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Yahoo Refreshes Babel Fish Translator By Jay Wrolstad April 28, 2006 1:45PM     Yahoo's translation technology is named after the Babel fish that appeared in Douglas Adams' popular novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Once placed inside the ear canal, that tiny fish would feed off the sound waves generated by spoken words and excrete perfect translations for its host.   Related Topics Yahoo AltaVista Latest News Plasma-TV Ban Could Be Costly Barnes & Noble Nook Is Delayed Flat PC Shipments Hurt Dell's Stock Ballmer Says Windows 7 Sales Good New Pogoplug 'Cloud' Gets Social Ever wondered what this Web page might look like in French, Greek, or Japanese? Well, all you have to do is visit a new site set up by Yahoo, enter the URL, pick a language, and get an instant translation. This free, online service is made possible by Babel Fish, a technology that has gained quite a following over the past eight years. Babel Fish initially was created by search pioneer AltaVista, which was acquired by Yahoo through the purchase of Overture in 2003. More Languages The translation technology is named after the Babel fish that appeared in Douglas Adams' popular novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Once placed inside the ear canal, that tiny fish would feed off the sound waves generated by spoken words and excrete perfect translations for its host. While Yahoo's version of Adams' imaginative invention might not be so tidy, Babel Fish offers 38 language-translation pairs in all, such as English-to-Korean, Dutch-to-French, or Greek-to-English. In rolling out its own version of Babel Fish, Yahoo has added two new language pairs to the mix. You can translate simplified Chinese into traditional Chinese, and vice versa. 'Incredibly Popular' Yahoo also has enhanced its search-translator application, currently available only in Germany and in France. This feature allows you to translate queries and search for Web pages, images, and videos in multiple languages simultaneously. In addition to being available on the Yahoo site, the Babel Fish service is available now on Yahoo's browser toolbar through a one-button click. Babel Fish has become "incredibly popular" among Web users, said Yahoo spokesperson Aaron Ferstman. To take it for a spin, visit babelfish.yahoo.com.   Advertisement  World Wide Web 1.   Online Help for Holiday Shopping 2.   Five People Indicted in Internet Scam 3.   Vietnam Net Users Fear Facebook Ban 4.   Bing's Market Share Nears 10 Percent 5.   Social-Networking Lingo Recognized ICANN Approves International Names Dramatic increase in users expected. Average Rating: Online Help for Holiday Shopping The year's best deals on the web. Average Rating: Five People Indicted in Internet Scam Bilked federal agencies of millions. Average Rating:

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