Human Strategies in Translation and Interpreting what MT can Learn from Translators

19 Pages·0.223 MB·English

by  Heizmann Susanne.

Human Strategies in
Translation and Interpreting (cid:2)
what MT can Learn from
Translators
Susanne Heizmann
Report (cid:2)(cid:3)
November (cid:2)(cid:3)
November (cid:2)(cid:3)
Susanne Heizmann
Universit(cid:4)at Hildesheim
Institut fu(cid:4)r Angewandte Sprachwissenschaft
Computerlinguistik
Marienburger Platz (cid:5)(cid:5)
(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:3)(cid:7) Hildesheim
Tel(cid:8)(cid:9) (cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:7)(cid:5)(cid:7)(cid:13) (cid:14)(cid:14)(cid:6) (cid:15) (cid:6)(cid:5)(cid:2)
e(cid:15)mail(cid:9) suse(cid:2)cl(cid:3)uni(cid:4)hildesheim(cid:3)de
This work was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Research and
Technology (cid:10)BMFT(cid:13) in the framework of the Verbmobil Project under Grant
(cid:11)(cid:7) IV (cid:7)(cid:11)(cid:7) P (cid:12) (cid:8) The responsibility for the contents of this study lies with the
author(cid:8)
Human Strategies in Translation and Interpreting
Abstract
Translation (cid:2)whichwe thinkofasa broaderconceptabovewritten
translationaswellasinterpreting(cid:2)isbasicallyacomplexdecisionpro(cid:2)
cess(cid:3) The decisions are based on available information(cid:3) Translation
problems arise when the translator does not have necessary informa(cid:2)
tion available at the moment of the translation(cid:3) This is where trans(cid:2)
lation strategies come into e(cid:4)ect(cid:5) which translators use consciously or
subconsciously(cid:3) We think that both forms of translation use basically
the same type of strategies(cid:5) which are(cid:5) however(cid:5) not easy to detect or
to measure(cid:3) Furthermore(cid:5) we think that the model of translation as a
decision process also applies to machine translation(cid:3)
In our paper(cid:5) we try to prove this using the example of reduction
as a translation strategy(cid:3) Reduction is used both in written transla(cid:2)
tion and in interpreting(cid:5) but is more prominent in the latter(cid:3) In our
work(cid:5) we focus upon dialogue interpreting(cid:5) a non(cid:2)simultaneous type
used in face(cid:2)to(cid:2)face interactions(cid:3) We try to outline how reduction
strategies could be modelled in a machine interpreting system (cid:6)such
as VERBMOBIL(cid:7)(cid:5) using the concept of the target of translation(cid:3)
This paper was presented at the International Conference
(cid:8)MT (cid:2) Ten Years On(cid:9)(cid:5) (cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:3)(cid:2)(cid:10)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:10)(cid:10)(cid:3)(cid:13)(cid:12) in Cran(cid:14)eld(cid:3)
(cid:7)
Report (cid:2)(cid:3)
Contents
(cid:0) Introduction (cid:2)
(cid:3) About the concepts (cid:4)Translation(cid:5) and (cid:4)Interpreting(cid:5) (cid:2)
(cid:2) On Dialogue Interpreting (cid:6)
(cid:6) About the concepts (cid:4)Translation Problem(cid:5) and (cid:4)Translation
Strategy(cid:5) (cid:7)
(cid:7) Which information sources does a human translator use as a
basis for his(cid:8)her decisions (cid:9) (cid:10)
(cid:12)(cid:8)(cid:7) The persons involved (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:16)
(cid:12)(cid:8)(cid:5) The Communicative Aim (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:16)
(cid:12)(cid:8)(cid:6) The Translation Order (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:16)
(cid:12)(cid:8)(cid:3) The professional knowledge of the interpreter (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:14)
(cid:12)(cid:8)(cid:12) The dialogue situation (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:2)
(cid:12)(cid:8)(cid:17) Interdependencies of the interpreter(cid:18)s knowledge(cid:19) aims and
strategies (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:0) (cid:7)(cid:7)
(cid:10) How all this could be used for machine interpreting (cid:0)(cid:2)
(cid:11) Target of Translation (cid:12) An example (cid:0)(cid:2)
(cid:13) Conclusion and Outlook (cid:0)(cid:7)
(cid:14) Bibliography (cid:0)(cid:10)
(cid:5)
Human Strategies in Translation and Interpreting
(cid:2) Introduction
The ideas and concepts outlined in this paper have originated in a subsec(cid:15)
tion of the VERBMOBIL research project(cid:19) which is designed to develop a
machine interpreting system for face(cid:15)to(cid:15)face dialogue situations(cid:8) More than
(cid:6)(cid:11) research groups all over Germany(cid:19) in England and in the U(cid:8)S(cid:8) cooperate
