An ode to modern translation technology.  Did you ever wonder how the universal translator in Star Trek would actually work? How could a machine take every language and translate it in perfect idiomatic American English?

This sort of translation is no longer entirely science fiction. You have probably used machine translation on your social media feeds or to understand a foreign website and you may have even used Microsoft or Google’s voice translation. You may have even noticed how much better machine translation has gotten in recent years. Have you ever wondered what’s been happening and what’s behind the development? How did machine translation develop and how has it gone from comically clunky to pretty good in the space of a couple years?

Grab a cup of tea and let’s take a look!