Is there software to translate between English and Chinese?
Translation systems can provide the gist of the original text, but still do not provide a natural, complete translation. So, I wouldn’t recommend trying to carry out business communication or pen pal exchanges using them. The free options for English/Chinese translation software are also very limited. In most situations, you still need a human. One page that lists several different translation systems is Chinese Software Digest. Other possibilities are EV Dict, Alexander Chinese to English Software, RoboWord English-Chinese Software, TransPerfect, or Systran, but I haven’t tried them myself. If you want a portable translator, try the Besta Handheld Translator. An on-line English/Chinese automatic translation I know of is the IBM English/Chinese translation engine, where all the instructions are in English. AltaVista’s Babelfish also now supports translation to and from Chinese from English.