Translation Tools Could Save Less-Used Languages (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Translation Tools Could Save Less-Used Languages

Languages that aren't used online risk being left behind. New translation
technology from Google and Microsoft could help them catch up.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012
BY TOM SIMONITE
US

Sometimes you may feel like there's nothing worth reading on the Web, but
at least there's plenty of material you can read and understand. Millions
of people around the world, in contrast, speak languages that are still
barely represented online, despite widespread Internet access and improving
translation technology.

Web giants Microsoft and Google are trying to change that with new
translation technology aimed at languages that are being left behind—or
perhaps even being actively killed off—by the Web. Although both companies
have worked on translation technology for years, they have, until now,
focused on such major languages of international trade as English, Spanish,
and Chinese.

Microsoft and Google's existing translation tools, which are free, are a
triumph of big data. Instead of learning as a human translator would, by
studying the rules of different languages, a translation tool's algorithms
learn how to translate one language into another by statistically comparing
thousands or millions of online documents that have been translated by
humans.

Access full article below:
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428093/translation-tools-could-save-less-used-languages/
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