The Role of Translation Tools in the Information Age

1
The Role of Translation Tools in the
Information Age

• Feng Zhiwei
• Institute of Applied Linguistics, MOE, China
• zwfengde_at_hotmail.com
• First Sino-German Symposium on Knowledge
  Handling, 2007, Beijing

2
Abstract

• We are in the information age. The snowballing
  acceleration of available information resulted in
  drastic changes in the way of translators work.
  The paper introduces the translation tools in
  information age machine translation system,
  translation resources on Internet and on CD-ROM,
  computer-assisted terminology management system,
  parallel corpora, translation memories and
  localization tools, computer-aided machine
  translation system. If translators use these
  translation tools properly, they shall improve
  the efficiency and quality of translation.

3
Keywords

• multilingualism, machine translation system,
  Internet, CD-ROM, translation resources,
  computer-assisted terminology management system,
  parallel corpora, translation memories,
  localization tools, computer-aided machine
  translation system.

4
English lingua franca?

• 80 percent of all business transactions in
  Denmark are carried out in English.
• Many large corporations have adopted English as
  their official language.
• 85 percent of international organizations use
  English as their working language.
• In Europe, 99 percent of all international
  organizations have English as one of their
  official languages.

5
English lingua franca?

• 98 percent of all German physicists and 83
  percent of all German chemists publish their
  findings in English.
• 90 percent of all scientific publications are
  written in English.
• The majority of Nobel Prizes go to laureates who
  are citizens of countries where English is the
  official language.
• English is the default language for
  international scientific conferences. No matter
  where they take place or what their specific
  topics are.
• english-reader.JPG

6
Linguistic uniformity or multilingualism ?

• In the world, there are 6000 different languages
  with different cultural backgrounds.
• in Welsh of United Kingdom, the people speak
  welsh language.
• In USA, some people speak Spanish.
• The multilingualism is very popular and
  necessary.

7
Multilingualism in European Union

• IN EU institutions, its original 15 member states
  have the privilege of using their state languages
  to conduct their official business.
• This multilingualism is made possible by the work
  of about 4000 in-house translators, interpreters
  and terminologists and many more freelancers.
• With 11 official languages (for 15 states) and
  110 possible language-pair combinations, in 1997,
  2 billion euros were spent on translation.
• This does not include the more than 200,000 pages
  translated by EC-SYSTRAN MT system each year.

8
Multilingualism in European Union -- cont

• Each additional official language increases the
  demands by 250 to 300 linguists.
• With the expansion of the EU by as many as 12 new
  members and the integration of 10 new languages,
  the number of combinations would increase
  exponentially, resulting in 420 combinations of
  21 languages.

9
Localization in business

• The clients will only buy in their own language.
• The sellers need to speak the language of the
  customer and to adopt their conduct and products
  to the specific characteristics of the local
  market .
• Localization is not only for products, but also
  for the methods of designing, producing,
  marketing and distribution.

10
Internet and translation

• Internet becomes a multilingualism network.
• 2000-2005, internet growth of English is only
  126.9, while internet growth of Russian is
  664.5, Portuguese 327.3, Chinese 309.6, French
  235.9.
• Growth rate in number of Internet users in
  non-English speaking countries are much higher
  than in English speaking countries.
• Dominant position of English was broken.
• Translation becomes more and more important.
• internet-langue.doc

11
Information explosion

• In information age, the snowballing acceleration
  of available information resulted the information
  explosion.
• The amount of knowledge to be processed within
  the next decade is larger than the amount of
  knowledge accumulated during the past 2500 years.
• 165,000 scientific journals are currently being
  published.
• 20,000 new scientific papers are produced every
  day.

12
Information explosion

• The amount of data that is circulating on the
  Internet on any given day is larger than all the
  information available throughout the 19 century
  (Der Spiegel, 1996)
• The combined vocabulary of technical and
  scientific disciplines amounted to 30 million
  words in 1991 (Siemens, 1991)

13
Translation market

• According to the study by Allied Business
  Intelligence, the global translation market is
  10.4 billion in 1999 and 17.2 billion in 2003
  respectively.
• In 1997, the EU-funded ASSIM study estimated the
  total turnover of the translation markets of 18
  member states of the EU and EEA (European
  Economic Area ) to be 3.75 billion euros with
  software, audio-visual and multimedia translation
  constituting 20 percent of the total turnover.

