Speech translation: past, present and future

A decade after its first beginnings, the grand challenge of building automatic systems that translate speech has grown into an active research area, a focus for speech and language researchers worldwide. Workshops, conferences, sessions, journal issues are devoted to it, and research is supported by governments in Asia, Europe and the US. The problem has attracted much attention, as practical needs in an increasingly globalized world converge with scientific advances that bring possible solutions within reach. While great progress has been made, the problem is certainly not solved and much remains to be done. At a midway point along the way, we present this paper as a review of the past, of the successes so far, and as an attempt to chart a course for the future.