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Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Rob.

And I'm Sam. Rob, I'm writing a letter to a friend in Spain and I need some help.

Do you know the Spanish for its raining?

Don't worry, I have this new app. I just hold up my phone.

Scan the word I want translated.

Esther Yoviendo is the Spanish for its raining.

Amazing. In this programme, we're discussing language technologies,

computers that can translate between languages.

Modern software like Google Translate has transformed how we learn foreign languages.

Bringing us closer to a world where language is no longer a barrier to communication.

But how well do these computers know what we really mean to say?

Well, later we'll find out exactly what machines can and can't translate.

And, as usual, we'll be learning some new vocabulary as well.

But first, I have a question for you, Sam.

The translation app I use just now is very recent.

But there's a long history of computer mis-translations, times when computers got it badly wrong.

In 1987, the American airline, Branif, ran television adverts promoting the all-leather seats

installed on their flights to Mexico.

But how was its fly-in leather advertising slogan mis-translated into Spanish?

Did the adverts say, A, fly in lava?

...