Collaborative translation environment on the Web

Collaborative Translation Environment on the Web Sayori Shimohata, Mihoko Kitamura, Tatsuya Sukehiro, and Toshiki Murata Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. 1-2-27 Shiromi, Chuo-ku, Osaka 540-6025 Japan {shimohata245,kitamura655,sukehiro564,murata656}@oki.co.jp Abstract This paper describes a comprehensive translation environment build on the Internet. This environment is designed not only to translate web pages but also to support translation work on the web. We first introduce a basic idea and implementation of this environment and then compare it to conventional machine translation (MT) systems available on the web and translation memories. Keywords Translation on the web, dictionary building tools, management by communities 1 Introduction There are many translation systems on the web (JEIDA, 01). Once you designate a URL of a web page, you will get the same page translated into your favourite language. Since these systems are mainly used to understand the gist of the web pages, their engines and dictionaries are rather light and small compared with general-purpose MT systems. Recently, however, demand for the translation quality is growing even in such MT systems. This is because of a diversity of web documents. Small MT dictionaries cannot cover the vocabulary dependent on the various domains. To achieve high-quality translation, carefully compiled domain dictionaries are indispensable. But most of these MT systems have no alternative dictionaries on the web. Another trend in web translation is localization through network community. A group of interested people translates web pages and technical reports to get up-to- date information before it appears in print (LINUX, JPNIC, GNU). This type of translation is often carried out on a voluntary basis. We call this “collaborative translation” hereafter. For such group work, an online translation workbench is necessary. However, few MT systems support such translation work on the web. To meet demands of both types of translation, we build an innovative translation environment on the web. This aims to provide high-quality translation for light translation and a user-friendly, efficient translation environment for collaborative translation. In the following sections, we will discuss a basic idea of collaborative translation environment and implementation of necessary functions. Then, we will compare the proposed system with MTs available on the web and translation memories and conclude with future directions. 2 Collaborative Translation Environment Collaborative translation is often carried out by a group of people who are not professional translators but have a good knowledge of the specific subject. Since the group members have different backgrounds and degrees of translation ability, how to share translation knowledge is the key factor in success of the translation project. Sharing translation knowledge means to: � Standardize terms and styles of translation � Store correct translations and reuse them effectively � Make a lively exchange between the members. These are essential to keep translation quality and improve translation productivity. Once you start collaborative translation, you realize the need of these. Under the present situation, many collaborative translation projects utilize their homepages and mailing lists for that purpose. We propose a collaborative translation environment using MT on the web. Figure 1 shows …

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