Catching the Babel Fish: The Human Brain, Neural Networks and Foreign Language Learning

Will a Babylonian fish—an automatic device for translating from foreign languages—appear in our not-too-distant future? Some will say technology has already reached such a level that soon it will replace a human being. Others will insist that computers can never translate works of fiction with real quality or work as simultaneous interpreters at conferences. The author attempts not just to answer the question of the Babylonian fish, but also to discuss what language is and where it is stored in the brain, why learning foreign languages promotes healthy aging, and how a translator’s consciousness works. Prominent scholars explain the most effective ways to learn languages, translators share their views on the future of their profession, and developers of machine-translation systems reveal their own plans for taking over the multilingual universe.