Free Online Storage

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Google Cross-Language Search, No Longer Available

Posted on 10:41 by Unknown
Google removed yet another advanced search tool: cross-language search. It was available in the "Search tools" menu as "translated foreign pages" and it allowed you to find pages written in other languages.


Google automatically suggested a few languages for your query, but you could manually add other languages. Your query was translated into all these languages, Google performed multiple searches for the translations, compiled a list of results and translated titles and snippets into your language.

Here's a screenshot from 2009, when Google Search added this feature:


"If you're traveling and want to find hotels, restaurants, activities or reviews written from a local perspective, or if you're just curious to find what's being written about a company, product or topic in another language, give Translated search in the Search Options panel a try," suggested Google at that time.

The feature was first available in 2007 as part of Google Translate, but the initial version supported a single destination language. "Now, you can search for something in your own language (for example, English) and search the web in another language (for example, French). If you're looking for wine tasting events in Bordeaux while on vacation in France, just type 'wine tasting events in Bordeaux' into the search box on the 'Search results' tab on Google Translate. You'll then get French search results and a (machine) translation of these search results into English," informed Google.

It's sad to see this feature disappear because it was very powerful and difficult to replace. It integrated Google Translate and Google Search, so Google performed multiple translations and searches just to shows you 10 cross-language search results.

Why was it removed? "The translate foreign pages feature is no longer offered. Removing features always involves tough choices, but we do think very hard about each decision and its implications for our users. You can still translate entire pages in Chrome. Streamlining enables us to focus on creating beautiful technology that will improve people's lives," explained Google. Most likely, not many people used this feature.

I assume that most "search tools" features are rarely used and the same thing is true for other features for power users: advanced search, operators. They're not obvious, they're difficult to use and few people need them. As Google focuses more on answering questions, I expect to see fewer and fewer advanced search features and that's disappointing.
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to Facebook
Posted in Google Translate, Web Search | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • More Google Experiments That Hide Results URLs
    There are at least two other versions of the Google experiment that removes search results URLs . The first alternate version places site na...
  • Add a Keyboard Shortcut for Chrome's App Launcher
    I'm not sure why Chrome's app launcher doesn't have a keyboard shortcut, but it's pretty easy to add one. For Windows XP, r...
  • Merge cells vertically in Google spreadsheets
    There are many times when you want to format your spreadsheets in a certain way to make your data easier to read and understand. Starting to...
  • Docs on the iPhone with Chris Pirillo
    Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program Manager Chris Pirillo , Gnomedex Conference founder, CNN.com Live technology contributor, and one of ...
  • Posting to a blog is a bit too easy
    Posted by: Andrew Chang, Marketing Manager Oops. As many of you have noticed, yesterday I accidentally posted my personal to-do list onto t...
  • Google Now for Google's Homepage in Testing
    It looks like Google Now won't be limited to Android, iOS and Chrome , it will also be added to Google's homepage. Some code from a...
  • The End of This Internet
    "Congratulations, you've reached the end of this internet. Look for another?" That's the message you see when you use the ...
  • Google Docs welcomes DocVerse
    (Cross-posted from the Google Enterprise Blog ) The future of productivity applications is in the cloud. We've always believed the web ...
  • Speakout gears up
    Posted by: Jen We now have lots of schools participating in our Global Warming Student Speakout from each of the locations listed below. We...
  • Google Play Music Offers Tag Suggestions
    Google's online music service started to suggest better tag values for the songs you've uploaded. If you right-click a song or an a...

Categories

  • Acquisitions
  • Ads
  • Android
  • Annoyances
  • April Fools Day
  • attachments
  • back to school
  • Blogger
  • charts
  • chat
  • Chrome
  • Chrome extensions
  • chrome web apps
  • Cloud Connect
  • collaboration
  • comments
  • community
  • discussions
  • DMCA
  • docs
  • document list
  • documents
  • documents list
  • drawings
  • drivebacktoschool
  • Easter Egg
  • education
  • Faces of Docs
  • forms
  • gmail
  • gone google
  • Google Alerts
  • Google Analytics
  • Google Apps Blog
  • Google Apps Script
  • Google Calendar
  • Google Cast
  • Google Checkout
  • Google Chrome
  • Google Chrome OS
  • Google Cloud Connect
  • Google Contacts
  • Google Dictionary
  • Google Docs
  • Google Docs Viewer
  • google documents
  • google drive
  • Google Earth
  • Google Goggles
  • Google Hangouts
  • Google Instant
  • Google Keep
  • Google Latitude
  • Google Local
  • Google Maps
  • Google Music
  • Google News
  • Google Notebook
  • Google Now
  • Google Pack
  • Google Photos
  • Google Play
  • Google Plus
  • Google Reader
  • Google Sites
  • Google Suggest
  • Google Takeout
  • Google Talk
  • Google Toolbar
  • Google Translate
  • Google Trends
  • Google Voice
  • Google Wallet
  • Google+
  • googlenew
  • Greasemonkey
  • Guest Post
  • holiday
  • iGoogle
  • Image Search
  • images
  • InOut
  • iOS
  • Keep
  • Knowledge
  • mobile
  • OCR
  • offline
  • OneBox
  • paperless
  • pdfs
  • photo
  • photos
  • Picasa Web Albums
  • presentations
  • product ideas
  • profiles
  • quickoffice
  • Reddit
  • research
  • save to drive
  • scripts
  • Security
  • sharing
  • sheets
  • shortcut
  • slides
  • spell check
  • spreadsheets
  • stock photos
  • storage
  • students
  • tables
  • teachers
  • templates
  • Tips
  • User interface
  • videos
  • Viewer
  • Visualization
  • Voice Search
  • Web Search
  • Yahoo
  • YouTube

