Translator’s Workbench: Tools and Terminology for Translation and Text Processing

185 Pages·1995·6.423 MB·English

by  Gerhard Heyer (auth.), Marianne Kugler, Khurshid Ahmad, Gregor Thurmair (eds.)

Research Reports ESPRIT
Project 2315 . TWB . Volume 1
Edited in cooperation with the European Commission
M. Kugler K. Ahmad
G. Thurmair (Eds.)
Translator's Workbench
Tools and Terminology for
Translation and Text Processing
Springer
Volume Editors
Marianne Kugler
Philips Kommunikations-Industrie AG
Thurn-und-Taxisstr. 10, D-90327 NOrnberg, Germany
Khurshid Ahmad
AI Group, Department of Mathematical and Computing Sciences
University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH, UK
Gregor Thurmair
Sietec Systemtechnik
Carl-Wery-Str. 22, D-81739 MOnchen, Germany
ESPRIT Project 2315, TWB (Translator's Workbench), belongs to the
Peripheral Systems, Business Systems and House Automation sector of
the ESPRIT Programme (European Specific Programme for Research
and Development in Information Technologies) supported by the European
Commission.
The main results of the TWB project were two prototype versions of the
Translator's Workbench: a high-end or workstation version integrating all
tools mentioned under FrameMaker (and thus Unix), and a low-end or PC
version integrating a subset of tools under MS Windows. In addition, there
are stand-alone versions of, among others, a machine-assisted terminology
elicitation system, of standard and advanced proof-reading tools, and of
document converters to and from the TWB editor.
CR Subject Classification (1991): J.5, 1.2.7, 1.7.1-2
ISBN-13: 978-3-540-57645-7 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-78784-3
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-78784-3
CIP data applied for
Publication No. EUR 16144 EN of the
European Commission,
Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Knowledge Unit.
Directorate-General Information Telecommunications. Information Market
and Exploitation of Research.
Luxembourg.
© ECSC-EC-EAEC. Brussels-Luxembourg. 1995
LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf
of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made
of the following Information.
SPIN: 10132150 4513140-543210-Printed on acid-free paper
Preface
The Translator's Workbench Project was a European Community sponsored research and
development project which dealt with issues in multi-lingual communication and docu
mentation.
This book presents an integrated toolset as a solution to problems in translation and docu
mentation. Professional translators and teachers of translation were involved in the proc
ess of software development, starting with a detailed study of the user requirements and
ending with several evaluation-and-improvement cycles of the resulting toolset.
English, German, Greek, and Spanish are addressed in the contributions, however, some
of the techniques are inherently language-independent and can thus be extended to cover
other languages as well.
Translation can be viewed broadly as the execution of three cognitive processes, and this
book has been structured along these lines:
• First, the translation pre-process, understanding the target language text at a lexico
semantic level on the one hand, and making sense of the source language document on
the other hand. The tools for the pre-translation process include access to electronic
networks, conversion of documents from one format to another, creation of terminol
ogy data banks and access to existing data banks, and terminology dictionaries.
• Second, the translation process, rendering sentences in the source language into equiva
lent target sentences. The translation process refers to the potential of conventional
machine translation systems, like METAL, and of the statistically oriented translation
memory.
• Third, the translation post-processes, making the target language readable at the lexical,
syntactical and semantic level. The translation post-processes include the discussion of
computer-based solutions to proof-reading, spelling checkers, and grammar checkers in
English, German, Greek, and Spanish.
The Translator's Workbench comprises tools for making these three cognitive processes
easier to execute for the translator and gives the state of the art in which translation and
text processing tools are available or feasible.
The Translator's Workbench Project with its interdisciplinary approach was a demonstra
tion of the techniques and tools necessary for machine-assisted translation and documen
tation.
Marianne Kugler, Khurshid Ahmad, Gregor Thurmair
December 1994
List of Authors
Ahmad, Khurshid, University of Surrey
Albl, Michaela, University of Heidelberg
Davies, Andrea, University of Surrey
Delgado, Jaime, UPC Barcelona
Dudda, Friedrich, TA Triumph Adler AG
Fulford, Heather, University of Surrey
Hellwig, Peter, University of Heidelberg
Heyer, Gerhard, TA Triumph Adler AG
Hoge, Monika, Mercedes Benz AG
Hohmann, Andrea, Mercedes Benz AG
Holmes-Higgin, Paul, University of Surrey
Hoof, Toon van, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft IAT
Karamanlakis, Stratis, L-Cube Athens
Keck, Bernhard, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft IAT
Kese, Ralf, TA Triumph Adler AG
Kleist-Retzow, Beate von, TA Triumph Adler AG
Kohn, Kurt, University of Heidelberg
Kugler, Marianne, TA Triumph Adler AG
Le Hong, Khai, Mercedes Benz AG
Mayer, Renate, Fraunhofer GeseJIschaft IAT
Menzel, Cornelia, Fraunhofer GeseJIschaft IAT
Meya Montserrat, Siemens Nixdorf CDS Barcelona
Rogers, Margaret, University of Surrey
Stallwitz, Gabriele, TA Triumph Adler AG
Thurmair, Gregor, Siemens Nixdorf Munich
Waldhor, Klemens, TA Triumph Adler AG
Winkelmann, GUnter, TA Triumph Adler AG
Zavras, AIexios, L-Cube
Table of Contents
I. Introduction -Multilingual Documentation and Communication ............................ 1
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 3
2. Key Players ................................................................................................................... 4
3. The Cognitive Basis of Translation .............................................................................. 6
4. User Participation in Software Development ............................................................... 8
4.1 User Requirements Study ............................................................................ 9
4.2 Software Testing and Evaluation -
Integrating the User into the Software Development Process .................. 14
5. TWB in the Documentation Context .......................................................................... 16
5.1 The Context of Translation Tools .............................................................. 16
5.2 Text Control. .............................................................................................. 18
5.3 Translation Preparation Tools ................................................................... 20
5.4 Translation Tools ....................................................................................... 22
5.5 Post-Translation Tools ............................................................................... 23
6. Market Trends for Text Processing Tools ................................................................... 24
II. Translation Pre-Processes -The "Input" Resources .............................................. 27
7. Document access -Networks and Converters ............................................................ 29
7.1 The Use of Standards for Access from TWB to External Resources ....... 29
7.2 Remote Access to the METAL Machine Translation System ................... 32
7.3 Word Processor <--> ODA Converters ................................................... 34
7.4 Access to a Remote Term Bank: EURODICAUTOM .............................. 37
