Why don’t they use translation tools?

Why don't they use translation tools? Hanne Fersøe Abstract Anybody who has ever had to translate a handbook, on no matter what subject, has experienced the challenge of establishing and maintaining a good and consistent terminology throughout the translation. A terminology data base is an obvious tool for meeting that challenge. So why doesn't everybody use one? The same question can be asked for other translation tools as well. As a language technology consultant, I have heard many different explanations over the years. It will be my pleasure to contribute a number of these as input to the following discussion. Hanne Fersøe Hanne Fersøe is the deputy manager of Center for Sprogteknologi in Copenhagen. She worked as a computational linguist on the Danish Eurotra team, and later for five years as a language technology consultant for a big Danish software house. One of her responsibilities at Center for Sprogteknologi today is language technology consultancy. Center for Sprogteknologi The Center for Sprogteknologi, CST, is a research centre under the Danish Ministry of Research and Information Technology. The Centre was established in 1991 with the purpose of promoting research and development in computational linguistics and language technology. CST has some 20 employees with expertise in machine translation, general and computational linguistics, computational lexicography, computer science and Danish and a number of other languages. The Centre participates in European and national research programmes, and performs commercial development and consultancy under contracts with Danish as well as foreign companies. Hanne Fersøe, Deputy manager Center for Sprogteknologi Njalsgade 80 DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark Tel: +45 35 32 90 73, Fax: +45 35 32 90 89 E-mail: hanne@cst.ku.dk 42 EAMT Workshop, Copenhagen, May 1997 Why don't they use translation tools? Hanne Fersøe 1997 EAMT Workshop Introduction A continuous source of wonder for the language technology consultant is the relatively low market penetration today's translation tools have in spite of the fact that although not perfect, the tools can be extremely helpful, they offer a good return on the investment, and their integration into the documentation process gives the company a competitive advantage. I am therefore grateful that the organising committee of the 1997 EAMT Workshop has offered me this opportunity to share and discuss with its audience a number of reasons for not using language technology that I have encountered over the years as a language consultant. I have examined the reasons a bit closer and interpreted them with the purpose of discovering the motives that may lie behind them. I offer these findings and my recommendations to the companies for discussion in this forum. Just by participating in the workshop this audience is showing an interest and a level of awareness which confirms my general impression of an increasing, positive, and enthusiastic interest in translation tools. Some five years ago it was not unusual to be met with a suspicious and somewhat hostile attitude; that is not normal today. Some of the audience may not be using tools in their organisation today, and knowing that …

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