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Machine Translation

The perfect translation system, be it a human or machine, does not exist. Moreover, a well-trained human translator is still produces better material than the most expensive, specially trained computer-based translation system. However, the gap between the two is narrowing, and so the question becomes whether or not machine translation equivalent to what an expert human translator can produce is in principle possible.

This question is not often asked, except in certain research laboratories and amongst philosophers of artificial intelligence. This question might seem pointless, or impossible to answer. But given that developing MT systems will involve hundreds or thousands of people working for years or perhaps even decades and spending billions of dollars in the process, a little theory seems like a good idea.

The arguments against machine translation state that language is too subtle and complex for a computer to understand and translate. There are just too many variables to consider in any given sentence. Linguistic communication relies too heavily on deep context and real-world knowledge to be handled by a computer. Computers will never be fast enough or powerful enough to deal with the immense requirements of language translation. Computers will have to understand what they read in order to translate, and therefore will have to be sentient themselves, in some fashion similar to what we humans experience as self-awareness. And perhaps the most fundamental argument against machine translation lies is the claim that the human brain is capable of actions and behaviors that cannot be reduced to algorithms.

However, there is an argument for machine translation being possible in theory. It is sufficiently powerful and compelling to obviate all the above arguments. In simple terms, the argument for machine translation goes like this: "If that three-pound piece of meat in your head can do it, why not a hunk of technology?" In essence, the proof for machine translation being possible in principle is sitting in every translator's head. That three-pound pulpy grayish mass that we call the brain allows a translator to translate. A brain is an organic machine consisting of roughly one-hundred billion cells, neurons and glial cells, each with a multitude of connections to other neurons, communicating chemically with each other through synapses whose activities are modulated by neurotransmitters. Regardless of how little is actually understood about the brain, and regardless of the obvious deficiencies of my description above, the brain remains a finite object, its individual neurons can assume only two states (firing or not firing), and there is no research or even theory that suggests the brain cannot be modeled algorithmically. As such, the brain can be considered a machine, or if you prefer a less mechanistic metaphor, a piece of organic technology, which can be understood and reproduced. Therefore, a computer that translates as well as a human translator is in principle possible.

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Although theory is important, what can actually be done in the real world is ultimately what matters. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, machine translation is only viable for certain uses with certain types of material in certain language pairs. Although a handful of companies around the world actively create and market machine translation software, it is worth noting that Microsoft and the other major players are staying away, suggesting that the technology is just not mature enough.

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