Overview of Translation Tools - Benefits of Translation Memory Management Software for an International Company

Acknowledgment

Initially my search for a company to support me in writing my thesis was unsuccessful. I subsequently started working for an international company in Virginia. One of my major tasks was the translation of operating manuals and technical documentation in three different languages. After a while, I noticed that many international companies in various business categories were seeking for professionals who are fluent in more than one language. I began taking small translation assignments in my free time. My almost completed degree in computer sciences was definitely an advantage. I had enjoyed studying computer sciences, but I was also always interested in languages, different countries, and mentalities. My language skills and the knowledge that I had acquired through my university studies of the Internet, networking, project management and business generally, led to the idea of combining these two areas into an e-business for translations. Through my research, I concluded that simply having knowledge of languages was quite inadequate as basis for a successful translation business and that there is an entire range of tools to facilitate the translation process and lower its cost. The aim of this thesis is to introduce these different solutions. This topic is especially interesting to me because it is fundamental that a successful translation business to be based upon a profound knowledge of the software solutions available within the translation market.

Many thanks go to my designated tutoring professor for all his help and excellent assistance: Prof. Dr. Wolf Knüpffer. When I initially considered opening an e-business for translations, and decided on writing a thesis related to this subject, I was not exactly sure on what aspects I should focus. Prof. Dr. Wolf Knüpffer helped me narrow my topics down to the ones presented in this thesis.

This thesis is a product of a group of people that supported me thru all my university time, gave me enough self-confidence, and keep my spirit up to finish my degree. In particularly I have to mention Silvia Hofmann, Jens Hannel, and Christine Hofmann. I must acknowledge the incisive and useful comments and advice of Mania Goksen and her husband, as well as Florez family that help me to manage my family during this time.

Above all, I like to thank my parents, Nadja and Nikolaus Dück for mental and financial support during my education, and my sister, Lena, for her inspiration and friendship.

I owe this thesis to my husband Carlos, for his unfailing belief in me, and his encouragement.

