Technology in Translation

Mohsen Mahdavi
 Objectives
A Practical introduction to Technology in Translation

A. Machine Translation (MT)

B. Computer Aided Translation (CAT) tools and Translation Management Systems

(TMS)
 Machine Translation vs. CAT Tools
The terms “computer-assisted translation” and “machine translation” sound similar, and it’s
easy to get them confused. But there is a significant difference between the two, with very
different results.
Machine Translation: Fast and Cheap, but Inaccurate
Machine translation is accomplished by feeding a text to a computer algorithm that
translates it automatically into another language. That is, no human is involved in the
translation process.
The advantages of machine translation include cost and speed.
The major disadvantage is lack of accuracy. There will be grammar and syntax errors
throughout, though the gist of the article can certainly be discovered at this time. To correct
these errors, machine translated documents need to go through a process called “Post-
Editing”. Will it ever become possible for a machine to replace a human being in the field of
translation? Such a scenario is highly improbable to happen anytime soon.
 Machine Translation vs. CAT Tools

Computer-Assisted Translation: Human Translation Enhanced with Computerized Tools

Computer-Assisted Translation is a human translation carried out with the aid of
computerized tools. That is, a human translator is the one reading and deducing the meaning
of the source text and transferring it into the target language. They are simply utilizing
computerized translation tools to help them work more quickly and accurately.
Translation with CAT Tools (Example: Trados Studio) is a very different method. CAT tools
require a legitimate, knowledgeable linguist to operate them. This type of translation is a
complete translation. The final product can be used whenever critically accurate translations
are required. CAT Tools assist the translator by providing translations for those phrases and
sentences that the linguist has previously translated. The translator still reviews every string
of text in the document. This method allows the linguist to work and a faster pace while still
maintaining the utmost accuracy throughout the document.
 Top 7 Machine Translation Software
Google Translate
Bing Microsoft Translator
SYSTRAN Translate
Yandex
Amazon Translate
IBM Watson Language Translator
Cloud Translation API
 Persian Language Support
This is a table showing that whether Persian Language is supported by the following
applications or not.
Google Bing Microsoft SYSTRAN Amazon IBM Watson Translation.com Yandex
Translate Translator Translate Translate

Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes

 Google Translate
It’s hard to believe that ten years ago Google Translate supported only 2 languages. There are 103 of them now.
The service translates more than 100 billion words a day and is one of the most popular tools for people
worldwide to have a conversation with each other without any barriers.
Benefits
• It’s convenient. All you have to do is just paste your text to get its immediate translation. There’s no need for
communicating with people and discuss terms of cooperation.
• It’s fast. It takes seconds to receive a ready translation of your source text.
• It’s free. You don’t have to pay anyone for the translation services.
• It recognizes almost any language. It’s very difficult to find a human translator who knows all the languages in
the world.
Drawbacks
it has one serious flaw – inaccuracy. The translation process of a machine is based on recognizing the words and
translating them one by one rarely following the grammar and punctuation rules.
It doesn’t use glossary and TM.
The translation needs revision and edition.
This kind of translation allows you to get an idea of what the text may be about but deprive you of the language
beauty and sometimes even alter the meaning of the text. It can’t analyze the context and choose the most
appropriate meaning of a word according to it.
 A sample of Translation with Google Translate

Source: After Twenty Years by O. Henry

The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively.

.‫پلیس ضرب و شتم با شگفت انگیز از خیابان باال رفت‬

While the appropriate translation would be:
.‫افسر گشت با وقاری خاص از خیابان عبور کرد‬
 ‫‪A sample of Translation with Google Translate‬‬

‫‪Source: After Twenty Years by O. Henry‬‬

‫‪Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning‬‬
‫‪now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his‬‬
‫‪stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace.‬‬

‫درها را به محض رفتن امتحان کرد و کلوپ خود را با حرکات بسیار پیچیده و پرتحرک پیچید ‪ ،‬چرخانده و اکنون چشم‬
‫خود را به چشم می اندازد تا در حیاط آرام آرام کار کند ‪ ،‬مأمور با فرم استال وی و ضربات جزئی ‪ ،‬تصویر خوبی از‬
‫نگهبان صلح‪.‬‬
‫‪While the appropriate translation would be:‬‬
‫همانطور که درب ها را بررسی کرده و به پیش می رفت‪ ،‬باتوم خود را هنرمندانه پیچ و تاب می داد ‪ ،‬گاهگاهی می‬
‫چرخید و نگاه با ابهتش را به شاهراه می انداخت و با رفتاری مصمم وتکبری ناچیز‪ ،‬چهره خوبی از یک حافظ صلح‬
‫بوجود آورده بود‪.‬‬
 A sample of Translation with Bing Microsoft
Translator
Source: After Twenty Years by O. Henry

The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively.

