Machine Translation: its History, Current Status, and Future Prospects

Machine Translation: its History, Current Status, and Future Prospects Jonathan Slocum Abstract Elements ot the history, state of the art, and probable future of Machine Translation (MT) are discussed. The treatment is largely tutorial, based on the assumption that this audience is, for the most part, ignorant of matters pertaining to translation in general, and MT in particular. The paper covers some of the major MT R&D groups, the general techniques they employ(ed), and the roles they play(ed) in the development of the field. The conclusions concern the seeming permanence of the translation problem, and potential re-integration of MT with mainstream Computational Linguistics. Introduction Siemens Communications Systems, Inc. Linguistics Research Center University of Texas Austin, Texas We are now into the fourth decade of MT, and there is a resurgence of interest throughout the world -- plus a growing number of ~ and MAT (Machine-aided Translation) systems in use by governments, business and industry. Industrial firms are also beginning to fund M(A)T R&D projects of their own; thus it can no longer be said that only goverement funding keeps the field alive (indeed, in the U.S. there is no government funding, though the Japanese and European governments are heavily subsidizing MT R&D). In part this interest is due to more realistic expectations of what is possible in MT, and realization that MT can be very useful though imperfect; but it is also true that the capabilities of the newer MT systems lie well beyond what was possible just one decade ago. ~chine Translation (MT) of natural human languages is not a subject about which most scholars feel neutral. Thzs field has had a long, colorful career, and boasts no shortage of vociferous detractors and proponents alike. During its first decade in the 1950"s, interest and support was fueled by visions of high-speed high-quality translation of arbitrary texts (especially those of interest to the military and intelligence communities, who funded MT projects quite heavily). During its second decade in the 1960"s, disillusionment crept in as the number and difficulty of the linguistic problems became increasingly obvious, and as it was realized that the translation problem was not nearly so amenable to automated solution as had been thought. The climax came with the delivery of the National Academy of Sciences ALPAC report in 1966, condemning the field and, indirectly, its workers allke. The ALPAC report was criticized as narrow, biased, and short-sighted, but its recommendations were adopted (with the important exception of increased expenditures for long-term research in computational linguistics), and as a result MT projects were cancelled in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. By 1973, the early part of the third decade of MT, only three government-funded projects were left in the U.S., and by late 1975 there were none. Paradoxically, MT systems were still being used by various government agencies here and abroad, because there was simply no alternative means of gathering information from foreign [Russian] sources so quickly; in addition, private companies were developing and selling MT …

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