What is Machine translation?
'''Machine translation''', sometimes referred to by the [[acronym]] '''MT''', is part of [[computational linguistics]]. It is the use of computer [[software]] to [[translation|translate]] text or speech from one natural [[language]] to another. At its basic level, MT changes words words in one natural language for words in another. That is [[literal translation]]. Present machine translation software adapts the translation to the subject. For example, [[meteorology|weather reports]] improve output by limiting the substitutions. This technique is very effective in domains where specialised [[formal language]] is used. It follows then that machine translation of government and legal documents more often produces usable output than [[conversation]] or less standardised text. == Quotes == In the words of the [[European Association for Machine Translation]] (EAMT): {{cquote|Machine translation (MT) is the application of computers to the task of translating texts from one natural language to another. One of the very earliest pursuits in computer science, MT has proved to be an elusive goal, but today a number of systems are available which produce output which, if not perfect, is of sufficient quality to be useful in a number of specific domains.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eamt.org/mt.php |title=European Association for Machine Translation — What is Machine Translation? |access-date=2018-04-24 |archive-date=2018-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502155655/http://www.eamt.org/mt.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> (1997)}} == History == The origins of machine translation can be traced back to the work of [[Al-Kindi]], a ninth-century Arabic [[cryptographer]]. He developed techniques for systemic language translation. He was aware of [[cryptanalysis]], [[frequency analysis]], [[probability]] and [[statistics]], which are all used in modern machine translation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DuPont |first=Quinn |date=January 2018 |title=The Cryptological Origins of Machine Translation: From al-Kindi to Weaver |