Newport News, January 2007

Marina Carrillo

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Table of Contents

Purpose  and Course of Action  8

Analysis  of the Translation Market  11

Impact  of the Internet  11

Increase  in Demand for Translations  12

Translation  Market  13

2.3.1  Definition of Language Translation  14

2.3.2  Development of the Translation Market  14

2.3.2.1  The Market of Machine Translation  14

2.3.2.2  Human Translation  16

Translation  and Translation Management Tools  17

Machine  Translation  17

3.1.1  Brief History of the Machine Translation  17

3.1.2  Basic Features and Terminology  20

3.1.2.1  Direct Translation Systems  20

3.1.2.2  Rule based Translation  21

Interlingual  Systems  21

Transfer  Systems  22

3.1.2.3  Corpus based Methods  25

Statistical  Machine Translation  27

Example-based  Machine Translation  27

3.1.2.4  Hybrid Approaches  30

3.1.2.5  Controlled Language Domain specific and User specific Systems  31

3.1.3  Evaluation of Machine Translation  32

3.1.3.1  IR style Techniques  32

BLEU   33

NIST   33

F-measure   33

METEOR   34

3.1.3.2  String Matching Techniques  34

3.1.4  Reasons to use Machine Translation  34

3.1.4.1  Open Source and Commercial Software  35

3.1.5  Return on Investment  39

3.1.6  Summary  40

3.2

Translation  Memory  41

3.2.1  The Concept of Translation Memory  41

3.2.2  Translation Process and Effects of TM on Translation Process  43

3.2.2.1  Internal Attributes  45

3.2.2.2  Terminology Databases  45

3.2.2.3  Analysis  47

3.2.3  Common Standards and Products  49

3.2.4  Adequate Texts for TM Usage  51

3.2.4.1  Consideration of the documents  51

Updates.   52

Revisions   52

3.2.5  Advantages and Drawbacks of TM  52

3.2.6  Overview of currently available TM Products  54

3.2.6.1  Classical TM Tools  54

3.2.6.2  TM MT Hybrids  55

3.2.6.3  Localization Software with TM  55

3.2.7  Cost effectiveness of TM  55

3.2.8  Summary  56

Globalization  and Localization Software  58

3.3.1  Introduction to Globalization and Localization  58

3.3.2  Differentiation of Terminology  59

3.3.3  Organizations for the Globalization Internationalization and Localization  60

3.3.3.1  LISA  61

3.3.3.2   61

3.3.3.3  ISO  61

3.3.4  Benefits of Internationalized Software Application  62

3.3.5  Conclusion  63

Proposal  for XY Company for Use of Translation Memory Tool  65

Company  Profile  65

Operating  Manuals OPM  65

Current  Translation Process of Operating Manuals  65

4.3.1  Disadvantages of Conventional Translation Process  66

How  Translation Memory Tool Can Benefit the Company  67

4.4.1  How Documentation from the Company is Suitable for TM  67

4.4.2  Benefits from TM  67

Proposal  to Purchase Transit TM from STAR AG  68

4.5.1  STAR AG Brief Company Description  68

4.5.2 STAR AG Transit® Translation Memory ......................................................... 68

4.5.3  Key Benefits for XY of Transit TM  69

4.5.4  System Requirements  70

4.5.5  Installation or Transit TM  70

4.5.6  Additional Software Required to Work with Transit TM  71

4.5.7  Cost Transit TM  71

Conclusion   72

Bibliography   73

List  Electronic References  75

Glossary   79

Appendices   81

List of Figures

Figure  Building Blocks of Direct MT System  21

Figure  Building Blocks of an Interlingual MT System  22

Figure  Building Blocks of Transfer based MT System  23

Figure  Direct and Indirect MT  24

Figure  Verification of Translation Equivalents for Authentication  27

Figure  EBMT Architecture  28

Figure  Screenshot from Linguaphile Translator  36

Figure  Linguatec PT  37

Figure  Babel Fish Translation  38

Figure  Systran MT Engine Systran Premium  38

Figure  Basic Translation Memory Steps  42

Figure  Basic translation process  44

Figure  Translation Process with TM  44

Figure  Lexicological Entry  46

Figure  Terminological Entry  47

Figure  Mailbox Representation in two Different Countries  63

Figure  Translation Process with Transit  70

List of Tables

Table  Number of People Online in Each Language Zone Native Speakers  12

Table  Internet Users by Language  13

Table  Overview of MT Approaches  30

Table  Effectiveness of TM  55

Table  Worldwide Translation Globalization Support Software Revenue by Region  2005

and  in Million US Dollars  59

Table  Translation Memory Tools  84

Table  Competitive Analysis of CAT Tools Vendors  86

List of Abbreviations

Artificial  Intelligence Artificial  NA

Automatic  Language Processing Advisory  NA

Bilingual  Evaluation  NA

Belgian  Quality Translation  NA

Computer-aided  Translation Computer aided  NA

Corpus-Based  Machine  NA

Command  Line  NA

Darwin  Information Typing  NA

European  Association for Machine  NA

Expert  Advisory Group on Language Engineering  NA

Electronic  Business Electronic  NA

Example-Based  Machine  NA

European  Communities European  NA

Fully  Automated Human Quality  NA

Global  Information  NA

Globalization,  Internationalization Localization and  NA

GILT  Metrics GILT  NA

Human-Aided  Machine  NA

HyperText  Markup  NA

Hypertext  Transfer  NA

Internet  Service  NA

European  Association of Translation  NA

International  Organization for  NA

IR Information Retrieval

IT Information Technology

LDC Linguistic Data Consortium

LISA Localization Industry Standards Association

LSP Language Service Provider

MAHT Machine Aided Human Translation

MIF Maker Interchange Format

NLP Natural Language Processing

MT Machine Translation

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

OASIS Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards

OLIF Open Lexicon Interchange Format

OPM Operating Manual

OSCAR Open Standards for Container/Content Allowing Re-use

PT Personal Translator

RTF Rich Text Format

ROI Return-On-Investment

SL Source Language

SRS Software Requirements Specifications

SRX Segmentation Rules Exchange (format)

