TRANSLATION OF ELECTRONICALLY TRANSMITTED MESSAGES

A communication system for human communication comprises a sending computer system 11, a receiving computer system 21a and a translation web site 31. The sending system 11 is arranged, when sending a communication, to determine a first human perceptible language associated with the sender and a second human perceptible language associated with the recipient and, if the first and second languages are different, to send the communication to the translation system 31 for translation. The address of the receiving system is sent with the communication. The diverted communication is translated, and forwarded by the translation system 31 to the receiving system.If the first and second languages are the same, the communication is sent by the sending system 11 directly to the receiving system 21a. The receiving system checks the language of incoming communications against that of the recipient and, if necessary, sends the communication to the translation site 31 for translation and return.