TransRouter : a decision support tool for translation managers

Margaret King


Abstract
Translation managers often have to decide on the most appropriate way to deal with a translation project. Possible options may include human translation, translation using a specific terminology resource, translation in interaction with a translation memory system, and machine translation. The decision making involved is complex, and it is not always easy to decide by inspection whether a specific text lends itself to certain kinds of treatment. TransRouter supports the decision making by offering a suite of computer based tools which can be used to analyse the text to be translated. Some tools, such as the word counter, the repetition detector, the sentence length estimator and the sentence simplicity checker look at characteristics of the text itself. A version comparison tool compares the new text to previously translated texts. Other tools, such as the unknown terms detector and the translation memory coverage estimator, estimate overlap between the text and a set of known resources. The information gained, combined with further information provided by the user, is input to a decision kernel which calculates possible routes towards achieving the translation together with their cost and consequences on translation quality. The user may influence the kernel by, for example, specifying particular resources or refining routes under investigation. The final decision on how to treat the project rests with the translation manager.
Anthology ID:
1999.mtsummit-1.40
Volume:
Proceedings of Machine Translation Summit VII
Month:
September 13-17
Year:
1999
Address:
Singapore, Singapore
Venue:
MTSummit
SIG:
Publisher:
Note:
Pages:
272–277
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/1999.mtsummit-1.40
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Margaret King. 1999. TransRouter : a decision support tool for translation managers. In Proceedings of Machine Translation Summit VII, pages 272–277, Singapore, Singapore.
Cite (Informal):
TransRouter : a decision support tool for translation managers (King, MTSummit 1999)
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PDF:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/update-css-js/1999.mtsummit-1.40.pdf