in this project(cid:19) which is sponsored by the German Ministry for Research and
Technology(cid:8)
The work on human translation strategies is carried out in co(cid:15)operation bet(cid:15)
(cid:0)
ween Hildesheim University (cid:19) Hamburg University(cid:19) and the Technical Uni(cid:15)
(cid:2)
versity of Berlin (cid:19) involving computer scientists(cid:19) linguists(cid:19) translators(cid:19) and
social scientists(cid:8)
This contribution is intended to outline the current state of our research into
translation strategies for machine interpreting(cid:8) Work on the basic concepts
is still in progress(cid:8)
(cid:3) About the concepts (cid:4)Translation(cid:5) and (cid:4)In(cid:6)
terpreting(cid:5)
Translation of written texts and translation of speech(cid:19) i(cid:8)e(cid:8) interpreting(cid:19) have
common as well as divergent aspects(cid:8) In this paper(cid:19) however(cid:19) we do not want
to list di(cid:20)erences and similarities between them(cid:19) but to pick out one or two
aspects which are especially prominent in one special form of interpreting we
are interested in(cid:19) mamely dialogue interpreting(cid:8)
In German(cid:19) we are lucky to have the concepts (cid:21)U(cid:4)bersetzen(cid:18) for written trans(cid:15)
lation and (cid:21)Dolmetschen(cid:18) for interpreting(cid:19) so that an unambiguous (cid:21)Transla(cid:15)
tion(cid:18) is left to designate the superconcept above these two(cid:8) This terminology
(cid:3)
is used by (cid:22)Rei(cid:23)(cid:24)Vermeer (cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:7)(cid:25) (cid:8) Within this paper(cid:19) in order to make clear
what we are talking about(cid:19) we are going to oppose (cid:21)written translation(cid:18) and
(cid:21)interpreting(cid:18)(cid:19) whereas (cid:21)translation(cid:18) designates the superconcept(cid:8)
(cid:0)
see (cid:2)Hauenschild(cid:3)Prahl (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:8) (cid:2)Prahl (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:5)(cid:9)(cid:7)(cid:8) (cid:2)Hauenschild(cid:3)Prahl(cid:3)Schmitz(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:5)(cid:9)(cid:7)(cid:10)
(cid:2)
see (cid:2)Schmitz (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:5)(cid:9)(cid:7)(cid:8) (cid:2)Schmitz(cid:3)Jekat(cid:11)Rommel (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:5)(cid:9)(cid:7)(cid:10)
(cid:3)
Based on (cid:2)Kade (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:7)(cid:10)
(cid:6)
Report (cid:2)(cid:3)
(cid:7) On Dialogue Interpreting
Dialogue interpreting is a non(cid:15)simultaneous type of interpreting which is dif(cid:15)
ferent from other interpreting situations or monolingual dialogue situations(cid:8)
In the following(cid:19) I will try to outline some of the most prominent features of
the dialogue interpreting situation(cid:8)
(cid:0)
The discourse is dialogic(cid:19) this means that
(cid:15) both partners alternately produce the (cid:21)text(cid:18) to be interpreted(cid:19)
(cid:15) the utterances are segmented into turns(cid:19) which are generally the
translation units(cid:8)
(cid:15) the language to be (cid:21)processed(cid:18) is spontaneous speech(cid:19) with all its
special characteristics and de(cid:26)ciencies(cid:8)
Asaconsequence(cid:19) the translator does nothave access tothe whole
(cid:21)text(cid:18) from the beginning(cid:19) as may be the case with other consecu(cid:15)
tive or sometimes even with simultaneous interpreting situations(cid:8)
(cid:15) Moreover(cid:19) the interpreter has to work bi(cid:15)directionally(cid:8)
(cid:0)
The interpreter is present in the face(cid:15)to(cid:15)face encounter(cid:19) and therefore
(cid:15) nonverbal information plays an important role in the interpreting
process(cid:8)
(cid:15) the interpreter has to act as a (cid:21)mediator(cid:18)(cid:19) e(cid:8)g(cid:8) for turntaking pro(cid:15)
blems(cid:19) and actively participates in the dialogue(cid:8) This corresponds
(cid:4)
to a so(cid:15)called tryadic dialogue situation (cid:8)
There are as yet very few models in traditional translation theory that de(cid:15)
scribe the characteristic features of the dialogue interpreting process in a
comprehensive way(cid:8) Such theories are(cid:19) however(cid:19) necessary if some of the
knowledge we hold on translation strategies is to be made usable for a com(cid:15)
puter programme(cid:8)
Before I try to sketch such a description of the dialogue interpreting process(cid:19)
I will have to explain a few concepts we use when talking about translation
in general(cid:8)
(cid:4)
