scan A4 doc > pdf > ocr > translate to english?

I've tried using a combination of

my home scanner to create a '300 dpi', 'document', 'pdf' (options on Canon all-in-one)
ZoHoViewer to create either an RTF or TXT file
google docs to translate

I'm not sure how good or bad a product ZoHoViewer is, but the following:

Als Arbeitsmarkbehörde haben wir den gesetzlichen Auftrag, die Vermittelbarkeit von

turns into:

AlsArbeitsmarktbeh6rde habenwirdengesetzlichenAuftrag,dieVermittelbarkeit vonSt...

consequently, goog docs makes a pig's breakfast of trying to translate it.

Does anyone have any better suggestions (preferably free online services)

adolf garlic

Posted 2010-01-18T19:38:21.647

Reputation: 1 618

Since there isn't an "exact" duplicate, I'm leaving this one open. However you should go through the questions I linked, since they will probably offer possible solutions – Ivo Flipse – 2010-01-18T20:10:40.200

In case anyone's interested the translation should be "When labor market authority, we have a statutory mandate, the employability of" - or something along those lines – ChrisF – 2010-01-18T20:34:35.370

correction: "As the labour market authority" ... sounds better :) – None – 2010-01-18T21:32:08.297

@Molly - It was just a copy 'n' paste into Google Translate! – ChrisF – 2010-01-19T12:28:20.157

Answers

Not 100% perfect but the best out of all the things I have tried:

http://www.paperfile.net/ combined with a language pack (free to download instructions in app) copy and paste whole of the text to a google doc, then use the tools > translate in google docs

adolf garlic

Posted 2010-01-18T19:38:21.647

Reputation: 1 618

There have been several other questions on SuperUser on OCR, which might be worth checking out for possible solutions.

Most notably this answer by Molly looks promising:

I really like TopOCR, certainly a great addition to your scan tools:

Incredible OCR accuracy, upto 99.8% with a 3 MP camera

No page limits, and no extra downloads or components needed

Handles images with mixed text and graphics (Manual or Auto Zoning)

Tolerates skew and uneven lighting

Multiple text output formats, including searchable PDF and HTML

Able to read 11 different languages

Powerful, easy to use Image Processing with Image Dewarping

Supports Smartphones: See some Smartphone samples

Includes built-in, full featured Text and Image WYSIWYG Editors

Post-processing spell checker for all 11 languages

Built-in Text-To-Speech software. How about OCR to MP3?

Includes a built-in multi-lingual text translater

Supports a Command Line Interface and a GUI

Make a high performance document Search and Indexing system

Browser Helper Mode supports creating free audio eBooks

With TopOCR's Web Engine it's easy to add new features

it's very accurate and works excellent with low quality images such as photographs of pages/documents

TopOCR is freeware (can be made portable with Universal Extractor)

Further reading:

Which OCR software has the most options?

Practical OCR solution for converting a large book to a digital format?

How to extract text with OCR from a PDF on Linux?

Ivo Flipse

Posted 2010-01-18T19:38:21.647

Reputation: 24 054

Ok I will give it a try. – adolf garlic – 2010-01-22T09:25:27.027

I tried topOCR with another doc and it is useless. Tildas and stuff all over the place [this was from a doc scanned at 600dpi]. Also I am undergoing the pain of switching from windows to mac and topocr is windows only. – adolf garlic – 2010-01-29T16:32:08.127

this "downvoting business" here is getting ridiculous, in fact TopOCR is ideal for this this job as it 'understands' German (and a lot of other languages) and includes a translator. +1 and flagged for moderator attention. – None – 2010-01-18T21:20:43.737

2 Up, 2 down :/ – Sathyajith Bhat – 2010-01-18T23:44:14.700

Looks nice, but I don't really want to have to pull my camera out when I want to scan a doc. I can see how that might be nice if you do not have a scanner or are out and about with your phone though. – adolf garlic – 2010-01-20T13:20:45.467

It means you can also do it on scanned document ;-) – Ivo Flipse – 2010-01-20T13:24:54.663

Given that the OCR has converted:

Als Arbeitsmarkbehörde ...

to:

AlsArbeitsmarktbeh6rde ...

A couple of things spring to mind.

Try scanning at a higher dpi. It looks like it can't recognise the space between the words, a higher dpi might improve that.
Can you set the language of your OCR program? I see that it's converted the "ö" to a "6". While this might be a problem caused by the resolution it might also be that as "ö" isn't an everyday part of English, the program is choosing the "next best" fit - in this case "6".

ChrisF

Posted 2010-01-18T19:38:21.647

Reputation: 39 650

Naah. zamzar is useless at recognising spaces even at 600 dpi, will try another tool for conversion. – adolf garlic – 2010-01-21T09:26:37.600

Good points Chris! – Ivo Flipse – 2010-01-18T21:06:20.867

Have rescanned at 600dpi, am just waiting (forever) for zamzar to send me the converted doc....I guess when it's free you cannot expect too much, but nearly a day!? Too long – adolf garlic – 2010-01-20T13:17:12.683

Now I just checked and it the conversion expired. Starting again. Harumph. – adolf garlic – 2010-01-20T13:18:22.290