This is similar to the multlingual friends network idea but with a twist: the documents are first run through something like bablefish, then offered up to be corrected by native speakers in a keen.com style "if you help other people you get more credits to get more help" type thing. That way you don't need to bilingual to help. There could also be a rating system so better translator would get more credits for their work.

The results would not be perfect, but better than babblefish . . .
-- futurebird, Feb 19 2001

the other idea http://www.halfbake...20friends_20network
[futurebird, Feb 19 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

babble fish (at altavista) http://world.altavista.com/
[futurebird, Feb 19 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]

keen.com http://www.keen.com
this is a telephone help sharing service with a credit system [futurebird, Feb 19 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Check the link, zippy.
-- futurebird, Feb 19 2001


It's "Babel fish" as in "Tower of Babel," the mythical birthplace of the varied languages of the world.
-- centauri, Feb 19 2001


it's babelfish, as in the fish you stick in your ear if you're hitching through the galaxy with zaphod and arthur.
-- gnormal, Feb 19 2001


Neat -- that could actually work.

You need some sort of rating system to make sure translation (repair?) quality stays high. But I bet keen.com et al. have that one solved.
-- egnor, Feb 20 2001



random, halfbakery