Additionally, some articles have vastly more information in foreign language pages. If you aren't finding the information you need, it might pay to use a web translator (such as google's) to read the alternate page.
For instance, look at the amount of information on the French page vs the English page for the city of Tours, France:
French page: [fr.wikipedia.org]
English page: [en.wikipedia.org]
I've found this can be very helpful in certain situations.

ACF

I use this for years and it's really useful. But I prefer wordreference.com which give a lot of alternative translations.

Bloodshed

I also use this trick, especially for very specific words (like name of plants, or animals), and it works for very specific languages.
The other day, I used it, to find Safflower in Polish (Krokosz barwierski). I don't know how I would have done without.

nicoco

this works MOST of the time but dialectical differences can be a road-block.

nodoubt9203

That is a pretty handy technique for more complex things (and the foreign names of films and books), but automatic translators are the work of the devil.

Even though I've never had a Spanish lesson in my life, I can usually make more sense of the original Spanish text thanks to the French I know than the rubbish online translators spit out.

How does anyone get any use out of them? If I were Mr. Google, I'd be ashamed having that thing on my website.

If you do need to translate a lot, there's no substitute for the thickest dictionary you can afford (or the equivalent digital version). Free, online services just don't offer the detail and context of a proper dictionary.

*hugs his Collins*

owf

If all else fails, use google image.

waltwang

My teacher's friend said to her boyfriend in Spanish: "I'm so pregnant!" when she meant "I'm so embarrassed".

nintendude

For complex ideas or phrases which can't be found in dictionaries, especially European treaties and historical events as well as all important English place names (eg. can't remember where the Germans mean by Danzig?) for your MHRA formatted bibliography wikipedia is a lifesaver, and as my amazing tutor regularly says, he's not a wiki snob!

I second wordreference.com for french, it has a lot of words. For German you really really can't go wrong with dict.leo.org, it's associated with one of Germany's big TUs, but I can't remember which.

I stll can't really fault the (rather heavy real-world book) combination of my Oxford/Hachette and Oxford/Duden and a compact Larousse and Duden Universalwörterbuch (although, I'm considering getting a Klett too because the duden's is no good for definitions, just context) for French and German at degree level.

And I leave you with my favourite Google-translate phrase, for the French learners out there: Je comme à montre football allumettes à le weekend - truly inspired!

blackheart-uk

Today a friend of mine and me put together a quick & dirty version of an interwiki translator:
[translate.boxxed.net]
If you want to, give it a try!
Feedback appreciated :-)

micheee