District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, U.S. “The Court is not convinced that Google Translate accurately translated request for consent into Spanish.” In this particular case, the court even found some of the online translations to be “non-sensical.” Although the court invalidated the defendant’s consent for police to search her car, the court upheld the search as not requiring consent because the police officer had probable cause to conduct a search without the driver’s agreement.

On October 1, 2021, a federal court ruled that Google Translate is not accurate enough for a police officer to use in asking a motorist to consent to a search of her car. Indeed, the assumption that online translation sites and apps are as accurate as their omnipresence is a fraught one and can have serious consequences, as a federal judge recently decided. While the use of Google Translate and other online translation devices is growing, understanding of their limitations is not. Google Translate is seemingly everywhere – on phones, I-pads, apps, laptops – everything that has an Internet connection.

Mean in spanish google translate