How would you say on your answering machine "please leave a message when you hear the tone" in Chinese. Google translate thinks it should be this:
qǐng liúyán, dāng nín tīng dào tíshì yīn
请留言,当您听到提示音
I am wondering if a better translation might be this:
nín tīng dào tíshì yīn de shíhòu, qǐng liúyán
您听到提示音的时候,请留言
please leave a message when you hear the tone

Robert-C7
October 25, 2014

Chance-E
October 30, 2014
After studying the two different translations, I think that the second translation (nín tīng dào tíshì yīn de shíhòu, qǐng liúyán) is the better one.

Robert-C7
October 31, 2014
I am thinking maybe an even better translation might be something that uses an "after" construct.
nín tīng dào tíshì yīn yǐhòu, qǐng liúyán
您听到提示音以后,请留言
In English, it is implied that right after we hear the tone, we are to leave a message.

maha266
November 3, 2014
no clue with Chinese but don't trust google translate in any way :P

Robert-C7
November 3, 2014
Google translate works OK if you give it short expressions with no subordinating clauses. To get what I got from Google, I helped it along by providing this:
When you hear the tone please leave a message
nín tīng dào tíshì yīn de shíhòu, qǐng liúyán
您听到提示音的时候,请留言
If I give it the actual sentence that I want it to translate (please leave a message when you hear the tone), I get this:
Qǐng liúyán, dāng nǐ tīng dào tíshì yīn.
请留言,当你听到提示音。
Here I think Google Translate is trying to force English grammar and sentence structure onto Chinese.

bi-ai-sheng
January 9, 2015
Yea, I wouldn't trust Google either. Most of the time they are way off.