Recent Developments and Future Directions

Abstract

In this chapter we explore some future directions in a number of major areas of translation technology, building on recent developments. We start with developments in two translation ‘types’ that are by now very familiar, namely machine translation systems and computer-aided translation tools, before moving on to systems that incorporate speech technology. Translation tools for minority languages are an increasingly important topic as the demand for translation grows worldwide. This therefore also deserves attention in a chapter focusing on future trends. The increasing multilingualism of the Internet has direct implications for the volume of translation demand as the ‘content’ of web pages needs to be made available to speakers of other languages. The use of web content as a resource for online machine translation systems is also discussed, before the chapter concludes with one of the fastest growing areas of translation today, the localization industry.