I thought it was quite interesting that Google Translate actually searches the internet for the most probable equivalent sentence in the target language. Explains why single words or short phrases are translated quite accurately while sentences or paragraphs often are not (with the exception of popular passages as mentioned.) I actually use Google Translate quite a bit myself to aid with translations. Obviously, I don't paste the entire sentence I'm trying to translate, but rather, singular words are short phrases. Usually I'm able to understand the grammar but lack the vocabulary necessary for translating and so using Google Translate as a one-to-one translator for small fragments works decently well.
I've never really thought about it too much but when translating something you often place the original text on a pedestal. It's easy to forget that the thing you are translating might not have as much depth as you might credit it with, but at the same time the opposite can happen and you don't do the original text enough justice. However, whatever might be the case, it's interesting that Steiner describes both to have merits. It's unrealistic to have a perfect translation all the time and we can take solace in the fact that imperfect translations are still acceptable in their own way.
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