Yahoo Rolls Out Translation Services

Yahoo on Thursday introduced Babel Fish, using the same technologies that have been used by the version hosted on Alta Vista for almost a decade. The page, which looks much like Alta Vista's version, has been updated with some additional features to tie it in with other Yahoo services.

The original Babel Fish premiered on Alta Vista in 1997, making it the first translation service on the Internet. At that time, Babel Fish could translate words, sentences, and Web sites to and from English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and Russian.

Today's version adds five additional languages, including Greek, Dutch and Japanese, as well as simplified and traditional Chinese. Yahoo has taken the project a step further, integrating the technology with its Search and Toolbar products, as well as launching Yahoo! Search Translator Beta.

The new program, available in Germany and France, would allow the user to translate search queries into multiple languages and then search for those terms simultaneously.

"It's the same convenient, free, easy-to-use resource that people have relied on for years, and now we've added more features," Linguistic Product Manager Raymond Flournoy said.

Those interesting in trying out the new service can access it from the Yahoo Babel Fish Web site.