How Do You
Say...
Translation software is at last good enough to help
companies do business in other languages
By PETER LOFTUS
October 22, 2007; Page R5
Thanks to
the Internet, companies can leap over most geographical
barriers to conduct business globally. But language barriers
remain a tough hurdle.
Increasingly, though, translation software is making it
easier to do business in other languages. While computer
translation isn't perfect -- human input is still needed to
ensure complete accuracy -- the latest programs are faster
and more accurate than earlier generations of translation
tools.
That's
helping businesses decipher foreign-language Web pages, news
reports and documents, translate company communications for
foreign workers and reach customers around the world in
their own languages.
'Saving a Lot'
Ford Motor Company...uses software
from Applications Technology Inc., of McLean, Va., for
translations from English to Turkish. Nestor Rychtyckyj, a
Ford technical specialist in artificial intelligence, says
that while machine translation still isn't 100% accurate, it
has improved over the years and is good enough to convey the
substance of instructions to foreign workers.
"Machine
translation just makes the process more efficient" than it
would be using human translators alone, Mr. Rychtyckyj says.
"We're saving a lot of time and effort."
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