(cid:2)Wadensj(cid:14)o(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:5)(cid:15)(cid:7)describesinherworkthedialogueinterpretingsituation(cid:8)amongother
things(cid:8) from a sociological viewpoint(cid:10) The distinction of dyadic vs(cid:10) triadic discourse goes
back to (cid:2)Simmel (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:12)(cid:9)(cid:7)(cid:10)
(cid:3)
Human Strategies in Translation and Interpreting
(cid:8) About the concepts (cid:4)Translation Problem(cid:5)
and (cid:4)Translation Strategy(cid:5)
(cid:5)
In our opintion(cid:19) translation is basically a complex decision process (cid:8) The
translator has to base his or her decisions upon available information(cid:19) which
he or she can get from various sources (cid:10)about these sources see section (cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:8) If
the translator does not have necessary information available at the moment
of a special decision(cid:19) this will result in a translation problem(cid:8)
This means that the following parameters de(cid:26)ne a translation problem
(cid:10)(cid:22)Prahl (cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:25)(cid:19) (cid:22)Hauenschild(cid:24)Prahl(cid:24)Schmitz (cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:25)(cid:13)(cid:9)
(cid:0)
A decision has to be made(cid:8)
(cid:0)
There is a de(cid:26)cit in information(cid:19)
(cid:0)
at a concrete moment within the translation process(cid:19)
(cid:0)
in a special situation(cid:8)
Additionally
(cid:0)
the de(cid:26)cit in information (cid:24) the translation problem has to be regarded
(cid:6)
on the basis of the available knowledge(cid:8)
Note that(cid:19) in this de(cid:26)nition(cid:19) the translator does not necessarily have to be
conscious of having a translation problem(cid:8)
The strategies translators use to solve translation problems can be de(cid:26)ned(cid:19)
according to (cid:22)Krings (cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:14)(cid:17)(cid:25)(cid:19) in the following way(cid:9)
Translation strategies are (cid:21)potentially conscious plans to solve what to an
individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular translation
goal(cid:18)(cid:8)
Krings bases his de(cid:26)nition on (cid:26)ndings from second language acquisition re(cid:15)
search(cid:19) where (cid:21)communication strategy(cid:18) is de(cid:26)ned in a corresponding way by
(cid:22)Faerch(cid:24)Kasper (cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:14)(cid:6)(cid:25)(cid:8)
The choice between a given set of translation strategies (cid:10)which will be ex(cid:15)
plained in greater detail in (cid:12)(cid:8)(cid:17)(cid:13) will(cid:19) of course(cid:19) be in(cid:27)uenced(cid:19) among other
(cid:5)
This view is also held by (cid:2)Levy(cid:16) (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:13)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:10)
(cid:6)
The lastpointon thelist refers tothe fact thatevenknowledgeavailablein principle(cid:8)
e(cid:10)g(cid:10) knowledge the translator has in his(cid:3)her memory(cid:8) must be brought into the focus of
his(cid:3)herattention(cid:8) which may(cid:8) under certain circumstances(cid:8) causean availabilityproblem(cid:10)
(cid:12)
Report (cid:2)(cid:3)
things(cid:19) by the kind of information de(cid:26)cit a translator has(cid:8) This involves
trying to de(cid:26)ne what kinds of information sources a translator can possibly
use(cid:19) and how and when he or she can activate these sources(cid:8)
(cid:9) Which information sources does a human
translator use as a basis for his(cid:10)her
decisions (cid:11)
In this section(cid:19) I will try to outline some of our hypotheses concerning hu(cid:15)
man translation strategies(cid:19) taking the dialogue interpreting situation as an
example(cid:8)
Fig(cid:8) (cid:7) shows some of the relevant factors we think are present in a dialogue
interpreting situation(cid:8) They a(cid:20)ect the decisions the interpreter has to make(cid:19)
and thus (cid:15) directly or indirectly (cid:15) determine the (cid:21)output(cid:18)(cid:19) i(cid:8)e(cid:8) the respective
target language utterances(cid:8)
These factors provide the human interpreter with information he or she can
use in order to solve translation problems(cid:19) as well as with information he
or she must use in order to analyze the situation correctly and build up
hypotheses about the types of translation to use(cid:8)
I
TO
PI AimC PI
(S/R) (S/R)
T
Dialogue
Fig(cid:16) (cid:0) Relevant factors in the dialogue interpreting situation
