MT claims often exaggerated - so MT researchers and vendors should stop overselling ...
So public expectations too high ...
So important to know where exactly are we?
Does MT matter?
Of course: socially, politically, commercially, scientifically, as well as intellectually and philosophically ... and likely to increase in importance.
Socio-political: where >1 lang. spoken, what's the alternative to translation? Lingua franca?! Consequences?? Often missed where one lang. is dominant ...
Commercial: necessary, costs of translation
Scientific: interesting for CompSci, AI, Linguistics, CL ...
Philosophical: mimics human activity.
Despite this, few people (even within the field) have much idea of what MT can do, or what is involved.
There are a lot of misconceptions about MT.
There are also a lot of facts about MT which if more widely known might serve to prevent such misrepresentations of where we're at today.
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