Technology Glitch

Google translator sounded like an amazing tool for educators who deal with any kind of language barrier. So I started using it to communicate with one of the families in my girls scout troop. I thought it was great until today. I found out the parents were having such a hard time reading the Spanish words because it was not translating the grammar. So it turned into this big hoopla and in the end I have to stop using it and go back to finding someone who can translate it for me. Does anyone have a successful translator out there that has used it and does actually work? I feel humiliated because I put my trust into Google and they let me down.