And, according to Technology Review, he s not likely to find any success for a long, long time. Star Trek may make it look easy, but in fact translating is one of the most difficult chores a computer can attempt. The barriers are formidable. In the first place, each language contains hundreds of thousands of words. This is the easy part.
Computers are expert at handling massive memorization chores.
But many of the words in any language can have multiple meanings, with context as an always-important factor. Add idioms and slang, with words and phrases changing almost daily, and the poor computer is fighting a losing battle. Even human translators can be stumped if they are out of contact with the language for even a short time. Using a database of past translations corrected by human translators can be a major help. If a particular source has used a phrase in the past to carry a certain meaning, the computer can assume it means the same thing the next time.