Development of an intranet MT system adapting to usage domain

MT Summit VII Sept. 1999 Development of an Intranet MT System Adapting to Usage Domain Nobutoshi HATANAKA Information & Communication Systems Headquarters CANON INC. Abstract The machine translation (MT) system came out brilliantly. Today, however, the development of the MT system is losing the vigor it once had. The cause of the system’s infrequent use became clear as the survey of usage patterns in our company progressed. The problem was caused by the fact that the results of the MT system was not as expected. This study analyzed the usage patterns and characteristics of the translated documents, including technical documents of the copier business division’s service department and specifications or drawings prepared in overseas factories. The conclusion drawn from the analysis was that any MT system should include an adequate dictionary and the ability to select an appropriate adverb and verb by applying the co-occurrence rule. Furthermore, an MT system should be able to translate fixed form sentences that are used repeatedly. After the usability of the MT system was improved, the translation staff started using it more frequently at various sections in our company. Moreover, we developed an MT system with the above functions incorporated. Accordingly, the machine-translated documents turned out as expected. In this paper, I will report on the circumstances of our MT development and discuss the requirements for an MT system. 1 Preface The MT system made a glorious debut. Today, however, the speed of its diffusion has slowed down. As we continued to study the actual use of the system in our company, the reasons for the system’s infrequent use became clear. When these causes were eliminated, various sections of our company started to use this system. The cause of the infrequent use of the MT system can be assigned to the fact that not enough effort had been made to adapt the system so that the translated documents conform to the expectations of the users. We began this research by first analyzing the usage patterns and characteristics of the documents to be translated. Then, on the basis of the analysis, we clarified the essential requirements for the MT system. By developing an MT system with the necessary factors added, we tried to adapt the system so that the translated documents conformed to the users' requirements for such documents. In this paper, I will report the whole process of the research and discuss the necessary elements that should be incorporated into an MT system. 2 Aim of introducing the MT system In 1989, the number of overseas addressees of our business correspondence sent from the Service Department of Canon’s Copier Business Division alone were 7,260, including dealers. The correspondence included overseas mail and other documents transmitted mainly through the use of fax machines. The number of business correspondence was 6,259 letters per year, including documents concerning service information, notices of replacement parts delivered, and quick reports related to the quality of new products. The number of copies sent amounted to 90,217 per year, and the …

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