14
Translation market

• According to ASSIM study, the total number of
  in-house and external translators in EU and EEA
  exceeds 100,000.
• The total turnover of the translation market in
  China continent exceeded 10 billion Yuan.
• Electronic translation tools will be helpful in
  translation

15
Using electronic translation tools

• According to ASSIM study, more than 50 percent of
  translators interviewed for the 1997 ASSIM report
  were using electronic dictionaries, and about
  one-third of the translators were using
  translation memory systems.
• A lot of translators in China continent and Hong
  Kong were using electronic tools in their
  translation.

16
Electronic Translation Tools

• Machine Translation System
• Translation Resources on Internet
• Translation Resources on CD-ROM
• Computer-Assisted Terminology Management
• Parallel Corpus as Translation Tools
• Translation Memory
• Localization Tools
• Computer-Assisted Translation System

17
Machine Translation System

• The first attempts to mechanize translation were
  made as early as the 1930s.
• Weaver memorandum (1949)
• I have a text in front of me which is written in
  Russian but I am going to pretend that is really
  written in English and that is has been coded in
  some strange symbols. All I need to do is strip
  off the code in order to retrieve the information
  contained in the text.
• MT is a decoding system.

18
Warren Weaver (1947)
ingcmpnqsnwf cv fpn owoktvcv hu ihgzsnwfv
rqcffnw cw owgcnwf kowazoanv ...
19
Warren Weaver (1947)
e e e e ingcmpnqsnwf cv fpn
owoktvcv e e e hu
ihgzsnwfv rqcffnw cw owgcnwf e kowazoanv
...
20
Warren Weaver (1947)
e e e the ingcmpnqsnwf cv fpn
owoktvcv e e e hu
ihgzsnwfv rqcffnw cw owgcnwf e kowazoanv
...
21
Warren Weaver (1947)
e he e the ingcmpnqsnwf cv fpn
owoktvcv e e e t hu
ihgzsnwfv rqcffnw cw owgcnwf e kowazoanv
...
22
Warren Weaver (1947)
e he e of the ingcmpnqsnwf cv fpn
owoktvcv e e e t hu
ihgzsnwfv rqcffnw cw owgcnwf e kowazoanv
...
23
Warren Weaver (1947)
e he e of the fof ingcmpnqsnwf cv fpn
owoktvcv e f o e o oe t hu
ihgzsnwfv rqcffnw cw owgcnwf ef kowazoanv
...
24
Warren Weaver (1947)
e he e of the ingcmpnqsnwf cv fpn owoktvcv
e e e t hu ihgzsnwfv
rqcffnw cw owgcnwf e kowazoanv ...
25
Warren Weaver (1947)
e he e is the sis ingcmpnqsnwf cv fpn
owoktvcv e s i e i ie t hu
ihgzsnwfv rqcffnw cw owgcnwf es kowazoanv
...
26
Warren Weaver (1947)
decipherment is the analysis ingcmpnqsnwf cv fpn
owoktvcv of documents written in ancient hu
ihgzsnwfv rqcffnw cw owgcnwf languages
... kowazoanv ...
27
Warren Weaver (1947)
When I look at an article in Russian, I say to
myself This is really written in English, but it
has been coded in some strange symbols. I will
now proceed to decode.
28
FAHQT can not be achieved

• But Full Automatic High-Quality Translation
  (FAHQT) can not be achieved using todays
  technology.
• Bar-Hillels example (1959),
• John was looking for his toy box. Finally he
  found it. The box was in the pen. John was very
  happy.
• How we can decide the sense of pen is a
  play-pen, and is not the writing tool. It is very
  difficult using todays technology !

