies would be interested as well.

The author explains that he only knows English, but he has figured a simple safeguard to insure accurate translation; namely, using the translation programs to translate the final result back into English and compare it with the original. If the translation programs are effective, there will only be minor differences.

The author has used this technique to translate a book he wrote that now sells on Amazon in numerous different countries in 70 languages. This accomplishes at least two purposes: It opens up opportunities to sell more copies, and it gives the chance for your ideas to spread to many cultures.

Using computers rather than translators can be quicker and it is free from bias. It is not foolproof, but it can be useful, especially when translating things into different cultures. Writers do want to choose the best original words they can, avoiding idiom when possible. The book itself, for example, has a foreword rather than an introduction because foreword means only one thing while introduction has several meanings. The translation will more likely hit the mark with the more specific term.

This book in some ways is an infomercial or advertorial. The author has been experimenting with this for several years and is now open for business. The book includes his terms and prices—compared to hiring a translator, they are very reasonable.

An acquaintance of mine, like Mills, has been in Christian ministry and wrote a book reflecting some of his teachings. He self-published and sold a few copies, but decided to make his book available in downloadable format for free. Readers from India and China translated the book into Hindi and Mandarin. Since then he has had over 190,000 downloads, most of them in the translated languages. Granted, there would be fewer downloads if he charged money for the book, but his experience shows that there is potential indeed for this kind of service.