A translation invariably reflects the writing style of the translator.

its C --- MY reasoning :

C is taking about the style difference among computer programs ...that is irrelevant as one document is converted by only one computer program that will create a consistent doc.....

IMO C
As option c talks about the computer's writing style which is irrelevant because a long document is fully translated by a single computer, so the document would not have any difference in the translation .

nightblade354 eakabuah
Well, i am having a bad day.
As per my understanding the problem discussed was that a long document when translated was not uniform in style, but when the same was translated by a computer program it was uniform in style, but the document now has some accuracy issues. So the argument must be assuming that Uniformity matters over Accuracy or that the accuracy of translation is same when translated by either of the two, in order to draw conculsion: "Therefore, when a long document needs to be translated quickly, it is better to use a computer translation program than human translators.". Isn't option E brings into play the assumption which if stated strengthens the argument.

deveshj21, we are trying to find the item that LEAST helps our cause. Your explanation shows that you understand that (E) helps in a tremendous way, so there is no way it can be our answer.

nightblade354
Kill me seriously kill me, I misread the question particularly "LEAST". Thankyou for making me notice.

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Hi! In this question though I know that C is correct answer, but I wasn't able to eliminate B. Because in the passage it is already mentioned that computers translate with an 80% accuracy rate. So, that would already cover the grammar and meaning error. Please tell what am I missing. AndrewN IanStewart DmitryFarber

First, C is clearly irrelevant here, while B talks about something that might be relevant (accuracy), so C will be the right answer -- in a test situation, you wouldn't want to spend any time working out why B is wrong.

Answer B is a bit strange, for the reason you mention. I don't think you'd see a similar answer choice on the GMAT, because B seems to bring a premise into question, and I can't think of any GMAT questions that tread close to that line. It is, however, reasonable to wonder what that "80% accuracy" figure means, since, as the stem says, translation is a very complex task. What is the numerator and what is the denominator? If the author of the argument arrived at the 80% figure by one method (counting spelling mistakes per word, say), but there are many other methods you could use (grammar mistakes per sentence, say, or meaning errors per paragraph), there might not be a reasonable way to measure accuracy numerically. That's how I read answer B -- even reading the stem, the possibility is still open that accuracy can't correctly be numerically compared, and it would be useful to know if that's possible. There might be a better way to think about it, but in any event, if we learned we can't compare translators numerically, the 80% figure in the stem becomes meaningless, so we have less evidence that computer translators are competent. So B certainly matters.

On a side note, I find the argument bizarre: an 80% accuracy rate in translation sounds hopelessly bad to me, but the author of the stem seems to want us to think it's very good.

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