Investigating the Use of Google Translate in "Terms and Conditions" in an Airline's Official Website: Errors and Implications.

In the era of globalization, the Internet is regarded as one of the most popular sources of information given the number of on-line browsers who have access to websites. The tourism industry, be it hotels or airlines, in the 21st century relies heavily on the provision of information via its official websites. Thus, it is crucial that the information be accurate so as not to cause misunderstanding, or legal and financial damage. However, when information in several foreign languages involves a complicated process of translation conducted with a translation machine, serious problems can occur. According to Newmark (1998), human translation occurs at two levels: semantic equivalence and communicative equivalence. The reliance on a translation tool such as Google Translate is therefore worth our attention to find out whether such a tool is efficient and practical. In this 138 | PASAA Vol. 49 (January – June) 2015 study, we investigate a low-cost airline’s official website deploying Google Translate to translate its official, legal documents. Our particular focus lies in “Terms and Conditions” because of its crucial impact on the airline and its passengers. Findings suggest that errors occur at three major levels: lexical, syntactical and discursive. The errors inevitably cause unintelligibility, to which we provide explanations and also offer some practical implications for future use.