Overview of Machine Translation Development

Abstract

Information is increasingly global, which brings with it the growth in a non-English speaking public and, as such, a demand for tools that allow users to access this information. Faced with this scenario, the development of new tools and technologies is a key element. This is the case of Machine Translation (MT), one of the most popular and used tools to overcome linguistic barriers. As a result, linguistic companies are increasingly offering services related to MT as, in many cases, it is impossible to meet the demand for translations only with human translators. In addition, MT systems can be integrated with other tools and resources such as Translation Memories—databases which store already translated text for future use—or multilingual terminology databases—also known as glossaries—in order to improve the efficacy of the translation process. In this chapter an overview of MT development since its early beginnings in the late 1950s until the present day is proposed. The evolution of MT techniques will be reviewed starting from the traditional approaches—Statistical and Rule-Based MT—and finishing with the latest trends, which include hybrid MT systems, Adaptive MT and Neural MT.