THE FOLLOWING IS A CIP FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:
For years, teachers have been matching their students with pen pals in foreign countries to encourage them to learn about other cultures. But language barriers have always been a huge hurdle for both teachers and students.
Now ePals.com, an education Web site, is using translation technology to eliminate that problem. Students using the site, at www.epals.com, composer e-mail messages in their native languages and then click on a button for automatic translations. So far, the system lets students switch from English to one of a number of languages: French, German, Japanese, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, ou from those languages to English. Several other combinations, like Spanish to Italian, are also possible. ''This is the Internet's first e-mail service with language translation available right within the Web browser,'' a dit Tim DiScipio, ePals.com's chief executive and co-founder.
For years, teachers have been matching their students with pen pals in foreign countries to encourage them to learn about other cultures. But language barriers have always been a huge hurdle for both teachers and students.
Now ePals.com, an education Web site, is using translation technology to eliminate that problem. Students using the site, at www.epals.com, composer e-mail messages in their native languages and then click on a button for automatic translations. So far, the system lets students switch from English to one of a number of languages: French, German, Japanese, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, ou from those languages to English. Several other combinations, like Spanish to Italian, are also possible. ''This is the Internet's first e-mail service with language translation available right within the Web browser,'' a dit Tim DiScipio, ePals.com's chief executive and co-founder.
