Pretty soon language will no longer be a barrier that keeps humanity separated. TheInternet has become the ultimate medium for communication amongsthumans. When it first began, websites were predominantly written inEnglish, but over time all the major languages in the world have voicedthemselves to their fellow tongued colleagues and brethren. There is anew technology on the Internet that although in its early development,could revolutionalize communication on our planet: Universaltranslation software.
If you've read 'Hitchhiker's Guide tothe Galaxy' you'll recall the science-fiction idea of the Babel fish.You take a small fish and put it in your ear and then automatically youcan understand any language in the whole Universe in your own tongue.Pretty unbelievable stuff huh! But now on the Web there are numeroussites that are turning this dream into a reality. One of the main sitesis http://world.altavista.com/tr where they actually call their service'Babel fish Translation.'
There are two main options on this site that you can try out for free. The first is to insert 500 words ata time in your native language, choose the language you want tointerpret to, and push the 'translate' button. For example, say you'vemet a French person through a website dedicated to healthy living andyou want to send them your recipe for Grandma's famous vegetarian soup,but you speak English. Just push the English-French option, paste therecipe in, and in a few seconds, wow, it's right in front of you readyto send in French! Now don't get me wrong, this concept is in itsinfancy so the language is far from a perfect grammaticalinterpretation, however it will definitely get the main ideas across tothis person who otherwise you wouldn't have been able to communicatewith.
If you were in the same town or city you could use body language,or see each other a webcam, but I think it would look a little strangewatching someone miming out the actions of how to chop up a carrot! Thesecond option is for translating a whole website. Say you've got awebsite for your e-commerce business exporting a new kind of deodorant,but in this instance you are a French person (a country known for itsfine scents) and you would like to enter the Japanese online market asyou are well aware that they have a strong stigma against body odor.Well, just click on French-Japanese, put in your Web address, and in afew seconds, bang, the whole site has been interpreted into Japanese.You can then add a Ja/ at the end of your address thus making a wholenew website just for Japanese speaking people. To do this you may haveto download a Japanese language pack from your computer but thatshouldn't be much of a problem.
Some people may complain thatyour language is bad, or get some misinterpretations of ideas becauseof the newness of this technology, but I do think it can be veryuseful. You can have some contact with people and information thatotherwise may have been totally impossible before. When the concept isevolved further, as is the case with all worthwhile technologicaladditions to human society, I believe the results will be spectacular. Imagineanyone and everyone being able to connect and read each other's ideasand information. Humanity could reach a level of understanding andappreciation of each other's differences that then could have hugeeffects that resound across perceived boundaries bringing everyone muchcloser together. Hey, maybe one day we could all realize that we areall human beings, all individuals, and all from the same place: Earth.
