Editing Machine translation (section)

===Origins===
The origins of machine translation can be traced back to the work of [[Al-Kindi]], a ninth-century Arabic [[cryptographer]] who developed techniques for systemic language translation, including [[cryptanalysis]], [[frequency analysis]], and [[probability]] and [[statistics]], which are used in modern machine translation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DuPont |first=Quinn |date=January 2018 |title=The Cryptological Origins of Machine Translation: From al-Kindi to Weaver |url=http://amodern.net/article/cryptological-origins-machine-translation/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814061915/http://amodern.net/article/cryptological-origins-machine-translation/ |archive-date=14 August 2019 |access-date=2 September 2019 |website=Amodern}}</ref> The idea of machine translation later appeared in the 17th century. In 1629, [[René Descartes]] proposed a universal language, with equivalent ideas in different tongues sharing one symbol.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Knowlson |first=James |title=Universal Language Schemes in England and France, 1600-1800 |date=1975 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=0-8020-5296-7 |location=Toronto}}</ref>

The idea of using digital computers for translation of natural languages was proposed as early as 1947 by England's [[Andrew Donald Booth|A. D. Booth]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Booth |first=Andrew D. |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_computers-and-people_1953-05_2_4/page/n8/ |title=Computers and Automation 1953-05: Vol 2 Iss 4 |date=1953-05-01 |publisher=Berkeley Enterprises |pages=6 |language=en |chapter=MECHANICAL TRANSLATION}}</ref> and [[Warren Weaver]] at [[Rockefeller Foundation]] in the same year. "The memorandum written by [[Warren Weaver]] in 1949 is perhaps the single most influential publication in the earliest days of machine translation."<ref>{{cite book
   |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/eaa9/ccf94b4d129c26faf45a1353ffcbbe9d4fda.pdf
   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228015454/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/eaa9/ccf94b4d129c26faf45a1353ffcbbe9d4fda.pdf
   |url-status=dead
   |archive-date=2020-02-28
   |chapter=Warren Weaver and the launching of MT |via=[[Semantic Scholar]]  |author=J. Hutchins|title=Early Years in Machine Translation |series=Studies in the History of the Language Sciences |year=2000 |volume=97 |page=17 |doi=10.1075/sihols.97.05hut |isbn=978-90-272-4586-1 |s2cid=163460375 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Warren-Weaver
|title=Warren Weaver, American mathematician
|date=July 13, 2020
|access-date=7 August 2020
|archive-date=6 March 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306061225/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Warren-Weaver
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Others followed. A demonstration was made in 1954 on the [[APEXC]] machine at [[Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck College]] ([[University of London]]) of a rudimentary translation of English into French. Several papers on the topic were published at the time, and even articles in popular journals (for example an article by Cleave and Zacharov in the September 1955 issue of ''[[Wireless World]]'').  A similar application, also pioneered at Birkbeck College at the time, was reading and composing [[Braille]] texts by computer.