Computers, which were rapidly being

Computers, which were rapidly being developed, could surely be programmed to ensure that decision-makers in Washington could have access to Russian media and vice versa within hours. The utopian desire for instant computer translations was never achieved because it was premised on naïve ideas about equivalence as sameness, and hence the early attempts to produce instant translations of Russian newspapers such as Pravda occa- sionally resulted in gobbledygook. The kinds of computer trans- lation packages available today are extraordinarily sophisticated in comparison with the early experiments, but although some of the attempts at translation through computers in the Cold War period now appear risible, the experiment did raise important questions about interlingual transfer processes and about the meaning of equivalence. James Holmes was indeed perceptive to highlight the Second World War as a turning point in the study and practice of translation around the world.