TAIWAN Business.EU l services l production support 19
work is certainly gradually changing. After
two decades of using translation memories
and fuzzy logics, specialized systems for
machine translations, customized for a
specific area and a particular client, are
more and more popular. We have been
developing the statistical system of machine translation called STAR MT, in cooperation with university professors of computer
linguistics, for several years now. We
prepare individual algorithms from dual
and single language entities and client
terminology for large and long-term
projects. The result is a very efficient
solution, where suggestions from the
translation memory and fuzzy matches are
supplemented with machine translation
suggestions, which the translator checks
and modifies as needed. Our clients, thus,
see a great reduction of time and costs,
while the quality of the translation is
maintained.
A project needs to be of a specific size and
continuity in order for MT technology to
be effective; between 500 to 1 000 pages
of new text per year. The text should be
simple, factual and instructional, such as
texts in user manuals and technical
documentation, where the objective is an
accurate and direct translation, as opposed
to a literary and creative translation. The
original text needs to be well-written, using
unified terminology, formatting, style,
abbreviations etc. The machine translation
produces a word-for-word direct translation. If this technology is to save time and
costs, we cannot expect for the translator
to regroup and significantly modify the
structure of the sentences when editing the
machine translation. We also cannot
expect the same results in all languages.
Romance and Germanic languages yield
good results, as do some Slavic languages.
But you can forget about Hungarian or
Estonian. Today's MT systems are not able
to grasp the complexity of these languages. Using a machine translation should be
one of the links in the entire process, from
the efficient and high-quality creation of a
resource text, through the use of a translation memory, fuzzy matches and terminolo-
gy, to the application of machine translation and its constant improvements through
the import of new texts into the MT algorithm.
Another new trend is the optimization of
creating technical documentation. There
are modern software tools on the market,
which help authors of technical documentation to articulate information that needs
to be included in the technical manual
most efficiently. Intelligent software offers
similar texts from previous documentation
based on a half-written sentence, which
the author can use as inspiration. A
notification function for prohibited
terminology, with a synonym suggestion,
is also available. All the functionalities,
including morphology analysis, is also
available to authors of documentation in
many languages. The result is documentation written in a unified style, using consistent terminology, where the final translation into target languages will be faster and
cheaper since the suggested texts already
have their translations in the translation
memory.
Whether you need translation for your
products as an exporter or translation for
products imported from abroad, you can
save a lot of time and money by making
the entire localization process more
efficient. You can purchase the CAT
software and the tool for optimization of
documentation
creation
for
your
documentation department, and provide
training for your internal translators and
authors. If you work with a translation
agency, choose one that uses CAT
software and will let you take advantage of
its financial benefits.
Ing. László Jankovics
laszlo.jankovics@star-group.net
tel.:+420 608 320 100
www.star-group.net
www.taiwanbusiness.eu