.‫پلیس در ضرب و شتم نقل مکان کرد تا خیابان به طور چشمگیری‬

While the appropriate translation would be:

.‫افسر گشت با وقاری خاص از خیابان عبور کرد‬
 ‫‪A sample of Translation with Bingo Microsoft‬‬
‫‪Translator‬‬

‫‪Source: After Twenty Years by O. Henry‬‬

‫‪Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning‬‬
‫‪now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his‬‬
‫‪stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace.‬‬

‫تالش درب به عنوان او رفت ‪ twirling ،‬باشگاه خود را با بسیاری از جنبش های پیچیده و هنرمندانه ‪ ،‬عطف در حال‬
‫حاضر و پس از آن به بازیگران خود چشم ناظر خود را ‪ adown‬اقیانوس آرام ‪ ،‬افسر ‪ ،‬با فرم خود را سخت و جزئی‬
‫سوئگر ‪ ،‬ساخته شده یک تصویر خوب از نگهبان از صلح است‪.‬‬

‫‪While the appropriate translation would be:‬‬

‫همانطور که درب ها را بررسی کرده و به پیش می رفت‪ ،‬باتوم خود را هنرمندانه پیچ و تاب می داد ‪ ،‬گاهگاهی می‬
‫چرخید و نگاه با ابهتش را به شاهراه می انداخت و با رفتاری مصمم وتکبری ناچیز‪ ،‬چهره خوبی از یک حافظ صلح‬
‫بوجود آورده بود‪.‬‬
 A sample of Translation with SYSTRAN Translate
Source: After Twenty Years by O. Henry

The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively.

.‫ خیابان را به سرعت تکان داد‬،‫پلیس در حال ضرب و شتم‬

While the appropriate translation would be:

.‫افسر گشت با وقاری خاص از خیابان عبور کرد‬
 ‫‪A sample of Translation with SYSTRAN Translate‬‬

‫‪Source: After Twenty Years by O. Henry‬‬

‫‪Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning‬‬
‫‪now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his‬‬
‫‪stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace.‬‬

‫در حالی که او می‌رفت‪ ،‬باشگاه خود را با حرکت‌های فریبنده و هنری پر پیچ و خم می‌چرخانید‪ ،‬اکنون می‌چرخانید و چشم‌‬
‫های تیزبین خود را می‌چرخانید‪ ،‬و پاسدار‪ ،‬با شکل‌های استارت‌گونهاش‪ ،‬تصویر خوبی از نگهبان صلح به دست می‌داد‪.‬‬
‫‪While the appropriate translation would be:‬‬
‫همانطور که درب ها را بررسی کرده و به پیش می رفت‪ ،‬باتوم خود را هنرمندانه پیچ و تاب می داد ‪ ،‬گاهگاهی می‬
‫چرخید و نگاه با ابهتش را به شاهراه می انداخت و با رفتاری مصمم وتکبری ناچیز‪ ،‬چهره خوبی از یک حافظ صلح‬
‫بوجود آورده بود‪.‬‬
 A list of CAT tools
Matecat

Wordfast Anywhere

Across
Smartcat
OmegaT
MemoQ

SDL Trados Studio

 Matecat
• A free online CAT tool
• Access to free machine translation databases from Google Translate and Microsoft Translator
• Access to terminology databases
• Translation Memory
• Access to concordance tools
• Field specific
• Add comments and seek help from others
• Supporting 72 text formats
• Quality assurance via quality checker

The CAT tool consists of three main components. The first one is the file importer which allows to import the files to translate (XLIFF format),
set the language pair and specify the machine translation engine to test.

