Spanish Translation Blog: Spanish Translation US » Blog Archive The Georgetown Experiment

The Georgetown Experiment

The idea of machine was introduced to the general public on the 7th of January, 1954. The was a collaboration between the of Georgetown and IBM, who provided a model 701 to serve as the “brain” for the translation. The machine was fed over 60 relatively simple sentences in Russian and provided a fairly accurate translation. Keep in mind that this experiment took place at a    when computers were just being introduced to the world and were frequently called “robots” or “giant brains,” so the results were astounding and in some circles, frightening.

Here is an example of one of the more general :

Russian: “Mi pyeryedayem mislyi posryedstvom ryechyi

English: “We transmit thoughts by means of speech”

So why did the scientists and linguists choose ? Perhaps this next example will make things a little clearer.

Russian:  “Dyinamyit pryigotovlyayetsya xyimyicheskyim protsyessom yiz
nyitroglyitsyeryina s pryimyesjyu yinyertnix soyedyinyenyiy

English: “Dynamite is prepared by chemical process from nitroglycerine with admixture of inert
compounds”

, here we come.