As fibre-to-fibre recycling technology is developed and scaled up, the rate could reach 26% by 2030. However, current levels of textile-to-textile recycling, whereby discarded textiles are shredded and granulated to be used as the basis for new fabrics, are only around 1% globally. Despite concerns over the poor sustainability of ‘fast fashion’, recycling rates for textiles are low. To support the consistent application of the calculation rules, a harmonised format for documentation from recyclers to Member States authorities has also been introduced. The process for measuring the recovery of materials is specifically established for critical raw materials such as cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel, as well as lead.

During a translation, it looked for patterns in millions of documents to help decide which words to choose and how to arrange them in the target language. Launched in April 2006 as a statistical machine translation service, it originally used United Nations and European Parliament documents and transcripts to gather linguistic data. It served over 200 million people daily in May 2013, and over 500 million total users as of April 2016update, with more than 100 billion words translated daily.

Shortly after launching the translation service for the first time, Google won an international competition for English–Arabic and English–Chinese machine translation. Therefore, long text should be transferred to a document form and translated through its Document Translate function. In its Written Words Translation function, there is a word limit on the amount of text that can be translated at once.

Apps

EU rules to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, as this is the most polluting way to deal with waste. EU rules on the management of construction and demolition waste. Therefore, in addition to the overarching legal framework, the EU has numerous laws to address various types of waste. The Waste Framework Directive is the EU’s legal framework for treating and managing waste in the EU. If you need the highest quality professional translations or interpretations, in the fastest time, we invite you to get a free quote online, or connect with us 24/7. Wondering where else you need human-powered translations?

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  • For some languages, text can be entered via an on-screen keyboard, whether through handwriting recognition or speech recognition.
  • Results are sometimes shown with dictional information below the translation box, but it is not a dictionary and has been shown to invent translations in all languages for words it does not recognize.
  • The Google Translate app for Android and iOS supports 249 languages and can propose translations for 37 languages via photo, 32 via voice in “conversation mode”, and 27 via live video imagery in “augmented reality mode”.

Until March 2023, some less widely spoken languages used the open-source eSpeak synthesizer for their speech; producing a robotic, awkward voice that may be difficult to understand. Many of the more popular languages have a “text-to-speech” audio function that is able to read back a text in that language, up to several hundred words or so. The browser version of Google Translate provides the option to show phonetic equivalents of text translated from Japanese to English.

As of November 2025,update the following 249 languages, dialects and language varieties written in different scripts (240 unique languages and dialects) are supported by Google Translate. Google Translate also provides translations for Google Assistant and the devices that Google Assistant runs on such as Google Nest and Pixel Buds. In January 2015, the apps gained the ability to propose translations of physical signs in real time using the device’s camera, as a result of Google’s acquisition of the Word Lens app. Originally limited to English and Spanish, the feature received support for 12 new languages, still in testing, the following October.

Our translation company is driven by our passion for languages. Our AI translation platform is built on the latest advancements in neural machine translation, delivering unparalleled performance and quality. Automatically dub your video content into multiple languages with natural-sounding voices, expanding your reach to a global audience. Instant translation of text and speech, enabling seamless communication across languages.

Visit EUROSTAT for statistics on waste generation and treatment in the EU. EU rules regulating the use of sewage sludge, and promoting its use in agriculture. EU rules restricting the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS). EU rules on the safe disposal of PCBs and PCTs. EU measures to prevent and limit waste from vehicles once they come to their end-of-life. EU waste policy aims to protect the environment and human health and help the EU’s transition to a circular economy.

This evaluation precedes the entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention in June 2025, which sets out international ship recycling standards that are less stringent than the EU Ship Recycling Regulation in some areas. At the recycling stage, the quality of inventories is often insufficient. The evaluation also highlights that hazardous materials inventories are still too often absent during the vessel’s operational life. The assessment concludes that the Regulation has largely achieved its objectives and, notably, through the establishment of a dedicated European List of authorised ship recycling facilities, has contributed to higher environmental and social standards in ship recycling practices. The assessment finds that the law has contributed to higher environmental and social standards in ship recycling practices.

The automotive manufacturing industry is among the largest consumers of primary raw materials such as steel, aluminium, copper, and plastics, but makes little use of recycled materials. The classification resulted from the application of established rules for the classification of chemicals and waste. The new codes were proposed based on scientific and technical information about the chemistry of the different battery types and generated waste. Access to shredded battery waste, known as “black mass”, is essential to ensure electric vehicle battery recycling. The Commission updated the List of Waste on Wednesday (5 March) to keep batteries and their critical raw materials in the economy for longer.

Translation mistakes and oddities

(English database designed and developed for Foras na Gaeilge by Lexicography MasterClass Ltd.) Welsh language data from Gweiadur by Gwerin. A 2010 analysis indicated that French to English translation is relatively accurate, and 2011 and 2012 analyses showed that Italian to English translation is relatively accurate as well. The accuracy of single-word predictions has not been measured for any language. Google Translate makes statistical guesses that raise the likelihood of producing the most frequent sense of a word, with the consequence that an accurate translation will be unobtainable in cases that do not match the majority or plurality corpus occurrence. Most common English words have at least two senses, which produces 50/50 odds in the likely case that the target language uses different words for those different senses.

