Translation programs - ChatGPT or Google Translate?

Google Translate is fast and efficient for short phrases or simple texts, supports a wide range of languages, and provides good context-sensitive translations for common phrases and widely spoken languages. However, Google Translate can struggle with nuanced or complex text, idioms, and culturally specific expressions, and is less effective at maintaining a specific tone or style.

ChatGPT offers more nuanced translations, especially for idioms and creative content. It can tailor translations to a specific tone, style, or purpose (e.g. formal, informal, poetic). ChatGPT’s translation can explain translation suggestions or offer alternatives. However, it can be slower than Google for large or repetitive tasks and may not be as consistent as a dedicated translation engine for less commonly used language pairs.

Use Google Translate for quick and easy translations or for highly technical or direct text. ChatGPT is better suited for nuanced, creative texts or translation tailored to a specific context or audience.

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Translation software opportunities in 2025

The most widely used pieces of machine translation software in 2025 are DeepL, Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, Amazon Translate and ChatGPT. All of these translation programs have both free versions and paid add-ons. Online translation programs vary in terms of the number of languages and special features. Some of them offer image translation and features in different fields such as business, education, etc. Some machine translation programs also allow you to customise the translation style, hide inappropriate content, and use other special features. See an overview of all kinds of translation software.

Google Translate

Google Translate is a free Google service that instantly translates words, phrases, and web pages from English to more than 100 other languages and vice versa. On computers, Google Translate is very widely used and well-known to everyone. However, it is less common knowledge there are also iOS and Android applications of the same name, which means that Translate is very easy to use on a smartphone or tablet. Read more on Telia’s Digitark page.

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Machine translation programs

Machine translation by the University of Tartu

An Estonian machine translation engine created by researchers at the University of Tartu, Neurotõlge is multilingual and can translate seven languages: Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, English, German, and Finnish. The purpose of a machine translation program is to automatically translate between different languages: from one language into another. however, behind this lies a more complicated set of issues. ‘For example, translation depends on the field. Ordinary spoken language is translated one way, and formal speeches or technical manuals are translated another way,’ comments Mark Fišel, head of the Chair of Natural Language Processing at the University of Tartu in an interview for the open data portal. ‘Some words have multiple meanings, for example, the English word ‘driver’ can be a computer driver or a person driving a car. In the case of Neurotõlge, we try to take into account the field of the text and translate accordingly.’ The user can also choose in the program whether to translate colloquially or politely. Field-specific translation modules are also being developed for translation agencies.

The special feature of the Neurotõlge machine translation is that it is multilingual and can translate seven languages: Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, English, German, and Finnish. The same trained model is used in all directions, which allows you to write sentences in mixed languages – for example, Estonian, German and English – and translate it all into Latvian. The input language is not specified, only the output language is.

The fleet of machine translation engines of the University of Tartu also includes 23 Finno-Ugric languages.

Tilde machine translation

Tilde develops neural network-based machine translation systems, LLM-based chatbots, as well as speech technologies thanks to the smart synergy of humans and artificial intelligence, and Tilde also offers professional localization services. Tilde’s valued technologies help a wide user base from corporations to government agencies, businesses, and individuals.

Tilde’s machine translation offers unlimited text translation, full document translation, and add-ons to enhance efficiency.

FAQ about translation software

What has been the history and development of translation programs?

Machine translation as a concept dates back to 1629, when René Descartes first proposed a universal language. In 1951, the first scholar in the field, Yehosha Bar-Hillel, began research at MIT. In 1954, the first automatic translation system, developed in collaboration between Georgetown University and IBM, was publicly presented in New York. During the presentation, nearly 60 sentences were translated from Russian into English. To do this, the Russian sentence was first recorded on a punched card, which was then entered into the IBM 701 mainframe computer. Then, within 6–7 seconds, the machine printed out the sentence in English.

Despite the limitations of the translation system, the Georgetown-IBM experiment was considered a great success in the media, and the authors of the experiment announced that the problem of machine translation could be completely solved in 3–5 years. The US government invested large sums of money in machine translation research and development, but development was still on hold for a long time. However, since then, many breakthroughs have occurred in machine translation. Machine translation has come so far in its nearly 70-year development that it can be assumed that it should not take more than 10–20 years to completely solve the problem of machine translation and fully eliminate the profession of a translator.

How to translate websites into Estonian yourself?

Depending on the level of language proficiency, it is possible to translate both texts and speech using your own language skills. Where your own skills are not enough and your language level is lower than necessary, you can find help from dictionaries, various kinds of machine translation software, Google Translate and ChatGPT. When using them, it is worth paying attention to the different nuances and capabilities of the programs and not to forget that the final text must also be read and edited by a person. Programs, no matter how smart they are, are still not at the same level as our natural language instinct. Localizing links is also important when translating a website.

What are the best websites and apps for translation?

In 2024, the most widespread machine translation programs were DeepL, Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, Amazon Translate and ChatGPTAll of these translation programs have both free versions and paid add-ons available. Translation programs vary in terms of the number of languages and special features. Some of them offer image translation and functions in different fields such as business, education, etc. Some machine translation programs also allow you to customise the translation style, hide inappropriate content, and use other special features. See an overview of all kinds of translation software.

Differences between a translation agency, machine translation, Google Translate and AI

Undoubtedly, the highest-quality and most accurate translation can be obtained with the help of a professional translator who speaks the language at a native level. An experienced translator will not miss even the smallest linguistic nuances, and they are also competent in various specific fields and will notice when the translation needs localization and other adjustments. A high-quality translation agency like Filoloog strictly monitors quality when providing translation services and, if necessary, specifies all special wishes and needs with the client. Specialised texts are directed to a translator who is a specialist in this field, and the translated text is edited correctly. Our translators are philologists who specialise in various fields. Thanks to this, we can offer translations in a wide variety of fields, be it law, economics, engineering, chemistry, computer science, patents, European Union texts, or medicine.

Google Translate is perfectly suited for quick and simple translations, as well as for technical and so-called direct translations. It provides a more or less accurate translation, but Google Translate has no competence to take into account different nuances, localize the text, and adapt other details according to the source and target languages.

ChatGPT is nuanced and suitable for creating creative or contextually or audience-specific translations. AI translation is significantly more advanced than Google Translate, as it can also take into account specific requests and even translate in different speech styles, dialects, etc. to add the necessary nuances to the text.

At Filoloog, we believe that AI translation capabilities are impressive, but while tools like ChatGPT and Google Translate can greatly simplify our daily lives, these tools are far from perfect – human translators are needed to avoid errors 100%. The risk of something getting lost in translation, especially in professional and industry-specific texts, is too great even with currently very advanced translation programs without the watchful eye of a translator.

Order translation or machine translation post-editing from Filoloog

Ordering translation and machine translation post-editing from us is easy and fast. Send a query or call +372 5556 5882. We will respond to your inquiry within an hour on business days.

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Translation software rating – ChatGPT or Google Translate?

Translation software opportunities in 2025

Google Translate

Machine translation programs

Machine translation by the University of Tartu

Tilde machine translation

FAQ about translation software

What has been the history and development of translation programs?

How to translate websites into Estonian yourself?

What are the best websites and apps for translation?

Differences between a translation agency, machine translation, Google Translate and AI

Order translation or machine translation post-editing from Filoloog

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