Enhancing Free On-line Machine Translation Services

This paper focuses on the use of free on-line machine translation (MT) services on the Internet and discusses how they could be enhanced. Some of the key challenges of using MT technology in the Internet environment are addressed within a wide framework, so as to emphasise the relevance of web usability, userfriendliness and good interaction design for the successful deployment of on-line MT services. The paper suggests in conclusion that the performance of free web-based MT systems can be greatly enhanced by adopting a user-centred design that takes into account the specific requirements of on-line interaction, with a view to improving the perception that the general public of Internet users has of MT technology at large.