The poet and translator Kenneth Rexroth, one of the central figures in the San Francisco Renaissance, only wrote prose for money. But he did it very well. (way previously) [more inside]
posted by Trurl on Jul 3, 2011 - 8 comments

Google still has a lot of work to do on its translator.
posted by Defenestrator on Dec 5, 2010 - 157 comments

Published speculation first appeared in 1911, although others point to 1945 for its first modern phrasing. It originally looked like a flashlight on Star Trek. In Star Wars, it walked, talked, and was fluent "in over six million forms of communication." Many narratives have just abandoned the idea entirely.
Previous iterations have been quite limited in scope, but now it appears that the first learning, dynamic universal translator has finally arrived. And its futuristic aesthetic has been relegated to fiction in favor of a much more familiar object. [more inside]
posted by hpliferaft on May 23, 2009 - 30 comments

For the past two months, Iraqi interpreters working with US forces have been forbidden from wearing masks. This decision was recently overturned. Ostensibly, this was because the security situation had become better. Some believe instead that this rule was instated to prevent asylum claims. Some think that it reflects traditional army FUBAR decision making. Personally, I think they are becoming more cautious because the back up plan is a piece of junk. [more inside]
posted by marmaduke_yaverland on Dec 6, 2008 - 22 comments

Hussein Translator on CBS Used Fake Accent? I thought this was an amusing tidbit in the also popular "news vs. entertainment" debate.
posted by oissubke on Mar 6, 2003 - 39 comments

The Go.com translator is a pretty good alternative to babelfish. This very site looks pretty good, and I can finally read my favorite spanish-language blog. Is computer power/translation programming advancing enough to enable real-time translation, or will this continue to be the impossible dream? I've always wanted an icq client that would let me chat with a spanish speaker without any lag. Of course, if that were possible, my cell phone would do real time vocal conversions as well. Someday, I guess, someday.
posted by mathowie on Jul 3, 2000 - 7 comments

Metafilter meets Ali G... If you lived in Europe or were familiar with what's "in" there, you'd know about Ali G, well the guys over at Mackers have created "Da Ali G Translator," which is a lot of fun to play with.

Here's a list of some other sites that I tried out.
Blogger
kottke.org
Powazek Productions

posted by riffola on May 6, 2000 - 7 comments