Scientists are working on a number of ways to allow for real-time computer translation of spoken languages.

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"Computer translation is getting better all the time but it is still hit and miss, " said Rory Mulholland, a Paris correspondent for Agence France-Presse and translator of several novels from French into English.

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But all of this translation talk is also generating discussion about the weaknesses of current computer-translation technology.

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Proven experience of computer-assisted translation and terminology (CATT) tools and language technologies management in a multilingual environment.

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The announcement led to bold claims about the imminence of computer-aided translation.

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Translation: If you're willing to plunk down a few bones on a new computer at Best Buy next year, you're going to get something better, for less, than you could before.

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That, says Mahendra Negi, chief financial officer of Trend Micro, a Tokyo-based computer-virus company, is bound to be a low-margin business, as all it really involves is translation from English into Japanese.

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