Word, XP to carry translation feature

Brussels, Belgium-based linguistics company Mendez said Thursday that real-time, Web-based translation will be included in Microsoft Word 2002 and Office XP products. Mendez iTranslator will convert up to 5,000 words per minute and 84 million words per day into 16 languages into basic, "gist-level" sentences.

Many who use automated translation complain that the software is buggy and unsuited to colloquialisms, informal shorthand and slang. To compensate, Mendez guarantees "100 percent accuracy" on documents submitted for an immediate online price quote with human translation. About half of all Web users are not native English speakers, according to Global Reach, and only one out of every three Web users will be in the United States by 2003.