8. General Language Resources: Lexica ........................................................................ 40
8.1 The Compilation Approach for Reusable Lexical Resources ................... 40
8.2 The Dictionary of Commerce, Finance, and Law (HFR-Dictionary) ....... 44
9. Special Language Resources: Termbank, Cardbox .................................................... 49
9.1 The TWB Termbank .................................................................................. 50
9.2 The Cardbox .............................................................................................. 55
10. Creating Terminology Resources ................................................................................ 59
10.1 Background ............................................................................................... 59
10.2 The Systematic Elicitation of Terms: A Life-Cycle Model ...................... 60
10.3 The Life-Cycle Model of Term Elicitation: Outline of
Computing Resources ............................................................................... 62
10.4 Term Bank Record Format.. ...................................................................... 63
10.5 Monitoring the Life-Cycle Phases ............................................................ 65
viii Table of contents
10.6 Corpus-Based Approach ........................................................................... 67
10.7 Language-Specific Issues: Progress and Problems ................................... 69
10.8 Conclusions ............................................................................................... 69
10.9 Appendix ................................................................................................... 71
m. Translation Processes -Tools and Techniques ..................................................... 73
11. Currently Available Systems: METAL ....................................................................... 75
11.1 System Architecture .................................................................................. 75
11.2 The Translation Environment.. .................................................................. 77
11.3 The Translation Kernel.. ............................................................................ 78
11.4 METAL and TWB ..................................................................................... 81
12. Translation Memory .................................................................................................... 83
12.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 83
12.2 State of the Art .......................................................................................... 84
12.3 The TWB Approach .................................................................................. 85
12.4 A Brief Description of the Implemented System ...................................... 88
12.5 Evaluation of the Translation Memory -First Results After
Training Spanish-German. Spanish-English. German-English ................. 92
12.6 Future Outlook .......................................................................................... 96
12.7 Annex A: Growth of the Databases .......................................................... 97
12.8 Annex B: An Example of Training ........................................................... 98
13. Extended Termbank Information .............................................................................. 100
13.1 Unilingual and Language-Pair Specific Information .............................. 100
13.2 Types of Terminological Information ..................................................... 100
13.3 Transfer Comments ................................................................................. 101
13.4 Encyclopaedia ......................................................................................... 103
IV. Translation Post-Processes -The 'Output' Resources ....................................... 107
14. Proof-Reading Documentation -Introduction .......................................................... 109
15. Word-and Context-Based Spell Checkers ................................................................ 110
15.1 Spanish Spell Corrector. .......................................................................... 110
15.2 Extended Spelling Correction for German .............................................. 112
16. Grammar and Style Checkers ................................................................................... 117
16.1 German Grammar Checker: Efficient Grammar Checking
with an ATN-Parser ................................................................................. 117
16.2 Spanish Grammar Checker ..................................................................... 121
16.3 Verification of Controlled Grammars ...................................................... 123
17. Automatic Syntax Checking ..................................................................................... 128
17.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 128
17.2 A Word-Oriented Approach to Syntax .................................................... 131
Table of Contents ix
17.3 Syntax Description by Equation and Unification .................................... 137
17.4 Parsing Based on the Slot and Filler Principle ........................................ 139
17.5 Parallelism as a Guideline for the System's Architecture ....................... 139
17.6 Error Detection and Correction Without any Additional Resources ....... 142
18. Greek Language Tools .............................................................................................. 145
18.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 145
18.2 Background ............................................................................................. 145
18.3 Greek Language Tools ............................................................................ 147
18.4 Lexicon Development ............................................................................. 150
18.5 Statistical Information ............................................................................. 151
18.6 Exploitation ............................................................................................. 152
V. Towards Operationality -A European Translator's Workbench ..................... 155
19. Integrating Translation Resources and Tools ............................................................ 157
19.1 Translation Assistant Editor -Multilingual Text Processing with
Personal Computers ................................................................................ 157
19.2 The UNIX Integration Procedure ............................................................ 163
20. Software Testing and User Reaction ......................................................................... 168
20.1 Software Quality -The User Point of View ............................................ 168
20.2 Results of Tests and Evaluation .............................................................. 170
20.3 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................... 172
21. Products .................................................................................................................... 174
21.1 Tangible Products: SNI ........................................................................... 174
21.2 Products Planned by TA .......................................................................... 174
References..................................................................................................................... 175
Index of Authors ........................................................................................................... 183
I. Introduction
Multilingual Documentation and Communication