I don't necessarily agree that it's a system to avoid... It's a system that *might* yield some decent results (and it certainly keeps giving ME good results..) if used in moderation. If all you do is creating spammy autoblogs 100% out of translated (or multi-translated) posts, it's very likely your bounce rate is gonna skyrocket. And that's it.
Conversely if you mix a few original, well spun articles with translated content, you'll almost certainly have a solid method to get more bang for the buck. As I said, it certainly keeps working for me. HTH.