The first difficulty in answering a question like "Does machine translation work is that the question itself is illposed. It takes for granted that there is one single thing called machine translation and that everyone is agreed about what it is. But in fact, even a cursory glance at the systems already around, either in regular operational use or under development, will reveal a wide range of different types of systems. If we take first the dimension determined by who/what does most of the work, the machine or the translator or revisor, at one end of the scale are.
