Author won Antonio Zampolli prize for outstanding contributions to the language technology. Comprehensive look at MT technology from the perspective of a participant in its history and development. Details the deep differences and struggles between rival groups on how best to do MT. Considers MT as a fundamental part of Artificial Intelligence and the ultimate test-bed for all computational linguistics.

Machine Translation (MT) is both an engineering technology and a measure of all things to do with languages and computers—whenever a new theory of language or linguistics is offered, an important criteria for its success is whether or not it will improve machine translation.

This book presents a history of machine translation (MT) from the point of view of a major writer and innovator in the subject. It describes and contrasts a range of approaches to the challenges and problems of this remarkable technology by means of a combination of historic papers along with commentaries to update their significance, both at the time of their writing and now. This volume chronicles the evolution of conflicting approaches to MT towards a somewhat skeptical consensus on future progress. Also included is a discussion of the most recent developments in the field and prospects for the future, which have been much changed by the arrival of the World Wide Web.