8 ms·
Because going between any two languages is a separate task. Unless you have a universal language that contains every linguistic feature everywhere and can achie
by anonymous 14y ago
Because going between any two languages is a separate task. Unless you have a universal language that contains every linguistic feature everywhere and can achieve lossless transition, using X->Y and X->Z to make Y->Z will introduce an unacceptable level of error. English is not a universal language.
- pseingatl 14y agoIn the 80's the Wang corporation (of Wang wordprocessing fame) was working on using Aymara as such a bridge language. I don't know what happened to the project.
- elisehein 14y agoMy Natural Language Systems professor just went through that topic yesterday -- that in the case of all machine translation applications, the ultimate goal is to get as high up in a 'natural language pyramid' where the tip is a single universal language. So we get the most use out of elements of any two given languages that have as much in common with each other as possible; these common elements could then be applied to other similar languages. Interestingly, he also proposed that the closest thing we have right now to that 'tip' language is sanskrit.