Long, drawn-out processes won’t do you much good when you’re on a deadline. And when you’re working internationally, the same rules apply. Yahoo!’s Babel Fish is a translation module that can help you make quick translations when pressed for time. Babel Fish first came on the online translation scene in 1997. It was originally Alta Vista’s creation and was cutting-edge at the time. Since then, the module really hasn’t changed much. Enter in a block of text, select the “from” and “to” languages, click “translate” and you’re done.
Babel Fish uses machine translation, or MT. MT is technology that performs a simple substitution of words in one language for words in another. It doesn’t account for anomalies, common phrases or other nuances. Since Babel Fish falls in line with the MT format, its translations aren’t always accurate. Yahoo! knows the module isn’t perfect, but for simple, informal translations, basic subject matter is passed over. Thus, Babel Fish is still a useful tool for business professionals who need rapid translations with minimal effort.
One pleasantly-surprising feature of the tool is its Web page translation. If you want to stay in tune with regional news about another country, you can translate various foreign news sites into your own language. You can also compare a translated Web page with the original in order to double-check for accuracy.