The New York Times has a story that highlights how Google translate has improved dramatically in the past few years. I’ve mentioned this in passing several times and this article explains how Google’s computing power has made it possible. In turn, it has made finding out what’s going on in the Handball world significantly easier. As little as a year ago translating an article from Arabic or Danish was either a time consuming process or impossible. Now, it can be done with a click of a button. While automatic translation can’t yet substitute for a human translation by a native speaker, it’s surely the next best thing.

New York Times (9 Mar 10): Google’s Computing Power Refines Translation Tool: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/technology/09translate.html?hpw

New York Times (9 Mar 10): Putting Google to the Test in Translation: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/09/technology/20100309-translate.html?ref=technology