In order to prepare for the Machine Translation Seminar on April 19th, there are two small tasks for everybody to do. The first is a simple (and not too long and boring) reading assignment, and the second is a lab of sorts.

First, everybody should read Why Can't a Computer Translate More Like a Person? which can be found at http://www.ttt.org/theory/barker.html. For those especially industries individuals, there is more interesting information to be found exploring the Translation, Theory & Technology (ttt.org) Homepage.

The second task might actually take some effort. Everybody should search the Internet and find a website that translates entered text . Some sites are Japanese-friendly and those who are in need of an ego boost might want to see what a Japanese/English site can do with a portion of their selected text. Then, try entering some English text and translate it into another language (an unfamiliar one). Then, using the same or a different site, translate it back into English and see if it is comprehendable. Some phrases to try could include:

Time flies like an arrow.

We eat what we can and can what we can't.

A little change brings about change.

"Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink.
Water, water everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink."
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
-Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky

Since some people have a life and don't like spending time looking for things on the Internet, below are provided some links to sites that do translations.

http://www.freetranslation.com/
http://www.tranexp.com:2000/InterTran?
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate?
http://www.alis.com/cgi-bin/transdemo.pl
http://www.worldblaze.com/text_version/text/index.html
http://translator.go.com/
http://www.pinksoftware.com/trans/
http://www.lec.com/demo/frame.html
http://www.translate.ru/eng/
http://dic.ke3.ecs.toyama-u.ac.jp/dic/JtoE/
http://dic.ke3.ecs.toyama-u.ac.jp/dic/EtoJ/

Questions? E-mail me at bakchoy@wcox.com.