By Stephanie MartinManaging Editor

How many years of Spanish, French, German or Italian have studentstaken in high school and college that they actually remember –Spanglish not included? Well not to worry, there’s a Web site thatcan help guide inquirers through those unknown and forgotten words,sayings and phrases: http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com.

BabelFish translates English into French, Spanish, German, Italian andPortuguese and vice or versa. It also translates Russian to Englishand French to German. Although it can translate phrases andsentences, it does so literally and works best with individual words.So in other words, a student can’t use it to cheat on his Spanishhomework because it could be wrong.

All one does is type in the word or phrase, and in seconds, atranslation appears. The translations can be cut and pasted into ane-mail or other document. Babel Fish also translates entire Websites. So if one wants to find out the latest news in Portugal, butcan’t understand the text, Babel Fish can help.

A burning question for many is, “Does it translate bad words?” andthe answer is yes. None of the translations are allowed in thisarticle, but bai**z vous is the French equivalent to the Americanversion of “the finger”.

If one has some familiarity with the language they’re translating,Babel Fish can enhance understanding. Or if one just wants to impresstheir friends and co-workers with their new found plethora oflanguage skills then this Web site is it.