TBX Termbase Exchange (format)

TCO Total Cost of Ownership

TL Transfer Language

TM Translation Memory

TMF Terminological Markup Framework

TMM Translation Memory Manager

TMDB Translation Memory Database

TMX Translation Memory Exchange

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TransWS Translation Web Services

WWW World Wide Web

W3C World Wide Web Consortium

XHTML Extensible HyperText Markup Language

XLIFF XML Localization Interchange File Format

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1 Purpose and Course of Action

“TRANSLATION is very much like copying paintings.” These are the words of Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), a Russian Poet, Novelist and Translator. The key to translation is not only understanding and being fluent in more than one language and having an understanding of language and culture, but also being able to convey the meaning of the text in one language into the other. However, just the knowledge of different languages is not enough to succeed in the competing world scene of translation. Through the immense development of the Internet, information technology, and ongoing globalization, “translation complexity takes a quantum leap” 1 and forces today’s translators to use computer technology, advanced

software applications, and computer-aided translation tools to meet enhanced translation requirements in a timely manner. In order to be successful translator in today’s fast turn around times, the knowledge of and skills in different translation facilitating programs are essential. Translation is a difficult process, which requires computer and software skills in addition to proficiency. The translation business is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing markets in the world, and as a result, translators must develop efficiencies in their processes to meet the increasing demand and to be able to offer competitively priced services.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the major translation tools available in the marketplace and to illustrate how they benefit the translator in multiple ways. This thesis will combine the essential knowledge of these different software tools and provide the important criteria required to choose the appropriate foreign language translation software.

Organization of the Thesis

Chapter 1, Purpose and Course of Action, describes the purpose of this thesis, and provides an overview.

Chapter 2, Analysis of the Translation Market,

explains the meaning of translation, and presents an outline description of the actual state of the translation market. This chapter demonstrates how strongly the Internet has influenced the demand for instantaneous translation services and has it’s bearing on the translation market. 1 Poul Andersen, Translation Service & MLIS Programme, 1997.

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Chapter 3: Translation and Translation Management Tools, emphasizes the importance of the competency in the software application and how to determine whether the software is appropriate for a particular translator or company. This chapter introduces the main translation facilitating tools. Chapter 3 is divided into three main sections: Machine Translation, Translation Memory Management Tools, and Localization Software. The first two sections give a definition of a particular tool, its purpose, advantages and disadvantages, as well as its costs and return on investment. Furthermore, the two sections describe the evaluation process for each type of tool and give a brief overview of the most used tools on the market. The third section describes briefly the Localization Software. The most important part here is the Translation Memory because it is a subject of the proposal for an international company to purchase this tool.

Chapter 4, Proposal for MM to Use Translation Memory Tool, represents the main purpose of this work: a proposal for an international organization to purchase a Translation Memory. The proposal must persuade the company that a translation memory tool will increase the efficiency of the translation process, bring better consistency in the translated documentation and by doing so, lower the cost of the production of operating manuals in different languages. An introduction of the appropriate translation memory tool for this particular company is present in this chapter.

Moreover, this thesis highlights the importance of proper research and the evaluation of translation tools prior to purchasing and implementing the software in the company, similar to any other clever investment.

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2 Analysis of the Translation Market

The progress in integration of advanced technology and communication is bringing large- scale changes to the economy. Companies use their computer networks, applications, and the Internet to identify potential customers, markets around the world, evaluate services, and compare prices beyond the geographical and economical borders. Today’s business world without the Internet is unthinkable. The Internet and World Wide Web transcend national and geographical barriers and empower companies and individuals to share knowledge and draw resources across geographical and linguistic boundaries. They steer the economy towards multinational participation and international transaction.

