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Good Latin to English translator

PostPosted: October 6th, 2009, 11:44 pm
by Mr Bultitude
I picked up a Walter Hooper compilation of some of Lewis' essays, all of which it seems I haven't read, and there is much more Latin (and for that matter French, German, and Greek) in them than I am accustomed to with him. As opposed to just gliding by the phrases and guessing at their meaning with context and my weak understanding of the language, I wanted to make use of a translator or some other online resource. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good online Latin translator? It would be especially helpful if it was usable from a Blackberry :)

Re: Good Latin to English translator

PostPosted: October 8th, 2009, 1:53 am
by deadwhitemale
Well, there seem to be several free online Latin-to-English (and back again) translators. But I don't know Latin grammar so I can't say how good they are. I tried to test one by asking it to translate a Latin motto I thought I knew the English translation of, to see if their translator agreed. It did not, not exactly. So, either the translation I already had was wrong, or their translation is wrong.

I couldn't say how compatible any of them are with a Blackberry. I've never used a Blackberry, or even seen one that I recognized. (I've probably seen several, and just didn't know what they were.)

David

Re: Good Latin to English translator

PostPosted: October 11th, 2009, 12:32 am
by Paul F. Ford
I use .

Re: Good Latin to English translator

PostPosted: November 5th, 2009, 2:37 am
by faramir777
I know Latin quite well, I could translate, likely with little difficulty, your passages. Post them in the thread and I would be happy to make sense of them for you.

Re: Good Latin to English translator

PostPosted: December 20th, 2009, 12:10 am
by Sarah N.
I agree with Paul Ford that Words is an excellent program, but only for someone with a working knowledge of Latin grammar. It will tell you that a noun is ablative, but you still need to know what that means for your sentence as a whole. So, as the title implies, it translates words, not sentences. And especially not mottos or phrases (i.e. incomplete sentences.) Those are taxing even for a person who knows Latin quite well. More is left unsaid than is there, usually.

Re: Good Latin to English translator

PostPosted: December 27th, 2009, 11:11 pm
by RamandusDaughter
Sarah, I'm new here. What is the 2456317 club?

Thank you for asking about a Latin translator. I need one myself.

Happy New Year :snowflake:

Re: Good Latin to English translator

PostPosted: December 28th, 2009, 12:03 am
by john

Re: Good Latin to English translator

PostPosted: December 28th, 2009, 12:35 am
by Paul F. Ford
And for those of us who are really fussy, there is an even more exclusive group, the 2453617 club, who see The Horse and His Boy as the pivotal Chronicle.

Welcome!

Re: Good Latin to English translator

PostPosted: December 29th, 2009, 7:29 pm
by RamandusDaughter
Thanks for the welcome.

Mr. Ford, I believe my mother once met you at the C.S. Lewis society, possibly at Valyermo (St. Andrew's Abbey). She passed away last year, but was an avid fan of Lewis and has passed the torch to me.

I have inherited her Lewis library. Thank you for Companion to Narnia.

As for me, today's not a fussy day. I'm just thankful to have found this website.

I think I see the lamppost's light... :snowflake: