Computers in Translation: A Practical Appraisal PDF
Preview Computers in Translation: A Practical Appraisal
Computers in translation Researchers have been attempting to develop systems to emulate the human translation process for some forty years. What is it about natural language that makes this such a daunting challenge? While other software applications have achieved rapid and lasting success, machine translation has failed to penetrate the worldwide market to any appreciable extent. Does this merely reflect a reluctance to adopt it, or does it signal a more fundamental and intractable problem? Computers in translation is a comprehensive guide to the practical issues surrounding machine translation and computer-based translation tools. Translators, system designers, system operators and researchers present the facts about machine translation: its history, its successes, its limitations and its potential. Three chapters deal with actual machine translation applications, discussing installations including the METEO system, used in Canada to translate weather bulletins and weather reports, and the system used in the Foreign Technology Department of the US Air Force. As a guide for non-specialists seeking to broaden their knowledge of the practicalities of machine translation, it will be of particular interest to translators, technical authors, technical publications managers, students and lecturers in languages and linguistics. John Newton, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Languages at Manchester Polytechnic, also runs his own consultancy business, providing translation services and distributing linguistic software. He has undertaken translation-related international consultancy assignments and has given talks and presentations on machine translation throughout Europe. He has also supervised a number of machine translation installations, and is the author of several articles on machine translation and related topics. Computers in translation A practical appraisal Edited by John Newton London and New York First published 1992 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc. 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. © 1992 John Newton All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0-203-12897-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-20273-2 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-05432-X (Print Edition) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Computers in translation: a practical appraisal/edited by John Newton. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-05432-X (Print Edition) 1. Machine translating. I. Newton, John, 1944– P308.C67 1992 418'.02'0285–dc20 91–41614 CIP This book is dedicated to the expertise and wisdom of its contributors and to the marvel of natural language. Contents Figures ix Contributors x Preface xvi Abbreviations and acronyms xviii 1 Introduction and overview John Newton 1 2 The story so far: an evaluation of machine translation in the world today Jeanette Pugh 14 3 Made to measure solutions Annette Grimaila in collaboration with John Chandioux 33 4 The Perkins experience John Newton 46 5 Machine translation in a high-volume translation environment Muriel Vasconcellos and Dale A.Bostad 58 6 Esperanto as an intermediate language for machine translation Klaus Schubert 78 7 Limitations of computers as translation tools Alex Gross 96 8 Computerized term banks and translation Patricia Thomas 131 9 The translator workstation Alan Melby 147 vii viii Contents 10 SYSTRAN: it obviously works but how much can it be improved? Yorick Wilks 166 11 Current research in machine translation Harold L.Somers 189 Bibliography 208 Glossary of terms 222 Index 228 Figures 5.1 Spanish-English unedited machine translation at PAHO 60 5.2 English-Spanish unedited machine translation at PAHO 62 7.1 The effectiveness of computer translation 103 8.1 Information provided for each term in EURODICAUTOM 135 8.2 Example of a completed record for the entry term ‘measles virus’ in the Surrey term bank with British English as the source language (SL). Not all record fields are necessarily completed. (The record format is under revision.) 136 ix
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