When English is Not a DUer's First Language,

[MineralMan]

107. I remember hearing that one when I was posted to the NSA,

while still in the USAF. The NSA was a leader in computer translation back in the 1960s. The example is typical of errors that creep in when computer translation software encounters words with multiple meanings. Such errors are still part of the problem with computerized translations, but are being minimized by huge databases of translation memory, where phrases like those have already been translated correctly. When such phrases are encountered, the computer plugs in the previously translated material. That has improved computer translations, but many problems still exist, and all automated translation still needs to be checked by competent human translators, preferably native speakers of the source language and extremely fluent in the target language.

English is particularly bad as a source language, due to the huge number of words with multiple meanings, homophones, odd idioms, and other stumbling blocks to understanding.

Computers can't understand human language. For that reason, computer translation will never be perfect.