29
MT in SAP company.

• SAP uses the mainframe-based Metal MT system for
  translations from German to English.
• SAP see MT as enhancing productivity and of
  growing importance in the companys translation
  methodology.
• SAP has found that using MT, under the best
  circumstances, can be two or four times faster
  than traditional translation methods.

30
Multilingual MT system -- Systran

• The Systran translation from English to Chinese
  is readable.
• Web of Systranhttp//www.systransoft.com
• systran.JPG

31
Multilingual Intelligent hand-phone

• Beijing city guide is a multilingual
  translation hand-phone (Beijing Information
  development Company, 2006-08)
• hand-phone.jpg
• Foreign visitor type in I want to Beijing
  Hotel, hand-phone can translate it as ???????.
• Taxi driver type in ??????, hand-phone can
  translate it as You are welcome to Beijing

32
Translation Resources on Internet

• Internet is the language resource for
  translation.
• Finding data on the Internet is no problem at
  all.
• But finding reliable information is a rather
  difficult task.
• Finding the information you really need can be
  very time-consuming and often frustrating.

33
Three strategies for Internet search

• Institutional search through URL(Uniform Resource
  Locator).
• Thematic search via subject trees.
• Keyword search via search engine. Search engine
  basically consist two components
• A large index of words contained in web
  documents.
• Retrieval software that lets you search for words
  in the index and then display the matching
  documents on the screen.

34
Libraries online and virtual bookstores

• In order to understand the source text, it may be
  as necessary to access libraries and browse
  virtual bookstore.
• Via OPAC(http//catalog.loc.gov),you can search
  main libraries. catalog.jpg
• Via Amazon(http//www.amazon.com), you can browse
  the virtual bookstores on web. amazon.JPG

35
General encyclopedias

• Via Britannica online, you can search
  Encyclopaedia Britannica on line.
• http//www.britannica.com
• britannica.JPG

36
Specialized encyclopedias

• PC Webopedia is to the world of specialized
  online encyclopedias.
• It is a English reference work for information
  and communication technology (ICT). It contains a
  multitude of ICT terms, including elaborate and
  easy-to-understand definitions.
• Via PC Webopedia(http//www.pcwebopedia.com),you
  can search ICT encyclopedias on line.
• webopedia.JPG

37
General monolingual dictionaries

• Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary is
  available online.
• Via Merriam-Webster(http//www.m-w.com), you can
  search either the dictionary or the thesaurus.
• Simply enter your search terms, and click the
  search button.
• M-W.JPG

38
General multilingual dictionaries

• One-Look Dictionary is a search platform allowing
  you to search simultaneously about 600 word
  lists, glossaries, dictionaries and databases.
• Via OneLook(http//www.onelook.com), you can
  search the online multilingual dictionaries.
  one-look.JPG
• Via ????(http//cb.kingsoft.com), you can
  search Chinese-English or English-Chinese
  dictionaries online. kingsoft.JPG

39
Multilingual Terminology databases

• Via Termite(http//www.itu.int), you can search
  online multilingual terminology database of
  International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
  itu.JPG
• Via Eurodicautom(http//europa.eu.int/eurodicautom
  ), you can search the online EU multilingual
  terminology database. In 1999, it contained 5.5
  million entries and 180,000 abbreviations in the
  EUs 11 official languages. eurodautom.JPG

40
Newspaper and magazine archives

• Via Spanish newspaper ABC (http//www.abc.es),
  German newspaper Die Welt (http//www.welt.de),
  American magazine Newsweek (http//www.newsweek.co
  m), you can search the related background
  information for your translation.
• abc.JPG
• welt. JPG
• Newsweek. JPG

41
Translation Resources on CD-ROM

• Translation resources on CD-ROMs are offline
  language resources. CD-ROM can offer information
  offline.
• CD-ROMs are able to store vast amounts of data
  (in general around 650 Mb), They are highly
  suitable for storing multimedia information or
  huge amounts of textual data. The contents of the
  32-volume edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
  can be stored on a single CD-ROM.
• CD-ROMs are fairly cheap to produce.
• Multimedia ability graphics, audio and video
  sequences are easily integrated.
• The use of hyperlinks allows for effective
  networking of entries (for cross-references,
  synonyms, etc)

