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