Machine Translation (MT) is both an engineering technology and a measure of all things to do with languages and computers-whenever a new theory of language or linguistics is offered, an important criteria for its success is whether or not it will improve machine translation.
This book presents a history of machine translation (MT) from the point of view of a major writer and innovator in the subject. It describes and contrasts a range of approaches to the challenges and problems of this remarkable technology by means of a combination of historic papers along with commentaries to update their significance, both at the time of their writing and now. This volume chronicles the evolution of conflicting approaches to MT towards a somewhat skeptical consensus on future progress. Also included is a discussion of the most recent developments in the field and prospects for the future, which have been much changed by the arrival of the World Wide Web.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
From the reviews:
"Yorick Wilks, one of the most famous MT researchers, gives an interesting overview of the past, present, and future of MT; thus, the reader learns about the scope and limits of MT, justifying the subtitle of the book. . It could be useful to anyone working in the translation business and in NLP. Translators will learn about the historical context of MT, which will make it easier to understand its scope and limitations . . In conclusion, I do recommend this book." (K. Waldhör, ACM Computing Reviews, June, 2009)
"This book presents the author's views and the culmination of his research in the field over the course of this period using his own previously published articles as a kind of roadmap through history, with additional afterwords supplementing most chapters bringing previous work into a more modern context. . if you are looking to skim a stone through MT's history dipping into the extensive related work of this seasoned author, this book makes for an interesting and enjoyable read." (Sara Morrissey, Machine Translation, Vol. 23, 2009)