42
Encyclopedia on CD-ROM

• Encyclopedia of China on CD-ROM?
• encyclop.jpg
• Britannica Concise Encyclopedia on CD-ROM?
• concise-encyclo.JPG

43
Specialized encyclopedia on CD-ROM

• Construction Installation Encyclopedia?
• constrution.JPG

44
General dictionaries on CD-ROM

• Oxford English Dictionary (OED) on CD-ROM?
  OED-3.JPG
• Bibliorom Larouse on CD-ROM?larouse.JPG

45
Electronic dictionaries in palm

• Children talking dictionary and spell corrector
• Various English dictionaries
• Bilingual dictionaries
• Franklin. JPG

46
Computer-assisted terminology management

• Professional translation is mostly technical
  translation.
• A technical translator is forced to keep up with
  the many fast changes that are taking place in
  the fields of information technology,
  manufacturing, business, medicine, biotechnology
  ,etc.
• It would be unrealistic to expect a translator to
  be a nature expert in all these fields.
• But the translator must to be an expert in
  quickly finding the information that he is
  lacking.
• Search for terminology can take up to 75 of a
  translators time).
• Terminology management is a general term for the
  documentation, storage, manipulation and
  presentation of specialized vocabulary. It can
  help the translator to resolve the problems of
  terminology.

47
Trados MultiTerm

• Main functions of Trados MultiTerm(http//trados.
  com)
• Creating a new terminology database entry.
• Importing terminology data.
• Importing data from a word processor
• Retrieving terminology data
• Exporting terminology data
• Creating word lists, glossaries or dictionaries.
• Distributing terminology data
• Exporting data via WinWord
• Exchanging data between a word-processor and
  MultiTerm
• trados.JPG
• trados-term.JPG

48
Corpora as translation tools

• Corpus constitutes the raw textual material for
  various forms of linguistic analysis. The
  parallel corpus can help translator to compare
  the source language and target language.
• Using corpora to check the acceptability of
  translation text.
• Using Internet documents to Create a corpus.
• Retrieving data from your corpus with
  WordSmith(http//www1.oup.com/elt/catalogue/Multim
  edia/Wordsmith).
• Creating the wordlist.
• Concordance shows the occurrence of a given
  search term in its textual context.
• Finding the keywords from a short article.
  wordsmith.JPG
• Using Alta Vista Personal(http//altavista.com)to
  index and search local documents. altvista.JPG

49
Bible bilingual parallel corpus

• Following is the segments of bible
  corpus(http//www.o-bible.com/b5/int.html)
• 11hb5 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?   
• kjv In the beginning God created the
  heaven and the earth.    
• bbe At the first God made the heaven and
  the earth.
• 12hb5 ? ? ? ? ? ? . ? ? ? ? . ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
  ? ? ?    
• kjv And the earth was without
  form, and void and darkness was upon the face of
  the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the
  face of the waters.    
• bbe And the earth was waste and
  without form and it was dark on the face of the
  deep and the Spirit of God was moving on the
  face of the waters.
• 13hb5  ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?    
• kjv And God said, Let there be
  light and there was light.    
• bbe And God said, Let there be
  light and there was light.
• 14hb5  ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?    
• kjv And God saw the light, that it
  was good and God divided the light from the
  darkness.    
• bbe And God, looking on the light,
  saw that it was good and God made a division
  between the light and the dark,
• 15hb5  ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
  ? ? ? ? ? ?    
• kjv And God called the light Day,
  and the darkness he called Night. And the evening
  and the morning were the first day.    
• bbe Naming the light, Day, and the
  dark, Night. And there was evening and there was
  morning, the first day.

50
Translation memories localization tools

• Since many products are based on previously
  existing products, the corresponding
  documentation is also based on prior
  documentation.
• Research has shown that 50 or more of the
  elements in a text can be repeated in the same
  text.
• If those elelments have been translated
  previously, it will be useful for translators to
  be able to recycle that prior work.
• Translation Memories (TMs) recycle existing
  translations so as to reduce time and costs as
  well as improve quality and consistency.

