Authoring and Documentation Workflow Tools for Haitian Creole: A Minority Language

Although research has been conducted by several institutes on how to process written text for minority and vernacular languages, no academic research project thus far seems to have produced a usable, functional, authoring or translation tool for end-user native speakers of these types of languages. On the other hand, a set of software programs has been in the making for twenty years outside of academia.

Mason, Marilyn. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Babel Not: Machine Translation for the Technical Communicator

Machine Translation, though useful in certain cases, is still not, and may never be the one-size-fits-all solution for translation needs. Any translation used for commercial or professional purposes must be at the very least checked and double-checked by human translators.

WTB Language Group (2005). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Babelfish: Real-Time Machine Translation on the Internet

On December 9, 1997, Digital Equipment Corporation and SYSTRAN A.G. launched AltaVista Translation Service, the first European language translation service for Web content. For the first time, non-English speaking users can translate information on the predominantly English speaking Web in real time.

Ament, Kurt. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Caterpillar Technical English and Automatic Machine Translation  

Caterpillar is developing an Automatic Machine Translation (AMT) system for translating product support literature into eleven languages. Source language authors write in Caterpillar Technical English (CTE) which uses a constrained English language domain and sophisticated spelling, lexical, grammar and disambiguation software. CTE tools are accessed through pull down menus in the author's text editor. Integrating the source language author into the translations process using CTE has allowed the development of the AMT system which completely eliminates the need for human post-editing of the translated service literature.

Gallup, Sharlene. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Language>Translation>Machine Translation

Compendium of Translation Software

A directory of commercial machine translation systems and computer-aided translation support tools.

John Hutchins (2007). Resources>Software>Localization>Machine Translation

Development, Use and Profitability of Translation Memory Systems

Product life spans and documentation production times are becoming increasingly short and the expenditures for documentation are rising simultaneously with increasing product complexity. Hence, translation projects are becoming more costly as the parallel increasing documentation complexity.

Knauf, Ansgar. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Documentation>Localization>Machine Translation

The European Association for Machine Translation

The European Association for Machine Translation (EAMT) is an organization that serves the growing community of people interested in MT and translation tools, including users, developers, and researchers of this increasingly viable technology.

EAMT (2005). Articles>Language>Translation>Machine Translation

Fast Online (Machine) Translation - But...?

Even if the attainable quality of automatic translation systems is insufficient under certain conditions, and despite careful preparation of the original text, nevertheless the translation provides a useful basis for a technical translator. The automatic translation greatly simplifies the production of a foreign language text and leads, all in all, to an efficient translation process. For example, the translation of a customer Website with the help of an automatic translation system (i.e. post-edited machine translation) cost us only a third of the time, which we had previously calculated as pure 'manual work'.

Thiele, Ulrich. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

An Introduction to Machine Translation

The mechanization of translation has been one of humanity's oldest dreams. In the twentieth century it has become a reality, in the form of computer programs capable of translating a wide variety of texts from one natural language into another. This book introduces methods adopted in current systems

Hutchins, W. John and Harold L. Somers. Academic Press (1992). Books>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Java Localization with Translation Memory eXchange Standard

One of the main concerns of internationalization consists of separating the main source code from the texts, the labels, the messages and all the other objects related to the specific language in use. This article briefly explain the TMX standard and a simple TMX Java bridge.

Asuni, Nicola. evolt (2005). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Linguistic Issues in Authoring for Technology-Enabled Translation  

For many corporations, growing international is almost a must. Obviously, human translators play a key role in this difficult venture. A range of computer tools aimed at expediting the translation process are now being used by translators. However, whether or not translation tools are used, translators feel frustrated and blame technical writers for their flaws. Authoring does not seem to be done with translation in mind, and the linguistic issues to be solved up front are sometimes countless. An efficient, cost-effective, and high-quality translation requires the right combination of ingredients, and proper authoring will have a major impact on the entire process.

Rivas, Juan-Carlos. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Machine Translation

Machine translation links - Not really internationalization but sometimes usefull

i18nGurus.com. Resources>Directories>Translation>Machine Translation

Machine Translation - 2001 Has Already Arrived

The easiest way to cope with existing language barriers undoubtedly is the use of translation programs, electronic helpers that translate texts automatically. However, with high expectations meeting poor quality translation results in the past, press media regularly concluded that users had better learn the language themselves or employ at least a human translator. Yet a closer look at modern machine translation (MT) programs allows a more subtle view.

Bauer, Elisabeth. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Machine Translation - A New Dimension and What You Can Expect

Instead of 'translation', AltaVista offered me unbelievable junk, evidently, an unedited MT version of American promotional material. The text was unreal, the result of a myth: You click a button and the translation is staring at you. You are in the middle of a jungle.

Klein, Fred. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Machine Translation - Mystery, Misery or Miracle

As one of the first users of commercial MT in the United States, and as a senior professional translator, I see MT as one of many 'tools.' As an independent expert without connections to the industry I can be objective. Since 1980 I have used one system for years and have worked on and tested others. Few translators have years of experience in both the conventional and the MT fields.

Klein, Fred. TC-FORUM (1997). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Machine Translation and Multilingual Technical Communication  

The demand by the global market for products which have been localized has brought a whole set of issues and concerns to international technical communication. Of particulur interest is the need to translate technical documentation into a number of languages without sacrificing the necessary timeto-market. Old solutions and processes are insufficient. This paper explores some of the computational tools now offered by the machine translation industry for the facilitation of multilingual document translation as modern corporations need it.

Bennett, Winfield Scott. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Machine Translation and Technical Communcation  

Machine translation, the use of computers for translating between languages, is only now coming of age, just at a time when there is increasing need for such technology. Views of machine translation range from realistic assessments to extravagant statements for and against the technology. The reality is that machine translation can provide high-speed automated quality translation depending on a variety of factors; it is not a panacea for all translation problems. Successful machine translation requires human-computer interaction which promotes the strengths of each. Machine translation has reached a stage at which it can contribute to multilingual technical communication.

Bennett, Winfield Scott. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Language>Translation>Machine Translation

Machine Translation Today and Tomorrow  

The field of machine translation (MT) was the pioneer research area in computational linguistics during the 1950s and 1960s. When it began, the assumed goal was the automatic translation of all kinds of documents at a quality equalling that of the best human translators. It became apparent very soon that this goal was impossible in the foreseeable future.

Hutchins, W. John. Gardez Vlg (2002). Articles>Language>History>Machine Translation

Machine Translation: An Objective Look and Primer  

Machine Translation is a wonderful technology partner for the technical communicator, saving, under the right circumstances, time and money. As with any partnership, roles, responsibilities, and accountability must be clearly defined. In this human-machine partnership, the technical communicator shoulders most of the responsibility. There are many translation systems available, and the one that is best for you can be identified by considering, among other things, the purpose of the translation, its audience, the document’s size, and the desired quality. Despite the sophistication of the systems currently on the market, a human translator is a requirement for most post-translation editing!

Luttrell, Carol. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Machine Translation: General Overview  

This chapter introduces the main concepts and methods used for machine translation systems from the beginnings of research in the 1950s until about 1990; it covers the main approaches of rule-based systems (direct, interlingua, transfer, knowledge based), and the principal translation tools; and it concludes with a brief historical sketch.

Hutchins, W. John. Oxford Univ Press (2003). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Preparing Your Web Site for Machine Translation

Machine translation is a sophisticated technology. However, it is not as sophisticated as human language. Understanding how MT works on the Web helps designers and developers prepare Web pages for MT. Preparatory tactics improve the usability of MT output.

O'Connell, Theresa A. IBM (2001). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

SALTing the Alphabet Soup

The language industries are rapidly embracing the use of translation tools such as automatic terminology lookup, terminology mining, terminology consistency checkers, and machine translation. Authoring tools that involve access to a termbase are also appearing, at least in the context of controlled language, but will over time no doubt also be used in the authoring processes where the syntax is less controlled.

Wright, Sue Ellen. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

SAPHelp: A Multilingual Authoring Tool  

SAPhelp is a proprietary authoring tool for documenting and translating on-line. It allows development, documentation, and translation to function concurrently. Its documentation structure lessens the need for redundant storage of texts. It provides version and authorization control and assigns work to authors and translators.

Ladd, Dennis D. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Content Management>Localization>Machine Translation

Should I Use Machine Translation?

Machine translation is somewhat like the child who, when good, was very nice to have around but who, when bad, was just awful. For some guidance in deciding whether machine translation is likely to succeed in your particular environment.

Melby, Alan K. TTT (1995). Articles>Language>Translation>Machine Translation

Towards a Definition of Example-Based Machine Translation  

The example-based approach to MT is becoming increasingly popular. However, such is the variety of techniques and methods used that it is difficult to discern the overall conception of what example- based machine translation (EBMT) is and/or what its practitioners conceive it to be. Although definitions of MT systems are notoriously complex, an attempt is made to define EBMT in contrast to other MT architectures (RBMT and SMT).

Hutchins, W. John. IAMT (2005). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation