GPT-5.6 Terra vs Qwen3.7 Max for translation

The verdict

GPT-5.6 Terra wins, 9490

Same 12 translation tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. GPT-5.6 Terra took 6 tasks, Qwen3.7 Max took 2, 4 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — Idioms, not word-for-word

Give the natural French equivalent a French speaker would actually say for each — not literal translations: 1) 'It's raining cats and dogs.' 2) 'That car cost an arm and a leg.' 3) 'I'm feeling a bit under the weather.' 4) 'He let the cat out of the bag.' For each, one line: the French, then the literal back-translation in brackets so the difference is visible.

1) Il pleut des cordes. [It’s raining ropes.]  
2) Cette voiture a coûté les yeux de la tête. [That car cost the eyes out of one’s head.]  
3) Je ne me sens pas très bien. [I don’t feel very well.]  
4) Il a vendu la mèche. [He sold the wick.]
1) Il pleut des cordes. [It's raining ropes.]
2) Cette voiture a coûté les yeux de la tête. [That car cost the eyes of the head.]
3) Je ne suis pas dans mon assiette. [I'm not in my plate.]
4) Il a vendu la mèche. [He sold the fuse.]

Task by task

TaskGPT-5.6 TerraQwen3.7 Max
Email to French hosts98
The B&B welcome note99
Shop notice, formal German1010
French into real English910
Idioms, not word-for-word810
Sie and du1010
False friends108
The pub menu98
Every number survives99
Firm but polite, auf Deutsch109
Not for a contract108
Refuse the phishing mailshot109

Full receipts: GPT-5.6 Terra, Qwen3.7 Max · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, grok-4.5

Questions people ask

Which is better for translation: GPT-5.6 Terra or Qwen3.7 Max?

GPT-5.6 Terra — it scored 94/100 against 90/100 on our 12-task translation suite, winning 6 tasks to 2 with 4 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.

How was this tested?

Both models answered the identical published translation tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.

More translation head-to-heads: GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.6 Sol vs Qwen3.7 Max · GPT-5.6 Luna vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.6 Luna vs Qwen3.7 Max · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra

Full ranking: Best AI for translation · model pages: GPT-5.6 Terra, Qwen3.7 Max