Machine translation sometimes abbreviated as MT, uses computer software to translate text or speech. At its basic level, MT simply substitutes the words of one language for words of another.

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……. ……The easiest texts for a computer to translate are not what most people would call simple language, but the contrary: the highly rational language of technology and of some sciences where words are mostly internationally defined and there is nothing personal about them. For computers the personal elements are impossible to get right.

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…… In other words, if you call home to talk to your mom, a machine translation could likely not make sense of your words.

If on the contrary you called your company’s computer geek to report on some Windows Vista issue, the machine translation might come out almost perfect and would anyway greatly reduce the work of the human translator.

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Here is an example of a machine translated  message from a blog about a trip to the desert:

“And how many kilos of sunscreen that you had no use for achicharrarte? These trips were milk, sorry I have not made any. I’m too short for these things.”

………………………………………………………¿ cuántos quilos de crema solar has tenido que usar para no achicharrarte? Estos viajes son la leche, lástima que yo aún no haya hecho ninguno. Soy demasiado cortada para estas cosas.

Meaning: How many kilos of suncream did you have to use to avoid getting sun burnt?  Those trips are  fantastic,  pity I have not yet taken one. I am not sharp enough for those things.

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However, the idea of machine translation is much older than any of these computers : in the 17th century René Descartes proposed a universal language where equivalents in different languages share a single symbol.

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