Translate Your Medical Website Automatically with Google Translate

Casesblog and ClinicalCases.org have had automatic translation via Google Translate for a while now (see the form in the lower right corner of any page). I have noticed through SiteMeter statistics that some international visitors are using the form to translate the blog and ClinicalCases.org into their native language.

Google released a translation algorithm from English to Russian a few weeks ago and I just added this function to the form. The automatic translation is far from perfect grammatically but in most cases it can convey the sense of what is written. The translation works seamlessly from technical point of view though -- if somebody closes the top frame, he/she can browse any English website, translated into his/her native language, without even knowing that the website is originally written in English -- try it with CNN. If you hover the mouse over any text in Firefox, you can see a callout with the English translation. This is neat. It works only in Russian, Arabic and Chinese, as far as I tested it.

Using Google Translate makes your website accessible to medical students and residents from around the world who may not know English well. Callouts could help them learn the language better and faster.

I have included the HTML code of the translation form here (click to open a new page). Feel free to use it for your own website, just replace "casesblog.blogspot.com" with the URL of your site.

References:
Google Russian Translator. Google Operating System.
Embed Google Translate widget in your blog template: Translation Widgets for Your Site. Google Operating System, 11/2007.

Related:
Read Googlified in Multiple Languages. Googlified.
Useful Google Translate Addresses. Google Operating System.
Google Translate Becomes the Best Free Online Translator. Google Operating System, 05/2008.

Updated: 05/09/2008

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