Date:    Mon, 9 Feb 1998 13:08:46 EST
<br>From:    Allan Metcalf  AAllan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM 
<br>Subject: Automatic translation
<br>
<br>This was posted recently on the discussion list for administrators of ACLS
<br>societies. (Yes, there's a list for everything!) It's news to me . . . and
<br>maybe news to some others on ADS-L. - Allan Metcalf
<br>
<br>                               
<br>I have recently
<br>learned of an interesting website developed by Digital that offers instant
<br>translations between English and German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and
<br>Spanish. By putting a link on your homepage to that site, users can have
<br>your pages and all hyperlinks in your site translated into one of these
<br>languages.
<br>
<br>Go to http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate? and type in
<br>the URL for you homepage and select a language into which you would like it
<br>translated. Follow the hyperlinks in your pages to see them translated as
<br>well. Graphics are unchanged but all text is translated.
<br>
<br>The site works the other way as well. Should you know of a website in one
<br>of these languages you would like translated, simply insert the URL and ask
<br>that it be in English.
<br>
<br>Obviously, there will be the inaccuracies (and perhaps humorous
<br>consequences) that are present in computer translations, but until
<br>StarTrek's universal translator badge comes to market, this is the next
<br>best thing.  It offers great promise for international communication
<br>through the internet. I'm sure many of you will want to bookmark the
<br>altavista site, if not link your pages to it as well.
<br>
<br>Ron Pipkin
<br>Law and Society Association
<br>                                    
<br>