GREENWICH HIGH SCHOOL     

WORLD LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

ELECTRONIC TRANSLATOR POLICY

As a student in the 21^st century, you have at your disposal a wealth of technology to help you with homework, speaking assessments and writing assignments for your World Language class.  Although we appreciate your efforts to expand and enrich your vocabulary and language skills, we want you to be aware of the pitfalls of using on-line translators and/or language applications for electronic devices (such as smart phones).

When you use an on-line translator program, and turn in work in a foreign language that you have not constructed yourself, based on your own personal knowledge of the language, you are plagiarizing.  (See Academic Integrity section of the Cardinal Rules, p. 17, Parent/Student Handbook.) This does not apply to looking up an isolated vocabulary word or two, or a verb conjugation, but rather to translating entire phrases or blocks of text with an electronic device.  The quality of the work produced by these devices is faulty and mediocre at best.  Their use for graded assignments is dishonest and unacceptable.

All assignments you receive from your teacher are designed to assess your ability to apply the language you have learned to a specific task, and all are meant to be done at your current level of expertise.  Your teacher will ALWAYS be able to recognize work that has been done by electronic media.

The Greenwich High School World Language Department Policy forbids the use of electronic devices for the purpose of translation on any assignments.  As per the Greenwich High School Cardinal Rules, you will not receive any credit on an assignment that is not your own original work.  We encourage you to seek help from your teacher, go to the World Language Learning Center in room 510 Cantor House, consult your textbook, use a bilingual dictionary or use the suggested sites listed below when you need assistance with an assignment:

wordreference.com  (Online Dictionary; Use Conjugator  to look up verb forms.)

Spanishdict.com                     www.leo.com

Larousse.fr                             www.perseus.tufts.edu

Rae.es.com

Aslpro.com (for ASL)

Lifeprint.com (for ASL)