I've always been fascinated by
the limits of what a computer can do, like whether a computer can understand
human language. To it, all human languages are foreign, so how can it receive
this information and interpret the meaning behind it? This field, called
Natural Language Processing, is focuses on developing computer tools for human
languages with pragmatic goals like providing cheap translations between two
languages. Natural language services such as Google Translate, Bing
Translate, and Babel Translate have served countless individuals in translating
emails, documents and even websites-- thus bridging the gap between people.
When I was very young, my family could have benefited from such tools as my
parents did not speak English well and carried pocket dictionaries at all times
in case they needed to translate something quickly. In time, they were able to
graduate from understanding the meaning of words to understanding the meaning
of phrases, but here they were stuck. No book was sufficient to help them
translate emails back and forth. When they found Babel Translate, they were
able to work more productively in a broader and wider world. Machine
Translation had helped many immigrant families like mine and it serves as an
important and useful tool for diplomats, tourists, and researchers.
Unfortunately, Natural Language Processing is technically and algorithmically
difficult, thus translation is still imperfect and remains an active area of
research in computer science. In contrast to natural languages, humans have
also designed some languages from scratch. These are often called constructed
or artificial languages and are typically designed with a special purpose. The
best known constructed language, Esperanto, has the goal of being an
easy-to-learn, peace-promoting language. I recently gained some familiarity
with a relatively new constructed language called Lojban whose design
philosophy was to minimize ambiguity. This makes Lojban analogous to a
computer programming language for humans. I realized that it is possible that,
if Lojban were used in machine translation of natural human languages, the
translations produced between two languages, like English and Vietnamese, might
be significantly improved. Improved translation tools would have broad impacts
for people globally. Through this effort of studying machine translation of
human languages I hope to gain a deeper understanding of natural language
processing and doing research.
