Babel Fish (website)

Yahoo! Babel Fish was a free Web-based multilingual translation application. In May 2012 it was replaced by Bing Translator (now Microsoft Translator), to which queries were redirected.[1] Although Yahoo! has transitioned its Babel Fish translation services to Bing Translator, it did not sell its translation application to Microsoft outright.[2][3] As the oldest free online language translator,[4] the service translated text or Web pages in 36 pairs between 13 languages,[4] including English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Yahoo! Babel Fish
Type of site
Translation service
OwnerYahoo!
URLbabelfish.yahoo.com
CommercialNo
LaunchedDecember 9, 1997 (1997-12-09)
Current statusDefunct

The internet service derived its name from the Babel fish, a fictional species in Douglas Adams's book and radio series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that could instantly translate languages. In turn, the name of the fictional creature refers to the biblical account of the confusion of languages that arose in the city of Babel.

History

On December 9, 1997, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and SYSTRAN S.A. launched AltaVista Translation Service at babelfish.altavista.com,[5] which was developed by a team of researchers at DEC.[4][6] In February 2003, AltaVista was bought by Overture Services, Inc.[7] In July 2003, Overture, in turn, was taken over by Yahoo!.[8]

The web address for Babel Fish remained at babelfish.altavista.com until May 9, 2008, when the address changed to babelfish.yahoo.com.[9]

As of May 30, 2012, the Web address changed yet again, this time redirecting babelfish.yahoo.com to www.microsofttranslator.com when Microsoft's Bing Translator replaced Yahoo Babel Fish.[10]

Yahoo! Babel Fish should not be confused with The BabelFish Corporation founded by Oscar Jofre,[11] which was operated at the URL www.babelfish.com (created in 1995).[12]

As of June 2013, babelfish.yahoo.com no longer redirected to the Microsoft Bing Translator. Instead, it refers directly back to the main Yahoo.com page.

Supported languages
  • Chinese (Simplified) to English
  • Chinese (Traditional) to English
  • Dutch to English
  • Dutch to French
  • English to Chinese (Simplified)
  • English to Chinese (Traditional)
  • English to Dutch
  • English to French
  • English to German
  • English to Greek
  • English to Italian
  • English to Japanese
  • English to Korean
  • English to Portuguese
  • English to Russian
  • English to Spanish
  • French to Dutch
  • French to English
  • French to German
  • French to Greek
  • French to Italian
  • French to Portuguese
  • French to Spanish
  • German to English
  • German to French
  • Greek to English
  • Greek to French
  • Italian to English
  • Italian to French
  • Japanese to English
  • Korean to English
  • Portuguese to English
  • Portuguese to French
  • Russian to English
  • Spanish to English
  • Spanish to French

See also

References
  1. "Welcome Yahoo! Babel Fish users!". Bing Translator blog. 2012-05-31. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
  2. "Welcoming Yahoo! Babel Fish users!". Bing Translator blog. 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
  3. "Yahoo's Babel Fish replaced with Bing Translator". Neowin.net, June 3, 2012, Jon Callaham.
  4. "Yahoo Launches Babel Fish". Techshout.com, April 2006. 28 April 2006.
  5. "Babelfish: English". 1999-04-27. Archived from the original on 1999-04-27. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
  6. Edge, Business (2003-05-15). "BabelFish on the move - Business Edge News Magazine Archives". Businessedge.ca. Archived from the original on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2012-09-20. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  7. Hansell, Saul (February 19, 2003), "Overture Services to Buy AltaVista for $140 Million", The New York Times
  8. "Yahoo to acquire Overture". July 13, 2003. Archived from the original on July 8, 2007.
  9. "AltaVista history". Websearchworkshop.co.uk. 1995-12-15. Retrieved 2012-09-20.
  10. "Welcoming Yahoo! Babel Fish users!". Microsoft Translator (and Bing Translator) Official Team Blog. Retrieved 2012-06-22.
  11. "BabelFish continues to grow international presence". March 7, 2003. Archived from the original on 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  12. "Public Whois of BabelFish". Verisign Registry. Archived from the original on 2015-10-18. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
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