2.1 Impact of the Internet

The global Internet infrastructure is developing very rapidly, and approximately 1.1 billion users will have access to the Web by 2007 2 . With the expansion of the Internet, the online

population in non-English speaking regions of the world is growing at increasing rates. For various reasons, such as competitive advantages and increased market requirements, companies are forced to translate now into multiple languages.

Statistics in table 1 clearly show that the English-only world has given ground to a multilingual world.

Now business partners need to communicate even more in different languages and to deal with different cultures. Effective and precise communication clearly lies in the core of any successful business. This is exceptionally difficult if the involved parties do not speak the same language. For this reason, translations tip the scale in today’s global electronic business and furthermore show a strong upward trend. 2 http://www.sdl.com/files/pdfs/idc/IDC416_web.pdf (August 2005).

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Table 1: Number of People Online in Each Language Zone (Native Speakers) 3

2.2 Increase in Demand for Translations

With the development of information technology, the volume of information is vast. Companies are now putting structured implementations in order to deal with this load of information. Translators must keep up, not only with the basics and with nuances of languages and cultures, but also with business and technical terminology. In order to be a successful translator and to be able to offer competitively priced services, translation must be performed fast and accurately. To achieve these goals, various companies offer different translation and translation management tools. There is a wide range of software available to help translators increase their productivity and handle multilingual information, starting from document and content management systems, machine translations, translation memory management tools, to globalization and localization software. According to the Forrester Research, an independent technology and market research company, volume of multilingual web sites were growing during 2003 by a factor of ten and human web content translation was growing at 50% a year. The language translation market has been projected to reach $22.7US billion by the end of 2005 according to a report by Allied Business Intelligence. Table 2 shows Internet growth by languages in March 2006. It is clear that increased volume of information implicates and stimulates the growing demand for translations, and the World Wide Web is becoming truly global. 3 http://global-reach.biz/globstats/index.php3 (March 2004)

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2.3 Translation Market

Language translation is not a new phenomenon. Since people began to talk, they were searching for ways to express themselves and communicate their ideas, thoughts, and opinions to others. All along history, the work of translators has acquired an extraordinary importance in the development and transmission of the cultural heritage of humankind. The companies are able to do business with companies in other countries thanks to the effort of translators. The translation of natural languages underwent a long history. Today, it is experiencing a period of great upheaval. 4 http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm; NOTES: (1) Internet Top Ten Languages Usage Stats were

updated on March 31, 2006. (2) Internet Penetration is the ratio between the sum of Internet users speaking a language and the total population estimate that speaks that specific language. (3) The most recent Internet usage information comes from data published by Nielsen//NetRatings, International Telecommunications Union, Computer Industry Almanac, and other reliable sources. (4) World population information comes from the world gazetteer web site.

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2.3.1 Definition of Language Translation The word "translation" is, etymologically 5 , a "carrying across" or "bringing across": the Latin translatio derives from transferre (trans, "across" + ferre, "to carry" or "to bring"). Language translation, in its most basics, “is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language and production in another language.” 6 Translation can take shape in two main forms: human translation and machine translation. Human translation is a direct translation of text done by a person who is fluent in both source and target languages. Even though the translator is versed in both languages, it is very time consuming and in many cases a costly process. Furthermore, the effort to computerize the translation process can be divided simply into machine translation and computer-assisted translation. Machine translation is based on a set of codes and protocols that involve fully automated and computerized translation of natural-language text without any human intervention. In contrast, computer-assisted or computer-aided translation requires that a human translate that text using computer software designed to support and facilitate the translation process 7 .

2.3.2 Development of the Translation Market

The market is “exploding” of translation technologies on one side and human translator services on the other. The translation industry is one of the most fragmented service sectors in the world. There are 100,000 freelance translators in Europe and over 200,000 in the world. There are an estimated (EUATC base = 400 companies) 1,500 translation companies in Europe and 3,000 worldwide 8 . Their average turnover is in the region of 300,000 Euros per company, i.e. a worldwide turnover of close to 1,000 million Euros, plus 1 billion Euros, i.e. the turnover of the 15 biggest translation companies in the world 9 .

