How often do you guys use google translate when writing notebook entries? I try to use it as little as possible (say, five words in three paragraphs). Do you feel as if it seems to the everyone else that you know more than you do? If you do, what techniques do you use to avoid using unknown words?
Better consult a proper dictionary. Google translate can be used to quickly understand some text written in a foreign languge but it should not be used for learning a language. It is not error free and sometimes it generates ridiculous translations.
I'm using it almost everyday. I always check the word in the dictionary too because google translate can make nonsense translations as we all know.
I never use Google translate, nor do I use multilingual dictionaries. I prefer to use the site "dic.academic.ru". There you can find example sentences, which give you an idea of how a word is used. This has helped me immensely with Russian, although it can be somewhat tough in the beginning. In such a scenario, I would use a site like Яндекс.Словарь to find the English definition, if the Russian definition still doesn't make sense with guesses and context. Those are my two cents.
I only use it for single words or spelling check.
I think, you need no online-translators for the purpose of <em>learning</em> - just write as good as you can, and let italki members fix it. If your grammar sucks - it's not a problem:)
But never use instruments if you don't uderstand their internal logic:) Internal logic of a statistical algorithm cann't be understood by definition. You never know, when to expect a wrong result. It even tries to hide it flaws! Btw, humans work the same way sometimes:)
