05/06/96 NOW, YOU CAN READ LE WEB

NOW, YOU CAN READ LE WEB

HOW WORLDLY IS THE World Wide Web? According to Polyglot International, a San Francisco company that offers language-translation services for developers of digital media, about 75% of European Web sites use only a native language--no English.
Now, Globalink Inc. in Fairfax, Va., has come up with a way for English-only speakers to deal with many of those sites.
Globalink's Web Translator program converts the text of French, German, and Spanish Web pages into English--or vice versa. Usually in about a minute, the software translates a page's text and hotlinks and redisplays them complete with the original graphics.
Working with Netscape Communications Corp.'s Navigator browser, the $49.95 Web Translator program is most effective when dealing with formal text. It has difficulty coping with the latest Web slang words.
The program is available on a CD-ROM for use with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 programs.
EDITED BY JOHN W. VERITY