2.3.2.1 The Market of Machine Translation

MT gateways on the Lotus Domino server, AltaVista’s Babel Fish Translation server by Systran, Google Language Tools and many other free translation tools on the Internet are the example of a booming translation industry. Since the first idea of using computers to translate natural language, which was proposed in 1940s, the translation technology has made major improvements. Still, even today software can only translate individual words or rather simple sentences correctly. The results of pure machine translation contain many errors and are often more amusing then useful. A pure machine translation can only be used or understood with the correction of a professional translator. The reason for this is very 5 See Glossary.

6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_translation.

7 Vgl. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation.

8 http://www.euatc.org/conferences/pdfs/boucau.pdf.

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simple. Software can only produce a perfect output when it receives perfect input; and humans almost never communicate with perfect usage of the rules of grammar and terminology upon which software relies to translate one language into another 10 . Language

translation is a difficult process. Even in one’s own native language, things can be misunderstood very quickly. Even quicker, it will happen in a foreign language because the languages are influenced by culture, history, and mentality of a particular country. Due to the differences in dialects, we can, at times, find a word with several distinct meanings, for example the word “tostón.” In Salamanca, Spain, this word refers to a piglet baked in a special way and is a typical local meal. The same word in Andalusia means toasted bread, and in Puerto Rico, “toston” is a fried plantain. Another example of translation from English to German reinforces the difficulties and sometimes even the impossibility for computer software to translate a certain word in a particular sentence. The English word “safe” in two different sentences: “I have a safe home” and “I keep the money in a safe” is the same word with two completely different meanings. In another example, the German word “Messer” can be translated into English as “knife” or as “gager.” These examples show the boundaries of a “pure” machine translation.

Nevertheless, machine translation can be useful in catching the meaning of a text or to get a general idea about the meaning of the overall context. It can be used only for easy sentences or with the correction of a translator. However, machine translation can be very helpful in many cases. For instance, machine translation in form of handheld electronic dictionaries and translators have recently emerged as the modern language and communication solution in many different areas such as traveling, studying languages, and business. With the expansion of global telecommunications, many MT software vendors now offer talking and non-talking electronic dictionaries and interpreters, PDA and mobile phone electronic dictionaries.

A great growth has occurred in the MT services offering on-line and real-time translation of electronic mail messages and chat forums. In this area, it is obvious that only fully automatic systems could possibly operate in real time with user acceptance. Another major use of real- time machine translation is the immediate production of television captions or subtitles in multiple languages. This service would be impossible without real-time fully automatic translation 11

. 9 Source: Common Sense Advisory, Inc.

10 http://www.translationdirectory.com/article1106.htm 11 International Journal of Translation 13, 1-2 Jan-Dec 2001, pp.5-20. Special theme issue on machine translation, edited by Michael S. Blekhman.

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2.3.2.2 Human Translation

The profession of translator dates back many centuries. However, the translators today have a completely new set of skills and tasks and meet completely new challenges than the translators of the early days. Translators today need not only proficiency in the languages themselves, but also in the new technologies designed to manage and facilitate the translation process. Today, it is difficult to keep up with the ongoing development of the translation market. A technical background and understanding is now a requirement for the professional translator.

MT is a system that belongs to artificial intelligence. “Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer sciences that deals with using computers to simulate human thinking.” However, a machine will never be able to operate like the human brain. In recent years, MT systems designed to translate from one language into another vary from a basic word finder for the tourist to complex programs for translating technical and scientific texts. Some software cost as low as 250 US Dollars while others run as high as 250,000 US Dollars and are used from freelancers, companies and government. These MT systems proved that MT cannot replace human translation. 12

The following chapters will address and discuss the issue of translation tools in detail. 12 M. Sofer; 2004: The translator’s Handbook, Rockville Schreiber Publishing, Inc.; Page 88.

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