You have math homework that you need to understand, history you need to memorize and science theories to analyze, but where does that leave your Spanish essay? Like you’re going to be the one to write it. Your old pal wordreference.com has some homework of its own tonight.

Translating websites offer the ability to enter words in any language and have them translated into any other language you desire, making it possible to translate single words, whole paragraphs or stories. These are seen as easy ways out of doing essays, projects, and even homework, but do the risks of this tool outweigh the benefits?

“Plugging in sentences into translation websites constitutes [as] cheating,” French teacher Bharati Umarji said.

Not only are students breaking the CHS honor code by cheating, but they are adding more work to their load. If the student gets caught using a translator, he or she may receive a zero, causing his or her grade to go down drastically. Or, if the teacher even allows the students to have a second chance, the assignment must be completed under supervision.

“[A student who used a translator would] have to rewrite [it] in front of [a] teacher or receive a zero,” Spanish teacher Stacye Steele-Yue said.

Still, these harsh punishments do not stop some students from using translators, even when the repercussions are as serious as dropping a letter grade or losing a teacher’s trust.

“[If I caught a student using a translator] I’d express my disappointment,” Spanish teacher Robert Roos said.

The problem most students run into when they use a translator is using verbs and vocabulary they have not learned yet.

“One time my teacher questioned if I did [the work] because there were complex words and verb tenses we hadn’t learned yet,” Ronke Obayomi said.

Verb conjugations that come from translators raise the suspicion of teachers, either by the way they are conjugated or the tenses used.

“The grammar concepts that are used by translators are quite often concepts that I’ve never taught [students],” Roos said.

Some students are now so advanced in a foreign language that they can tell when the translations seem a little suspicious.

Senior Geoffrey Wang has been taking French for six years and notices the lack of proper sentence structure translators produce.

“Translated French is very obvious, [so] I don’t use any translators,” Wang said.

Wang notes that translators are unable to translate idioms which are expressions that cannot be translated literally.

If translators are so burdensome to use, why do students continue to utilize these websites that are not accurate?

“I need[ed] [translators sometimes] in order to get a second opinion to make sure I was correct,” junior Despina Costalas said.

But even just as a reference, Costales realized, “in the end it wasn’t worth it.” Translators are not proper sources and their accuracy is often questionable.

A common reason teachers feel students use translators is because they do not want to dedicate their time and effort to do the actual work.

“[The students who use translators are] lazy with a capital ‘L,’” Steele-Yue said.

Students will always find constant ways to dodge work. The only positive out of using translators is that students are learning the language better over years and they are now able to notice the unreliability of translators.