Subject: A new project - automatic translation

From: Uri Even-Chen <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 15:12:21 +0200

Hi people,

I am thinking about starting a new open source project related to
automatic translation.  The idea is to create a website and/or software
that will automatically translate texts from one language to another.  I
want the website or software to be able to get feedback from users and
learn from mistakes.  The quality of translation should improve over time.

I would like to get your feedback about this idea:
- Do you think it's a good idea?
- Do you think it can be implemented?
- Do you have any suggestions how to implement it?
- How many people are necessary to implement such an idea?
- Are you interested in being involved?

Personally I think there is a need for such a website or software.
There are existing websites or softwares, but they have three main
disadvantages:

1. Some of them are not free.
2. Most of them support only a few languages.
3. I think all of them should improve the quality of translation.

I want to have a website that support many languages, its usage is free,
and the quality of translation will improve over time.

What do you think?

Best Regards,

Uri Even-Chen
Speedy Net
Raanana, Israel.

E-mail: [email-masked]
Phone: +972-9-7715013
Website: www.uri.co.il
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From: Shlomi Fish <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 16:47:17 +0200

> - Do you think it's a good idea?

It is a good idea. But I don't know how realistic it is. As far as I know, a 
good translation (even between two specific languages - say English and 
French) is AI Complete:

http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/a/AI-complete.html

See for example Joel Spolsky's weblog entry about the quality of the Google 
translation:

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2003/11/30.html

> - Do you think it can be implemented?

Maybe it can, but It would be very hard.

> - Do you have any suggestions how to implement it?

Sorry, no.

> - How many people are necessary to implement such an idea?

One, I suppose.

> - Are you interested in being involved?

No, I'm not. I've got much better things to do. If I want to translate 
something, I'll pay for a professional translator or do the translation 
myself, assuming I can.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish      [email-masked]
Homepage:        http://www.shlomifish.org/

95% of the programmers consider 95% of the code they did not write, in the
bottom 5%.

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From: Uri Even-Chen <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 18:55:27 +0200

Hi Shlomi,

Thanks for your comments.  I will take them into account.  I will also
reply to some comments on the Linux-IL mailing list.

Best Regards,

Uri Even-Chen
Speedy Net
Raanana, Israel.

E-mail: [email-masked]
Phone: +972-9-7715013
Website: www.uri.co.il

Shlomi Fish wrote:
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