Babylon Translator

[jchuzi]

My wife uses the Babylon website to translate between French and English. We are considering buying the   Babylon Translator app It is pricey but if it works well, we are willing. Does anyone have experience with it?

[kimmer]

Not with the app, but I also use the web site on a reg. basis.

[jchuzi]

We are considering purchasing the app because the site has stopped working for us. I deleted cookies, tried two other browsers, and had the same result. I wonder if the developer is trying to tell us something?!! My wife uses it regularly and likes how it operates. Also, I feel an obligation to support the developer who, after all, has to make a living just like the rest of us.

BTW, I tried translating something different and it worked, but then I went back to the page and got nothing when I clicked Translate.

[kimmer]

Hmm. It may be because I'm using an older system (10.13.6) and their web site doesn't play nice with the newer OS? 

[jchuzi]

It's been fine until today and my wife has been using it for several months in Catalina. Also, the site is problematic (as I pointed out) in other browsers, namely Firefox and Edge. At least the app was updated for Catalina in October 2019 (according to the developer's website).

[Xairbusdriver]

Doesn't work in my Safari (13.1) on Mojave macOS 10.14.6, either. I tried several things in Develop but never found anything that made a difference. Opens fine in FireFox 75.

[Paddy]

Well, this is interesting. I tried it in Chrome, FF Developer (v. 75) and Safari on my older MBP running Mojave - no go on any of them. Error from the console in FF indicates a missing variable.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Errors/Not_defined

A bunch of other warnings about deprecated things as well - this is NOT a recently designed page from the looks of it.

In Catalina, with the same version of Safari, it works. In FF (same version) it also works, after I allow the older TLS. In Chrome, it does zip, other than reload the page complete with the annoying popup.

There are warnings that the site is still using TLS 1.1 - and I checked the host, which is/was singlehop.com (it has been bought out by INAP) and sure enough, the host doesn't support TLS 1.3, which is not good since most browsers will mark the site as insecure, despite the presence of a current SSL certificate. All browsers stopped supporting the older SSL/transport protocol in March - which is why you can see the yellow warning triangle in the URL bar over the lock icon. I don't know why Safari still isn't flagging it though.

Anyway - this strikes me as a project someone has lost interest in. Site is not working properly, it's not secure, it's hosted by a host that has been gobbled up by another company (and seems to be sitting on some forgotten server somewhere), copyright notice on site says 2014-2017, blog doesn't work (database connection error)...

I would recommend that you NOT BUY this app!

See: https://www.complaintsboard.com/babylon-translation-software-fraud-c592248

The software hasn't been updated for Mac in eons. There is a Windows version that's at Version 11, released in 2018. And it's FREE. https://downloads.tomsguide.com/babylon,0301-155.html

Review here - 3.1 doesn't work on Sierra. https://macdownload.informer.com/babylon/3.1/

Another review for the Mac version on this page: https://www.g2.com/products/babylon/reviews

It used to be known for adware and malware. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_Software

[jchuzi]

Wow! Thanks a million, Paddy. I'll be looking at other translation software. Any recommendations?

[Paddy]

I just use Google Translate for my rather occasional and modest translation needs, I'm afraid.

But the one with the best reviews seems to be Mate: https://gikken.co/mate-translate/ - it's also available in the App Store (where it gets a rating of 4.7 stars out of 5). At $40 it seems quite reasonable if you have regular translation needs.

[jchuzi]

My wife tried Google Translator and believes that it will suit her needs. If not, we can explore other avenues, including those that are not free. And many thanks to Paddy, who not only saved me $139 but possibly allowed me to avoid adware or malware.    

[jchuzi]

For whatever reason, Babylon is working again. Actually, it was serendipitous that it stopped because my wife now uses Google Translator as well. They give slightly different results and it's good to have a second opinion.