The present invention is a method and apparatus for processing a phrase in a
first language for translation to a second language. A plurality of possible linguistic
patterns are identified in the second language, that correspond to the phrase in
the first language. For each of the patterns identified, a probability for the
pattern is calculated, based on a combination of the language model probability
for the pattern and a translation model probability for the pattern. In one embodiment,
an output is also provided which is indicative of a translation of the phrase in
the first language to the second language based upon the translation probabilities
calculated for the patterns.