Blog Archive

  • ▼  2013 (519)
    • ►  December (33)
    • ►  November (44)
    • ►  October (64)
    • ►  September (50)
    • ►  August (63)
    • ►  July (60)
    • ►  June (57)
    • ▼  May (62)
      • New Google Calendar Controls for Android
      • Google's Unified Storage Plans
      • HTC One, Nexus Edition
      • Tips for Gmail's Tabs and Categories
      • No More Gmail Sneak Peek
      • New Gmail Favicon
      • Chrome for iOS, Not a Fast Browser
      • Google's Bigger App Launcher
      • Gmail's Inbox Tabs
      • YouTube's Feeling Lucky
      • Spam From Gmail Contacts?
      • Find Gmail Receipts
      • Google+ Photo Search With Image Recognition
      • Google Trends Charts
      • A smoother Drive app for Android
      • YouTube Search Experiments
      • Create Google Now Reminders in Google Search
      • Google Cross-Language Search, No Longer Available
      • Google Checkout Discontinued
      • Google+ Hangouts and Phone Numbers
      • Understanding Google+ Hangouts
      • Google+ Hangouts SMS
      • The New Google Maps, Now Available
      • Google Search Evolution
      • Gmail Actions
      • Galaxy S4, Nexus Edition
      • Preview the New Google Maps
      • Google Play Apps and Services, the New Android Upd...
      • Chrome, the Most Popular Web Browser
      • Google Play Music All Access
      • New Google+ and Google Hangouts
      • Conversational Voice Search for Desktop
      • Reinventing Google Maps
      • Google OKRs
      • Add Images to Google Forms
      • Google's Atari Breakout Easter Egg
      • Black Menu: All-in-One Google
      • Shared Storage for Gmail, Google Drive and Google+...
      • Sundar Pichai on Android and Chrome (OS)
      • Bringing it all together: 15 GB now shared between...
      • Paid YouTube Channels
      • New Interface for Gmail Chat History
      • Maps Engine Lite and the New Google Maps
      • Street View Images in Google Maps OneBoxes
      • When Did You Create Your Gmail Account?
      • New Google Maps Interface
      • New Question Types in Google Forms
      • The Old Google Image Search in Chrome
      • Google's Red Sign In Button
      • Open Gmail Links Using Google Apps in iOS
      • Google Image Search Shows the Images From a Page
      • Finding HTC One Using Google and Bing
      • YouTube Tests a New Carousel UI for the Homepage
      • Artificial Google Suggestions
      • Google Table Search
      • Gmail Has a New Login Page
      • Google Keep App for Chrome
      • Access Google Keep with the new Chrome app
      • The New Chrome Apps
      • Download and Sync Google Fonts to Your Computer
      • Error 404 (Not Found)!!1
      • How to Disable Google News for Tablets
    • ►  April (49)
    • ►  March (33)
    • ►  February (1)
    • ►  January (3)
  • ►  2012 (34)
    • ►  December (4)
    • ►  November (4)
    • ►  October (5)
    • ►  September (4)
    • ►  August (2)
    • ►  July (1)
    • ►  June (3)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  April (2)
    • ►  March (2)
    • ►  February (5)
  • ►  2011 (80)
    • ►  December (4)
    • ►  November (1)
    • ►  October (7)
    • ►  September (10)
    • ►  August (11)
    • ►  July (8)
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (1)
    • ►  April (8)
    • ►  March (8)
    • ►  February (8)
    • ►  January (5)
  • ►  2010 (118)
    • ►  December (11)
    • ►  November (16)
    • ►  October (6)
    • ►  September (13)
    • ►  August (13)
    • ►  July (7)
    • ►  June (15)
    • ►  May (11)
    • ►  April (7)
    • ►  March (7)
    • ►  February (6)
    • ►  January (6)
  • ►  2009 (82)
    • ►  December (14)
    • ►  November (4)
    • ►  October (10)
    • ►  September (10)
    • ►  August (4)
    • ►  July (6)
    • ►  June (6)
    • ►  May (5)
    • ►  April (4)
    • ►  March (8)
    • ►  February (7)
    • ►  January (4)
  • ►  2008 (97)
    • ►  December (6)
    • ►  November (4)
    • ►  October (6)
    • ►  September (8)
    • ►  August (5)
    • ►  July (7)
    • ►  June (11)
    • ►  May (20)
    • ►  April (13)
    • ►  March (6)
    • ►  February (6)
    • ►  January (5)
  • ►  2007 (25)
    • ►  December (1)
    • ►  November (1)
    • ►  October (2)
    • ►  September (3)
    • ►  August (3)
    • ►  July (4)
    • ►  June (3)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  April (2)
    • ►  March (1)
    • ►  February (2)
    • ►  January (1)
  • ►  2006 (10)
    • ►  December (2)
    • ►  November (4)
    • ►  October (4)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile