The next step: moving to an integrated MT system for high-volume environments

[Figures in the original were poorly reproduced] MT Summit VII Sept. 1999 The Next Step: Moving To An Integrated MT System For High-Volume Environments Walter K. Hartmann Lernout & Hauspie Speech and Language Services Division USA Abstract: Within the realm of small to medium-sized translation companies, the demands placed on MT in a high-volume production environment plagued with extremely demanding turn- around times and cost pressures are quite different from most other uses of MT. With the help of an analysis of a typical project the author shows the need for MT to become an integrated part of a translation application which will reduce the amount of extraneous processes to a minimum. In conclusion, a system is proposed which will streamline all the ancillary processes in order conform to customers' turn-around demands without jeopardizing post-editing quality. 1. Introduction With the advent of higher-end PC-based machine translation systems, small and medium-sized translation companies could finally consider machine translation a viable service to offer their clients. Before this point, mainframe or Unix-based systems on the one hand imposed a high demand for hardware and up-front development expenditures, unaffordable to most companies. On the other hand, low-cost and low-end systems did not present a realistic alternative to traditional manual translation. The PC based higher-end systems, in contrast, delivered the needed quality to develop MT plus post- editing into a viable business solution. At the same time they were not placing too many restrictions on the use beyond those inherited from the larger systems, such as the preference for interactive workstation use and, consequently, single-file processing. The main benefit of the availability of PC-based MT systems for the translation business such as mine was at the time was that it was now possible to market services to larger potential clients, those with higher demands for speedy and cost-efficient services. The services we could offer with our own MT system propelled us into being able to offer translation of high-volume service literature and other technical manuals quickly, efficiently and consistently.1 And, after spending many years extolling to clients the virtues of MT, we were suddenly faced with a demand that it deliver what we were promising. Faster turn-around, higher throughput and lower prices are now demanded in dimensions I had never imagined. In today’s fierce climate of commercial translation, MT has moved from a singular, monolithic software application to an integrated piece, albeit the centerpiece, of the translation puzzle.2 What should be, and is often considered, a simple process: turns out to be much more complicated. The many processes that prepare source materials for processing by the MT program, and the actions required to transform the MT output into the desired target files are the other pieces, and it is a great challenge to put these together in a high volume production environment. Once a project consists of several thousand files containing over one and one half million words, with a production schedule that is limited to around 90 days, the academic contemplation of machine …

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