At its basic level, MT changes words words in one natural language for words in another. That is literal translation.
æ t WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ t s WORD_BOUNDARY b eɪ s ɪ k WORD_BOUNDARY l ɛ v ə l WORD_BOUNDARY ɛ m t iː WORD_BOUNDARY t̠ʃ eɪ n d̠ʒ ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY w ɜː d z WORD_BOUNDARY w ɜː d z WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ n WORD_BOUNDARY w ʌ n WORD_BOUNDARY n æ t̠ʃ ə ɹ ɹ ə l WORD_BOUNDARY l æ ŋ ɡ w ɪ d̠ʒ WORD_BOUNDARY f ɔ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY w ɜː d z WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ n WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ n ʌ ð ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY ð æ t WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY l ɪ t ə ɹ ɹ ə l WORD_BOUNDARY t ɹ æ n s l eɪ ʃ ə n WORD_BOUNDARY