The second component is the translation editor where the user performs the translation. The text is presented in a tabular view and the
document is broken down into minimal units (segments). For the active segment (i.e. the segment the translator is editing), three translation
matches are presented with their relative quality match and source (TM, MT). The editor also displays the time to edit for each segment and
some information on the job such as progress, total words, words remaining to translated, expected time before completion.

The third component is the editing log which displays statistics on the time to edit and post-editing effort for each translated segment and for
the entire translation job. From the same component, users can download a CSV report for each job to perform a more accurate statistical
analysis.
 A sample of Translation with Matecat
Source: After Twenty Years by O. Henry

The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively.

.‫پلیس ضرب و شتم با شگفت انگیز از خیابان باال رفت‬
While the appropriate translation would be:
.‫افسر گشت با وقاری خاص از خیابان عبور کرد‬
 ‫‪A sample of Translation with Matecat‬‬

‫‪Source: After Twenty Years by O. Henry‬‬

‫‪Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning‬‬
‫‪now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his‬‬
‫‪stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace.‬‬

‫مانطور که به پیش می رفت‪ ،‬درب ها را امتحان می کرد و باتوم خود را با حرکات بسیار غامض و پرتحرک می چرخاند‪،‬‬
‫هر از گاهی بر می گشت و چشمان مراقبش را بر شاهراه خالی از سکنه می انداخت ‪ ،‬و با رفتاری مصمم و تکبری‬
‫اندک ‪ ،‬تصویر خوبی از یک نگهبان محله ساخته بود‪.‬‬

‫‪While the appropriate translation would be:‬‬

‫همانطور که درب ها را بررسی کرده و به پیش می رفت‪ ،‬باتوم خود را هنرمندانه پیچ و تاب می داد ‪ ،‬گاهگاهی می‬
‫چرخید و نگاه با ابهتش را به شاهراه می انداخت و با رفتاری مصمم وتکبری ناچیز‪ ،‬چهره خوبی از یک حافظ صلح‬
‫بوجود آورده بود‪.‬‬
 Wordfast
A cheaper alternative to Trados
The demo version is available but limited.
Access to TM and Terminologies.
Support for Multiple File Formats
Export and Import Translation Packages
Multilingual Translation Projects
Segment Filtering
Cross-Platform Compatibility with Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.
Unlimited TM and Glossary Access
Integration with Machine Translation
Real-Time Quality Assurance (Transcheck): warns about potential errors in spelling,
grammar, punctuation, numbers, and terminology consistency.
 Across Language Server
A project management system
Translation Memory
Terminology management
 Smartcat
It supports a variety of input formats including text documents, power point presentations, or
even scanned documents.
It has QA checker and comment section.
You can make changes to the source or target file.
You can also have a Live Chat if a client invites you.
It is not available for our region.
It also doesn’t support Persian language.
 OmegaT
It is intended for professional translators.
Its features include:
Segmentation
TM with fuzzy matching and match propagation
Glossary matching
Dictionary matching
Reference material searching
Inline spell-checking using Hinspell spelling dictionaries
Available in 27 languages
 MemoQ
Access to TM
Access to Terminology
Access to Machine Translation
Available in Desktop version
 SDL Trados Studio
The world’s most trusted translation software: It enhances productivity, accuracy, and consistency.
The market leader in providing translation software
The ability to manage, edit, and review translation projects
Connection to Machine Translation Tools
Adaptive Machine Translation: a self-learning machine translation engine
Automatic Spell check
Providing reports and analysis for your projects
Segmentation capability
The ability to create Translation Memories
The ability to create Termbases
Access to field-specific glossaries
I-cloud Technology
The ability to read 80 file formats such as PDF, WORD, InDesign.
Autosuggest dictionary
Translation Quality Assessment
GroupShare ability
It supports Persian Language well.
 SDL Trados Studio
The history of SDL Trados Studio:

https://www.sdltrados.com/resources/infographics/history-timeline.html
 How SDL Trados Studio works?
Translation Memory as the heart of Trados.
It possesses a complete dictionary from various languages.
It is enriched with the grammatical rules and structures of each language.
The ability to update itself based on previously-translated documents.
 Practical Introduction to SDL Trados Studio
An introduction to Trados Studio environment

Creating a new project

Creating a Translation Memory

Creating a Termbase

Alignment

Groupshare Project

QA checker

Autosuggest Dictionary
Thanks for Your Participation.