The Debabelizing of the Internet

by Karl-Erik Tallmo

The Internet is not as globally encompassing as we usually like to think. Most people - 特に in the 第三世界 - do not have 接近 to the 逮捕する. 恐らく, two thirds of the world's 全住民 has never even made a telephone call. Then there is this problem of language. As soon as one transcends anglophile areas, one is rather lost, unless 公正に／かなり 技術d in a few other languages. But 広大な／多数の／重要な things happen in small steps. Such a step was taken recently when the search 場所／位置 at Alta Vista 開始する，打ち上げるd their translation service. Together with Systran 科学（工学）技術s they now 申し込む／申し出 解放する／自由な translations from English into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, and German - and 副／悪徳行為 versa. The URL is http://babelfish.altavista.数字表示式の.com/. The 科学（工学）技術 for (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 translation is, of course, still very 原始の, resulting in たびたび（訪れる） misconceptions and strange 言い回しs, yet it is good enough to at least give the reader a hint about a text, that would さもなければ be 事実上 impenetrable.

If we, for instance, try it out with professor Higgins' 悪名高い cockney 指示する人（物） ”The rain in Spain stays おもに in the plain”, the 結果 tells us that in the area in question people would probably say ”La lluvia en España permanece principalmente en el llano”. In Italy one would, によれば Systran, word it as ”La pioggia in Spagna rimane pricipalmente nel normale.” 井戸／弁護士席, homonyms 提起する／ポーズをとる difficulties even for 翻訳家s of flesh and 血. And German 正確, in this わずかに blurred cybernetic 見解／翻訳／版, is of no help: ”Der Regen in Spanien bleibt hauptsächlich in dem normalen”. And a Frenchman, keen on 熟考する／考慮するing the meteorology of his 隣人ing country, might not get much wiser by reading this somewhat melancholy 主張: ”La pluie en Espagne 残り／休憩（する） principalement dans l'ordinaire”. What then might our philological oracle make of the linguistic embellishments of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake? Let's try with the very first 宣告，判決 of the 調書をとる／予約する, which, when it comes 権利 負かす／撃墜する to it, is not terribly polyglot:

riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation 支援する to Howth 城 and 近郊. A French 見解／翻訳／版, によれば Systran: le riverrun, après la veille et Adam's, d'écart de rivage à la courbure du compartiment, nous apporte par un vicus de commodius du recyclage de nouveau au château et aux 近郊 de Howth. And from there 支援する into English: the riverrun, after the day before and Adam's, of variation shore to the curve of the compartment, brings to us again by a vicus of commodius of 再生利用するing to the 城 and around Howth. And then, 直接／まっすぐに into German: das riverrun, nach dem Tag vor und dem Adam's, des Varianteufers zur Kurve des Faches, holt uns wieder durch ein vicus 出身の commodius der Wiederverwertung zum Schloß und um Howth. And 支援する to English once more: riverrun, after the day before and to the Adam's, the 見解／翻訳／版 bank for the curve of the drawer, gets us again by vicus from commodius the 再生利用するing to the lock and around Howth.

Of course, it is 平易な to make fun of all the errors that occur in (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 translation. Still, one must say that this is a step on the way に向かって something bigger. In just a few years we will probably use many different 道具s for reading. In the same way that we today choose our favorite word 過程ing program, we will one day be able to choose between different 肉親，親類d of reading 道具s, which will not only do translations, but also create abstracts, 十分な argumentative 分析 of texts etc. Little by little these 道具s will adapt to us, and we may even be able to 交流 道具s with one another, thus enabling us to read a text through someone else's 注目する，もくろむs, so to speak - sort of like reading a 調書をとる／予約する with someone else's underlinings, but much more fully developed and in our 支配（する）／統制する. The 翻訳家 at Alta Vista can also be 負担d with a URL. Then the Web page in question is filtered through the 翻訳家 and - voilá (voilá, voilá, voilá, voilá) - it is 現在のd in a new language, with all of the links 損なわれていない, only the first 300 words or so but still ... Today you can also buy plug-ins that 直接／まっすぐに translate your electronic correspondence. One of them is the EasyTranslator. TFS Gateway is another, a Swedish brand.

Maybe this could be the beginning of the end to the Babylonic 混乱 of tongues, that is at times all too 目だつ in such an 恐らく 全世界の medium as the Internet. But what does the flip 味方する of the coin look like? Will people stop learning foreign languages, just as pocket calculators almost put en end to the noble art of mental arithmetic? I don't think so. On the contrary, I believe that many people will be 刺激するd to learn more about the languages they in this way suddenly get 予期しない glimpses of. Compare the prevalence of knowledge of English in countries where movies and TV are dubbed as …に反対するd to those where they are subtitled! But what will happen to 概念s like copyright and the 鮮明度／定義 of what 構成するs a work of originality? Perhaps all of this will 構成する 違反s on the moral dimension of copyright, when one person's work is suddenly given a new linguistic 形態／調整. Who then is 責任がある the translation? Is it the person who has ordered the computer program to translate? Or is it the company, who, by 申し込む／申し出ing these 機能（する）／行事s, 成し遂げるs a 肉親，親類d of 本体，大部分／ばら積みの translation service, the 権利s for which せねばならない have been （疑いを）晴らすd? Or could all this be labelled as some 肉親，親類d of reproduction for one's own, fair use?

We might be watching the start of a 傾向, where the reader, with the help of さまざまな text 過程ing 道具s, will ますます become the co-author of the text he or she is reading. Publishers, editors and librarians are presently having to 再編成する their positions in this new cybernetic landscape. Maybe the time has come for the author and the reader to rethink their 役割s 同様に. 公式文書，認める: After this article was written, the people at Systran have 明白に 改善するd the program, 追加するing new words and meanings. The 宣告，判決 above about Spanish rain is now translated as: La lluvia en España permanece principalmente en el llano. La pioggia in Spagna rimane pricipalmente nella pianura. Der Regen in Spanien bleibt hauptsächlich in der Ebene. La pluie en Espagne 残り／休憩（する） principalement dans la plaine. We use the service 解放する／自由な of 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, but all of us 使用者s are probably part of the developing team ... /KET