If i find a great article written in German or French, then i translate it into English by google translate tool , will google think it is duplicate content?
I don't think so but it will think that its sh...t that's for shore. I tried translate some content before it just turns out really bad, you cant even read it. In the original language its good but when google translates it it turns out really horrible. Its like a 2 year old would write an article or a person who knows the language really bad. If you don't know those languages really good I wouldn't suggest to use big G translator.
I would recommend you to avoid using Google Translate for create content purpose. It could help you illustrate the overall content topic only, but the translated one is really bad if use for a website content. German --> English = Nightmare Don't believe it? Try it for a sentence or phrase and you will see.
Google officialy said that translated news, will not be punished, that it's allowed. But like they said, it's really bad translate.