Google sends translators home, or not?

In December I made fun about the online translation service Babelfish was offering at the time, to the relief of a few friends who make a living in translating. I thought it would take another year before I would give such a service a serious chance.
But today I got an enthusiastic email from Maria Trombly, who advised to have a look at the new online translation service of Google itself. As a picture you see my weblog in Chinese, and when you click here you get the latest update translated.
Compared to the Babelfish efforts, the Google translations actually make some sense, although I must agree with Maria:

it read like a Xinhua news report

And that is not necessarily a compliment. The problem is of course, that when the original does not make any sense in your eyes, a translations is also a problem.
Of the English to Chinese translations, my Chinese colleagues say about 60 percent is correct. The software picks the most commonly used characters, and that is not always the right one. It might be an interesting experiment. The system allows you to suggest corrections and when people start doing so, it might become better over time.
I found it a useful barrier, not being able to read too much Chinese, because when those gates open, I will be lost. Just see what happens.