Spicing up the information soup: Machine translation and the internet

Abstract

The Internet is rapidly changing the face of business and dramatically transforming people’s working and private lives. These developments present both a challenge and an opportunity to many technologies, one of the most important being Machine Translation. The Internet will soon be the most important medium for offering and finding information, and one of the principle means of communication for both companies and private users. There are many players on the Internet scene, each with different needs. Some players require help in presenting their information to an international audience, others require help in finding the information they seek and, because the Internet is increasingly multilingual, help in understanding that which they find. This paper attempts to identify the players and their needs, and outlines the products and services with which Machine Translation can help them to fully participate in the Internet revolution.