Google Translate in the Office

The potential usefulness of automatic computerized translation was recognized by the very first AI researchers in the 1950s. But it wasn't until new algorithms emerged in the 1980s and 1990s that the field made significant progress. Now, translation tools of great sophistication are playing a growing role in both everyday office use and for specialized fields, as the economy becomes increasingly globalized and companies sell products and services in multiple markets. The poster child for computer translation is Google Translate, the easy-to-use, general purpose Web-based translation engine that can handle nearly 60 languages. Google's Translate has the same 800-pound gorilla status in its world that the company's namesake product does in search.