I use www.translate.ru quite often when I see something on a Russian Web site I’m interested in translating. I’ve found it to be about as good as others, though more helpful for single words or short phrases than full passages.

One Russophile blogger, however, found that political correctness has found its way even into translation programs in Russia. He asked the program to translate “Our cat gave birth to three kittens — two whites and one black.” The translator responded with:

Наш кот родил трех котят – двух белых и одного афроамериканца

For those who don’t read Russian, that translates as: “Our cat gave birth to three kittens — two white and one African-American.”