Envisioning Machine Translation in the Information Future

Book excerpt: Envisioning Machine Translation in the Information Future When the organizing committee of AMTA-2000 began planning, it was in that brief moment in history when we were absorbed in contemplation of the passing of the century and the millennium. Nearly everyone was comparing lists of the most important accomplishments and people of the last 10, 100, or 1000 years, imagining the radical changes likely over just the next few years, and at least mildly anxious about the potential Y2K apocalypse. The millennial theme for the conference, “Envisioning MT in the Information Future,” arose from this period. The year 2000 has now come, and nothing terrible has happened (yet) to our electronic infrastructure. Our musings about great people and events probably did not ennoble us much, and whatever sense of jubilee we held has since dissipated. So it may seem a bit obsolete or anachronistic to cast this AMTA conference into visionary themes.