More than half of the world's 7,000 existing languages "are headed for oblivion in this century," according to an NEH/NSF press release. One reason is globalization: People increasingly find it necessary to do business in the most widely spoken languages, such as Chinese, English, Spanish, Russian and Hindi. The Internet and print and television media also speed the rate of language loss. Ten languages account for nearly 80 percent of Internet users, with English and Chinese alone accounting for 42 percent, according to internetstats.com, a search engine that provides Internet, business, financial and advertising statistics.

Last month I saw clients, friends, and industry colleagues at the annual meeting of the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) and the Localization World conference in Montreal. It is always refreshing to be surrounded by a group of people immersed in the world of language who share my interests and passion for working in this industry.

The conference was content rich. In a business environment where collaborative approaches are more prevalent and the Symantec web is emerging as a market force, sharing and pooling TMs is moving from concept to reality. tmmarketplace.com offers a commercial model as a business broker of TM products. Companies are starting to realize that translation memories are quantifiable corporate assets.

Translations and their byproducts, including glossaries and translation memories, are assets with value. Understanding that these outputs are not only costs on the income statement, but also assets on the balance sheet AND part of the return on investment equation will help companies make better decisions on how to compete in the world marketplace.

Von Ahn says he has one goal: "To be able to use all of this data and to have computers be able to do pretty much everything we can do." The end result is a kind of artificial intelligence that would drive a computer to think and act like a human -- the kind only seen in science fiction movies.

There are already rudimentary examples of human computation in use. Many online stores, for example, feature a recommendation system that suggests products to a consumer after considering the buying patterns of like-minded customers -- essentially creating a knowledge database of consumer tastes as a salesman in a brick-and-mortar store would.

Von Ahn envisions computers in the future translating foreign text while respecting the nuances of language or summarizing lengthy documents effectively. And he sees computers making fast diagnoses of ailments in hospitals.

A somber article on the deadliest contractor job to have in Iraq, the Translator/Interpreter. Should such a vital position/task be handled differently?

The translators' contract has become a poster child of sorts for problems encountered by the U.S. military as it tries to outsource core functions in the Iraq war.

Former Titan employees have complained of being forced to essentially fend for themselves in a deteriorating war zone, without weapons, body armor or safe transportation. Others said they joined the fight, carrying guns and participating in raids with soldiers even though the contract forbids civilian employees from engaging in combat.

Electrodes are attached to the neck and face to detect the movements that occur as the person silently mouths words and phrases.

Using this data, a computer can work out the sounds being formed and then build these sounds up into words.

The system is then able to translate the words into another language which is read out by a synthetic voice.