THE AUTHOR RECOUNTS THE RISE IN IMPORTANCE OF MACHINE TRANSLATION, WHICH TOGETHER WITH LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING COMPRISE THE MAJOR FIELDS OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS. MUCH OF THE RECENT THEORETICAL WORK ON LANGUAGE DEALS WITH THE PROBLEM OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SURFACE SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE AND THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE. THE CURRENT DEBATE IS BETWEEN LINGUISTS WHO SET UP SEVERAL SYNTACTIC LEVELS AND THOSE WHO SEE UNDERLYING (DEEP) STRUCTURE AS SEMANTIC. THE AUTHOR DESCRIBES THE STRATEGY BEING USED IN COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS AS BEING OF TWO TYPES. IN THE FIRST APPROACH, A SELECTED THEORY OF LANGUAGE IS ASSUMED TO BE PRODUCTIVE AND USEFUL, AND EFFORTS ARE MADE TO SIMULATE IT. IF THE THEORY SELECTED REGARDS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SURFACE AND DEEP STRUCTURE AS TRANSFORMATIONAL, EFFORTS ARE MADE TO PROGRAM SIMULATED TRANSFORMS ON THE COMPUTER. THE OTHER STRATEGY, "OPERATIONAL," IS AN ATTEMPT TO HANDLE AS MUCH OF THE LANGUAGE AS POSSIBLE FROM SURFACE STRUCTURE. EXAMPLES OF THE RUSSIAN SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS PRODUCED AT THE IBM THOMAS J. WATSON RESEARCH CENTER IN 1967, AND OTHER WORK IN TRANSFORMATIONAL SYSTEMS ARE ALSO BRIEFLY DESCRIBED. THIS PAPER WAS DELIVERED AT THE SURVEY SEMINAR IN COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS IN HONOLULU, MARCH 1968, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE UNITED STATES-JAPAN JOINT COMMITTEE ON SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION. (AMM)