(cid:17)
Human Strategies in Translation and Interpreting
The following (cid:26)ve points discuss shortly some of these factors(cid:19) using the
concepts given in the diagramme(cid:8)
(cid:0)(cid:2)(cid:3) The persons involved
PI (cid:28) Primary Interactants
These persons share a communicative aim and enter into the
dialogue(cid:8)
I (cid:28) Translation Initiator
This person decides that the communication cannot be sucessful
without translation and gives the translation order to the
translator(cid:8) He or she can be identical with one of the other
persons including the translator(cid:19) but this need not be the case(cid:8)
T (cid:28) Translator
(cid:0)(cid:2)(cid:4) The Communicative Aim
For the interpreter(cid:19) the aim which the two primary interactants (cid:10)PIs(cid:13) try to
reach in their dialogue is a very important piece of information to have(cid:8) Such
information can of course be given explicitly(cid:19) or the interpreter has to deduce
itfromotherinformation(cid:19) such asthepersons involved(cid:19) their behaviour(cid:19) their
relationshiptoeachother(cid:19)oreventhe(cid:26)rstutterancestheyaretomake(cid:8) Hints
at or comprehensive information about the communicative goal can be given
to the interpreter via the translation order(cid:8)
(cid:0)(cid:2)(cid:5) The Translation Order
The translation order is a widely discussed concept in theories of (cid:10)written(cid:13)
(cid:4)
translation (cid:10)e(cid:8)g(cid:8) (cid:22)Nord (cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:7)(cid:25)(cid:19) (cid:21)Ubersetzungsauftrag(cid:18)(cid:13)(cid:8) Its supporters claim(cid:19)
among other things(cid:19) that the intended use of a target text should have (cid:15) at
least (cid:15) as much in(cid:27)uence on the choice of the type of translation to be used
and the translation strategies to be applied as any feature of the source text(cid:8)
A translation order should specify the intended use of the target text (cid:10)which
tells us such essential things as into which language the source text must
be translated(cid:19) as well as the communicative function intended(cid:13)(cid:19) but also the
origin of the source text(cid:19) information about its author(cid:19) etc(cid:8) If we try to
apply these requirements to the translation order in a dialogue interpreting
(cid:16)
Report (cid:2)(cid:3)
situation(cid:19) we (cid:26)nd that in this case it must convey at least the following
information(cid:9)
(cid:0)
the aim of communication
(cid:0)
the native languages and cultural backgrounds of the PIs(cid:19)
(cid:0)
the professional(cid:19) personal etc(cid:8) backgrounds of the PIs and of the trans(cid:15)
lation initiator(cid:19) as far as they are relevant for the dialogue situation(cid:19)
(cid:0)
the relationship between the PIs(cid:19) e(cid:8)g(cid:8) hierarchical positions that may
de(cid:26)ne a dialogue as symmetric or asymmetric(cid:19) cooperative or non(cid:15)
cooperative(cid:19) etc(cid:8)
(cid:0)
previous communication between the interactants and its results(cid:19)
in short(cid:19) all relevant information the interpreter cannot gain from his or her
knowledge about stereotypical features of dialogue situations in general(cid:8)
For a human interpreter(cid:19) a certain amount of redundancy between informa(cid:15)
tion he or she is explicitly given and information that can be deduced from
the situation(cid:19) is quite useful and can lead to a greater sureness in the choice
of translation strategies(cid:8)
(cid:0)(cid:2)(cid:6) The professional knowledge of the interpreter
Besides his or her command of the languages involved and(cid:19) if applicable(cid:19) spe(cid:15)
cial knowledge of the subject the PIs are going to talk about(cid:19) an interpreter
possesses translational knowledge(cid:8) It includes an inventory of standard or
schematic types of translation and a set of translation strategies(cid:8)
Also(cid:19) during his or her education and by professional experience(cid:19) the inter(cid:15)
preter learns about stereotypical features of di(cid:20)erent interpreting situations(cid:8)
One of these stereotypes is the way a typical dialogue between strangers of
two given nationalities will begin(cid:19) proceed(cid:19) and end(cid:19) if one of these persons
wants(cid:19) for example(cid:19) to sell something to the other person(cid:8) After salutations
and an introductory phase(cid:19) there will be a negotiation phase(cid:19) for which cer(cid:15)
tain predictions can be made on what types of utterances will succeed each
other(cid:8)
(cid:14)