© 2000 XTRA Translation Services Is MT technology available today ready to replace human translators?

© 2000 XTRA Translation Services

Is MT technology available today ready to replace

human translators?

© 2000 XTRA Translation Services

Overview

Machine Translation

Applications of MT

Information retrieval Translations for users who want to

find out about the essential content of a document

1-to-1 communication Translations of publishable

quality

MT – How does it work?

Two main approaches: Direct - Lower-end systems

Direct translation via bilingual dictionaries, relatively little analysis of sentence structure

Transfer - Higher-end systems Interpretation of meaning with analysis of

word and sentence structure and generation of target

MT market

Internally developed MT systems for specific environments (mostly large corporations)

Low-cost or free MT translation offerings (for non-professional use)

MT engines combined with subject-related dictionaries for corporate customers (esp. for larger companies)

Progress in technology

How much progress has been achieved in the past years? “There has been virtually no progress in MT

technology in the past 15 years at all.” And what are the prospects for the near

future? Not that bright - major players have left the

playground

But still it works much better today Processing power has multiplied MT vendors provide MT systems with

much more knowledge (terminology databases)

Languages and file formats Major MT solutions focus on a few

languages Few file formats supported

Supported target languages

xxLinguatech PT

xxxxxTranscend

xxxxxxPower Translator

xxxxLogos

xxxxxxSystran

PorSpaGerItaFreJapMT system

Supported file formats

xxLinguatech PT

xxxxTranscend

xxPower Translator

xxxLogos

xxxSystran

FMPMSGMLHTMLRTFMT system

© 2000 XTRA Translation Services

Preliminary considerations

Implementation of MT

Basic issues

What MT solutions are available for the source and target languages required?

Does the amount of documentation justify an investment in MT?

What is the type of translatable documentation?

What are the quality requirements?

Determine quality requirements Who is the target audience? Is translation provided for free? Will the target audience accept MT

like style? What risks could a mistranslation

involve?

What is the appropriate quality? Why should expectations for MT be

any lower than those for human translations?

Goal: MT+Post-editing=quality of human translation

Affects attitude of post-editors

How does the source material impact MT output? Well-prepared source material is the

pre-condition to successful use of MT MT-specific source issues: typos,

semantical ambiguities, improper punctuation, passive voice, proper names

Controlled Language may be a solution

What is Controlled Language? Defines authoring Guidelines for

technical writers (e.g. style) Leads to simplified language usage

(e.g. length of sentences) Restricts language usage (e.g.

approved terminology)

Examples

Nortel Network: NSE (Nortel Standard English)

Caterpillar: CTE (Caterpillar Technical English)

GM: CASL (Controlled Automotive Service Language)

IBM: Easy English

Controlled Language checker Assists authors in complying with

company‘s controlled language standards

Can be customized to text type Examples:

LANTMASTER IBM Easy English Analyzer Microsoft Word grammar and spell checker

Terminology

Comprehensive terminology database is key to MT use (coverage)

Terminology databases for MT have different requirements than for human translation

Extract and define terminology before start of translation

Integration of translation memory MT integration available for a

variety of MT systems (Trados, Transit, IBM TM)

Flagged MT proposals No MT proposal when Human

Translation is available (both exact and fuzzy)

Quality assurance

Post-editing is NOT the same as QA. It is part of translation process.

Quality Assurance is an additional process.

Human resources

Train technical writers on using Controlled Language and CL checker

Find and train qualified post-editors Decide on payment method (per

word, per hour) Consider using internal resources

… not just (human) resources Post-editing requires even higher

qualification than translation Prevent post-editors from getting

frustrated by just correcting errors Motivate them to maintain and

improve the MT system

© 2000 XTRA Translation Services

Conclusion

Implementing Machine Translation

Conclusion

Thoroughly evaluate MT solutions applicable to given scenario

Consider all implications from authoring process to final quality assessment

Invest in Controlled Language and continous terminology management

XTRA Translation Services Böblingen/Stuttgart

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.xtra-services.com