Translation
From KneeQuickie
Translation is the process of expressing the meaning of a given text in a language outside its original one. For example, to create a copy of War and Peace in English from the original Russian, one must translate that text from Russian to English by interpreting the meaning of the original and finding ways to express that meaning effectively in English.
Hurdles
In the public consciousness, the differences in language are often attributed to different vocabulary and accent and translation consists mainly of replacing words in one language with the appropriate equivalents in another. In reality, all languages are divided by grammar as well as vocabulary and may differ radically and unexpected in their rules. Word order may vary, cases and moods may have different uses and connotations, and even familiar constructions may have different meanings.
Languages also differ in how they divide up possible meanings in their vocabulary. A word in one language may have several equivalents in another or even none. What looks like a cognate may in fact be a false friend or may have drifted semantically from its English equivalent. Even closely related languages frequently defy one-to-one translation as a result.
In some cases, languages may even differ fundamentally in mindset. Many Native American languages such as Cheyenne and Mohawk focus on motion and action rather than vision or essense as English does.
Machine Translation
Due to the various aforementioned hurdles, translation by computer may yield awkward and inaccurate results, as seen in Babblefish.
