As I mentioned, each week a million people use Google Translate, Bing and other similar tools. It's a way of life.
My mother often used to call me to say:
“Could you google this for me? Would you help me?”
Now this is a tool that she can use. She talks with her friends in other languages. People are using it every day now, even at work.
We decided that, at the translation bureau, we had an obligation. We are the official languages experts and we very often receive comments and questions from departments seeking to use certain tools better, like machine translation. They want to know how to use them in order to improve their understanding.
For us, it was an obligation. We are responsible for coming up with a way of creating a tool and the goal is not to replace professional translators.
My Treasury Board colleagues began to discuss the official languages champions with you. That is one of the hats I wear too. I am the co-chair of the Council of the Network of Official Languages Champions. Before launching the tool, we decided to bring each champion in each department and each government agency completely on board, to work closely with them and to seize the opportunity to spread awareness.
The launch is also being done using education, awareness and communication. We are very clear in stating the risks and the consequences if people send something out without running it by a professional translator.