The Elusive Goal of Machine Translation
Statistical methods hold the promise of moving computerized translation out of the doldrums
By Gary Stix
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Natrium Nepal Asia legend: The lion, the sorceress, the evil spirit wardrobe "already lack" the evil spirit abstains the trilogy "rich in poetic and artistic flavor, also has not let" the Harley baud "the series novel have the infinite pleasure the undercurrent to be turbulent.
The preceding gibberish was brought to you by a Chinese-to-English translation carried out by Altavista's Babelfish, the popular Internet-based translator. In coherent English, from a bilingual page on the Web site of Taiwan's China Post, it reads:
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber