Online translators

The ability to speak more than one language can be an asset in both your personal life and in business. Many people speak more than one language and a select few can speak 10 languages or more. Even if you knew 25 foreign languages it is still only a small percentage of the thousands of languages in the world. With the internet many of us are suddenly connected to each other and the demand for translating foreign languages is higher than ever before. This is where translation software can be a very effective tool by helping to bridge the communication gap quickly. All software is not the same and there are many tools you should look for in a professional translating software in order to get good results.

History of  Online Translators

Many of us have used the small translation box you see on Babel Fish but do you really know the story behind the box? It might surprise you to find out that translation software has been in development since 1957. It all started when Peter Toma, PhD., a linguist and researcher started working on the idea and later became involved in developing an English to Russian translation software (referred to as machine translation in the old days) for the U.S. Air Force.

In 1968, Dr. Toma established a company in California with a product called SYSTRAN, an acronym for System Translation. The company went on to be the leading developer in translation technology for many major corporations and Government agencies.

In 1997 a joint venture was formed between SYSTRAN and AltaVista and the result was BABELFISH, the world's first-ever online translation service. The best feature was the fact it offered translation for free. Something that had never been done before.

Systran is now the largest and most recognized translation software development company in the world

Problems of Online Translation

You can achieve much higher translation accuracy with the software you purchase because you can control the translations. With the additional tools that are included you can set document styles, allow alternate meanings of a word to be displayed and override the default translations. Even if you do not speak the other language, the tools can increase the accuracy.

You will find with the more professional and expensive packages have a larger dictionary and also include advanced tools that give you both control and the ability to train the software. For example, the ability to create dictionaries with your own terminology, building translation memory dictionaries and performing additional analysis of the text before translation can greatly improve the results.