It has been suggested by the continuing evolution of computer power that operations of the high-level automated translation systems would be working in the near future. Moore’s Law has been the bases of this assessment, which is related to the computer power’s doubling that takes place after every eighteen months. It has already been announced by the IBM that by the year 2005, an operational teraflop supercomputer would be operational in the IBM. In the result, the capabilities of the human mind would be approached by this supercomputer, which will result in true artificial intelligence.
Finance is another important reason for the optimism. For instance, machine translation is getting the investments from the corporations, as the profitable future of the SATS has been realized b the powerhouses like Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Siemens, and Philips. At present, а $1. 3 billion annual volume of sales has been indicated in the voice-recognition and artificial-speech industry alone. The wireless age of the cyberspace is very much responsible for this economic potential of the industry.
In this regard, extremely mobility would be found in the SATS, by which functionality would be available in anywhere in the world. Moreover, the possible uses and economic potential of SATS have been further increased by the growing miniaturization of computers. Finally, impossible levels would be used by the local SATS by the instantaneous interconnectivity of networks. In the future, automated translation systems would be found in all the computers, as well as, all forms of media.
SATS would be also found in the entire global phone system, as a major carrier of mass infomedia and person-to-person data have enabled the doubling of the abovementioned phone system. Own language would be received by anyone, by whom video would be watched, radio would be listened, and information would be downloaded from the internet. The translation would be seamlessly done by the rooted SATS. For instance, voice activation would be enabled in every place, and native tongue of a user would just be required for the understanding of the message by the SATS, even in a foreign or remote land of the world.
For interpersonal communication, the respective languages of the caller, as well as, the recipient would be used for the translation of conversations by the phone system. In this regard, first words of the speakers would be used for the understanding of the languages. In addition, SATS can be linked with the help of a miniature cellular phone, in order to enable face-to-face conversation between people with different languages. Moreover, eyeglasses or contact lens of a person would be built in with the SATS for the reading of billboards, window displays, and street signs.
For instance, ‘5 miles to Paris’ would be read by an American eyepiece, when a sign in French stating ‘Paris huit kilometers’ would be read by it. Absolute perfect interpretation would not be done probably by the automated translation systems ever. However, human translators would also not be able to do so. In this regard, the real question is the diversity and integration of a cultural word’s translation into another culture. Some advantages would be enabled in the SATS, as compared with the human translators.
Capability of translating three to five languages is found in the best translators today. However, many more languages at any one time would be translated by the unlimited virtual memory and networking of the SATS. In this regard, languages and cultures with less number of expert human translators would be able to extend their translation into other languages by this advantage. Adding of a visual element to the translation, as well as, interpretation would enable effective translation, as compared with the human translators.
A multimedia environment would be used for the addressing of a problem related to a trans-cultural translation, as different sorts of futuristic visual media would augment difficult terms, unusual concepts, and strange objects to the translation. The grain of rice that is not available in the society of an Eskimo would be watched by him while reading about the Japan. In short, SATS would not fully resolve the problem of precise and culturally contingent translation, neither would it disappear.
However, a marked improvement over the mass inter-linguistic silence would be constituted by the improvement and growing use of the SATS. In many countries, perception of a serious political irritant has been considered in terms of the language, the major bone of contention has been constituted by it in some place. For instance, intense political friction might be created by the speaking of English language with the Afrikaans, as well as, Bantu in the South Africa. In this regard, the problem of language war can be alleviated by a full-fledged SATS environment.
Continuation of all the sides is enabled by the SATS for the utilization of own language. In this way, national cohesion is not endangered while discoursing with the other linguistic groups. Enormous pressure is put by the instantaneous mass communications on the government leaders for the immediate response of the problems, which occurs due to the quick development of international crises today. In this regard, a vital and crucial role of direct connectivity and communication can be played by the hot-line SATS, which can enable direct communication of world leaders.
In addition, security encumbrances of translators would also be not required due to this advantage of translation. Thus, quick smoothing of small-scale political problems can be achieved with the help of the SATS, which can alleviate the escalation of full-fledged international crises from these small-scale problems. In diplomacy, major political significance can be found in the nuanced meaning of words, and catastrophic results can be achieved by mistranslation of the words.
In this regard, the most extreme example of this misunderstanding is the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that took place in the year 1945. Today, the stopping of a government leader by an interpreter in the mid-sentence for the attainment of a precise meaning has been almost unheard. In this regard, no psychological compunctions would be found in the SATS in terms of doing the abovementioned. In the future, international migration might be increased by the automated translations systems, as language is the most significant factor in the calculations of an immigrant, as compared with the cost of airfare, etc.
However, employment in a foreign country would become easy due to a universal resource of SATS, as efficient translation of all the local media and discourse would be done easily. Unfortunately, social assimilation would not be necessarily accompanying the economic absorption. Today, consideration of outsiders is given to the people who cannot speak the native language in a foreign country. While improvements might be observed in the short-term economic situation of these people, the same position is found in the inferior status of these people.
In the result, upward economic mobility is reduced within the general society. In the future, millions of migrants might be provided with economic relief by the SATS, while socio-political powerlessness might be perpetuated by it. Over the short to medium term, greater local xenophobia would be probably lived by the masses of immigrants who would be retaining their native language. In the near future, huge numbers of foreign workers would have to attracted by the more advanced economies of Europe and Japan, as a rapidly declining youth population would have to supplement by them.