As of November 2025, Google Translate supports 249 languages and language varieties at various levels. Study on investment needs in the waste sector and on the financing of municipal waste management in Member States Techno-scientific assessment of the management options for used and waste textiles in the European Union Assistance to the Commission on technical, socio-economic, environmental and cost-benefit assessments related to the implementation and further development of EU waste legislation The Commission is preparing a set of end-of-waste criteria for priority waste streams. A JRC publication on ‘Scoping possible further EU-wide end-of-waste and by-product criteria’ is also available.

Unmatched Accuracy

Hence, publishing in English, using unambiguous words, providing context, or using expressions such as “you all” may or may not make a better one-step translation depending on the target language. Instead, it often translates first to English and then to the target language (L1 → EN → L2). Google Translate does not directly translate from one language to another (L1 → L2). Och was the head of Google’s machine translation group until leaving to join Human Longevity, Inc. in July 2014. Google Translate does not apply grammatical rules, since its algorithms are based on statistical or pattern analysis rather than traditional rule-based analysis. In April 2006, Google Translate launched with a statistical machine translation engine.

When Google Translate generates a translation proposal, it looks for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents to help decide on the best translation. If Google were using an unambiguous, artificial language as the intermediary, it would be vous → you → Bы/вы OR tu → thou → ты. The system’s original creator, Franz Josef Och, has criticized the effectiveness of rule-based algorithms in favor of statistical approaches. The technology underlying Instant Camera combines image processing and optical character recognition, then attempts to produce cross-language equivalents using standard Google Translate estimations for the text as it is perceived. Google Translate recognises the text from the image using optical character recognition (OCR) technology and gives the translation.

It aims to translate whole phrases rather than single words then gather overlapping phrases for translation. Despite its role in improving translation quality and expanding language coverage, Google closed the Translate Community on March 28, 2024. Tests in 44 languages showed that the “suggest an edit” feature led to an improvement in a maximum of 40% of cases over four years. Third, users could suggest translations for phrases where they think they can improve on Google’s results. The UN typically publishes documents in all six official UN languages, which has produced a very large 6-language corpus.

Google Assistant

When used as a dictionary to translate single words, Google Translate is highly inaccurate because it must guess between polysemic words. Due to its identical choice of words without considering the flexibility of choosing alternative words or expressions, it produces a relatively similar translation to human translation from the perspective of formality, referential cohesion, and conceptual cohesion. Since 2020, Google has phased out GNMT and has implemented deep learning networks based on transformers. In September 2016, a research team at Google announced the development of the Google Neural Machine Translation system (GNMT) to increase fluency and accuracy in Google Translate and in November announced that Google Translate would switch to GNMT. Second, Google showed a proposed translation for a user to agree, disagree, or skip. In August 2016, a Google Crowdsource app was released for Android users, in which translation tasks are offered.

  • Yes, an online translator can save you if you need an immediate English to Spanish translation for your trip to Barcelona.
  • Assistance to the Commission on technical, socio-economic, environmental and cost-benefit assessments related to the implementation and further development of EU waste legislation
  • Wondering where else you need human-powered translations?
  • In April 2006, Google Translate launched with a statistical machine translation engine.
  • In November 2016, Google transitioned its translating method to a system called neural machine translation.

Moreover, the system automatically identifies foreign languages and translates speech without requiring individuals to tap the microphone button whenever speech translation is needed. As of February 2010, it was integrated into browsers such as Chrome and was able to pronounce the translated text, automatically recognize words in a picture and spot unfamiliar text and languages. Rather than translating languages directly, it first translated text to English and then pivoted to the target language in most of the language combinations it posited in its grid, with a few exceptions including Catalan–Spanish. The framework aims to protect the environment and human health by emphasising the importance of proper waste management, recovery and recycling techniques to reduce pressure on resources and improve their use.

Under such schemes, textile producers will contribute to the management of used and waste textiles. In 2018, an Amending Directive modified the original Directive, aiming to further improve waste management and facilitate the transition to a circular economy. The Framework makes a distinction between waste and by-products – a substance or object resulting from a production process, the primary aim of which is not the production of that substance or object. As well as establishing the five-step waste hierarchy (seen above), the Waste Framework Directive (2008) confirms the ‘polluter-pays principle’ whereby the original waste producer must pay for the cost of waste management. This will increase sustainability for businesses and consumers, and harmonise the single market for used and waste textiles.

In November 2016, Google transitioned its translating method to a system called neural machine translation. The input text had to be translated into English first before being translated into the selected language. The Waste Framework Directive entered into force on 12 December 2008, establishing a legal framework for treating waste in the EU. The law is the legal framework for waste prevention and management in the EU. Since the Directive was introduced, the EU has also introduced several related rules, such as the Directive on the type-approval of motor vehicles regarding their reusability, recyclability and recoverability.