A method and apparatus are described for automatic processing of electronic communications in a networked computer environment. The invention facilitates the appropriate form of translation of the communication to suit the circumstance. The communication is identified as a foreign language communication, a quotation program is optionally applied to calculate the cost of a human translation and a machine translation program is optionally applied to the foreign language communication. The communication, optional quotation and optional machine translation are forwarded to a recipient. The method is transparent to the sender and receiver.