At a foreign investors' conference there last month, a senior government figure, Peter Ziga, addressed a roomful of bewildered foreign executives in Slovak, without translation.

ECONOMIST: Central and eastern Europe

For many centuries, even millennia, the world got by without translation: the people of different nations simply learned enough of the next door language to communicate adequately.

ECONOMIST: Shape-shifting

Without accurate, real-time translation, the Internet will fall short of its potential to be the first universal communications medium.

ECONOMIST: Can machines talk? From next month they will

Translation: Go ahead and use it outdoors on a bright, sunny day without needing to squint or strain to see your screen.

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