Tagalog Translator

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on August 17, 2009

Tagalog Translator is a basic program that lets users look up words in English and Tagalog and get translations. Although the program works, its interface could be better, and some of its extra features are a waste of time.

The program's interface is basic; not particularly attractive, but easy enough to understand. The dictionary contains lists of words in English and Tagalog, and users enter the word they're looking for and search to find the translation. The problem with this approach is that results are returned if the word in question matches any portion of any word. For example, search for the word "eat" and you get 105 results back, including the word "maltreatment," which contains the letter combination "eat." This is a highly inefficient search method and will likely frustrate users who wish to translate words quickly. The program also contains a list of commonly used phrases that are grouped by topic (travel, food, and so on), which are useful. The program's other main feature is a laughable list of online resources; one is the publisher's own Web site, one requires a password, one doesn't load at all, and the last is a personal Web site written in Dutch by someone who learned Web design in 1998 and never updated his skills. This portion of the program needs to either be updated or removed. The built-in Help file is adequate.

Tagalog Translator is free. It installs desktop icons without asking but uninstalls cleanly. We recommend this program with reservations; while it does translate between English and Tagalog, there are much more elegant ways to complete this task.