51
Three categories of search results in TMs

• Perfect or exact match The translation unit
  found in the database corresponds exactly to the
  new source text element (100 match).
• Full match The translation unit found in the
  database is identical to a stored translation
  unit with the exception of variable elements such
  as dates, numbers, time, measurements, etc.
• Fuzzy match All other matches that do not match
  an existing segment exactly but range within a
  user-defined minimum match value (e.g. 75) are
  fuzzy matches. The sentence match with the
  highest degree of similarity is displayed first.
  All other matches with a lower degree of
  similarity are added to a match list which can be
  accessed by the user.
• If no match is found, the sentence has to be
  translated manually. The new translation is
  stored in the database.

52
Benefits of using TMs

• With a Translation memory system, the level of
  benefits is proportional to the degree of
  repetition in the document.
• The use of TM can result in enormous savings,
  both for the client and the translator or
  translation agency.
• Increase in income.
• Elimination of repetitive translation tasks.
• Consistency.

53
Translation memory of TRADOS

• Translators Workbench(http//www.trados.com)
• trados-TM.JPG
• SDL-Trados 2006 freelance
• SDL-Trados 2006 professional

54
Software localization tools

• Localization is the process of adapting a product
  to the specific situation of its target market.
  This includes not only translating the texts
  accompanying the product but also adapting to the
  cultural norms of the local market.
• Corel Catalyst (http//alchemysoftware.ie).
  catalyst.JPG
• Passolo (pass software localizer)
  (http//www.passolo.com). passolo.JPG

55
Computer-Aided Translation(Computer-Assisted
Translation)

• Computerized systems responsible for the
  production from one natural language to another,
  with or without human assistance. The central
  core of MT itself is the automation of the full
  translation process (Hutchins Somers, 1992)
• According to the degree of automation or the
  degree of human involvement in the translation
  process, we use following terms
• FAHQT Fully Automatic High-Quality Translation
• FAMT Fully Automatic Machine Translation
• HAMT Human-Aided Machine Translation
• MAHT Machine-Aided Human Translation

56
FAHQT FAMT

• FAHQT, based on the idea that MT systems were
  capable of producing translations of quality
  comparable to that of human translators, was
  abandoned.
• FAMT is possible, its output of translation is a
  raw translation. But the quality of translation
  is not good.

57
HAMT

• In HAMT, the source text is decoded and analyzed
  by the system, not by the human operator, whose
  task consists of assisting in the translation
  process.
• Human involvement
• Pre-editing
• Interaction
• Post-editing

58
Pre-editing

• Preparing the source text in order to avoid the
  problems from the outset.
• Avoid idiomatic expression.
• Avoid omitting pronoun before a verb.
• Avoid omitting relative pronouns.
• Breaking up long sentences into shorter ones.
• Keeping to standard, formal English in which
  grammatical connection are clearly expressed.

59
Human-machine interaction

• The system pauses during the translation process.
• For example,
• when MT can not resolve systematic or semantic
  ambiguities in source text analysis.
• when it can not decide on one target language
  equivalent or the other.
• Errors can be avoided in the analysis stage.

60
Post-editing

• Correction of the target text which generated by
  the MT system.
• Whether post-editing is conducted, and to what
  extent, largely depends on the quality required
  by the user.

61
MAHT

• MAHT includes the use of aids such as electronic
  dictionaries, terminology database, translation
  memory system, and other electronic tools.
• In contract with FAMT and HAMT, in MAHT, the
  decoding and analysis of the source text lies in
  the hands of the translator.
• CAT are sometimes used to cover both HAMT and
  MAHT.

62
????

• 1. ???,??????M,??????????,2004??
• 2. ???,??????? ???????????M,???????,2003??
• 3. D. Jurafsky,J. Martin,????????(???????)M,????
  ???,2005??
• 4. F. Austermuehl, Electronic Tools for
  Translators, St. Jerome Publishing, 2001.

63
Thank you!

• ??!