I was looking at the stats from one of my blogs the other day and I noticed I had some visitors from Europe, Sth America and Asia which of course was pleasing.  But then it dawned on me – the blog was completely in English.  Now I only know one language, so I guess I can be excused a little.

But only a little.

As it happens, there are ways to get around such problems.  Google has added the Translator gadget to its arsenal and it seems to be quite impressive.  I say seems because I don’t know how accurate the translation is, but if you know more than one language, feel free to go over to my blog and click on the translator tool in the sidebar.  Trust me – you won’t break anything!  Within a few seconds the entire blog will automagically be translated in a language of your choice.

What is really nice is the fact that the tool harnesses the wisdom of the crowds by allowing users to suggest a better translation if Google’s is NQR.

I’m sure language teachers out there can see the possibilities already.  And not only language teachers.  Consider how this could assist students whose native tongue is not English.

To add the translator gadget to a webpage, just head over to translate.google.com and copy and paste the supplied HTML wherever you want to use it.

language variety on cadbury's choc by no frills