Interactive machine translation
Encyclopedia
Interactive Machine Translation (IMT), is a specific sub-field of
computer-aided translation. Under this translation
paradigm, the
computer software
that assists the human translator attempts to predict the
text the user is going to input by taking into account all the information it
has available. Whenever such prediction is wrong and the user provides feedback
to the system, a new prediction is performed considering the new information
available. Such process is repeated until the translation provided matches the
user's expectations.
Interactive machine translation is specially interesting when translating
texts in domains where it is not admissible to output a translation containing
errors, hence requiring a human user to amend the translations provided by the
system. In such cases, interactive machine translation has been proved to
provide benefit to potential users
.
Nevertheless, there is no commercial software
implementing interactive machine translation as of yet and work done
in the field is restrained to academic research.
computer-aided translation paradigm, where the human translator and the
machine translation system were intended to work as a tandem
. This first work was extended within the TransType research project, funded by the
Canadian government. In this project, the human interaction
was aimed towards producing the target text for the first time by embedding
data-driven machine translation
techniques within the interactive translation
environment with the goal of achieving the best of both actors: the efficiency
of the automatic system and the reliability of human translators.
Later, a larger-scale research project, TransType2, funded by the European Commission
extended such work by analyzing the incorporation of a complete
machine translation system into the process, with the goal of producing a complete
translation hypothesis, which the human user is allowed to amend or accept. If
the user decides to amend the hypothesis, the system then attempts to make the
best use of such feedback
in order to produce a new translation hypothesis that
takes into account the modifications introduced by the user.
Recent work on involving an extensive evaluation with human users
revealed the fact that interactive machine translation may even be used by users
that do not speak the source language in order to achieve near professional translation
quality. Moreover, it also elucidated the fact that an interactive scenario is more beneficial
than a classic post-edition scenario.
translation hypothesis to the user. Then, the user may accept the complete
sentence as correct, or may modify it if he considers there is some error.
Typically, when modifying a given word, it is assumed that the prefix until
that word is correct, leading to a left-to-right interaction scheme. Once the
user has changed the word considered incorrect, the system then proposes a new
suffix, i.e. the remainder of the sentence. Such process continues until the
translation provided satisfies the user.
Although explained at the word level, the previous process may also be
implemented at the character level, and hence the system provides a suffix
whenever the human translator types in a single character. In addition, there
is ongoing effort towards changing the typical left-to-right interaction scheme
in order to make human-machine interaction
easier
within the MIPRCV project, funded by the Spanish government.
A similar approach is used in the Caitra
translation tool.
evaluation should take place in experiments involving human users. However,
given the high monetary cost this would imply, this is seldom the case.
Moreover, even when considering human translators in order to perform a true
evaluation of interactive machine translation techniques, it is not clear what
should be measured in such experiments, since there are many different
variables that should be taken into account and cannot be controlled, as is
for instance the time the user takes in order to get used to the process.
Typically, interactive machine translation is measured in laboratory conditions
by using the key stroke ratio or the word stroke ratio. Such
criteria attempt to measure how many key-strokes or words did the user need
to introduce before producing the final translated document.
computer-aided translation,
the main attractive of the former with respect to the latter is the interactivity. In
classical computer-aided translation, the translation system may suggest one translation
hypothesis in the best case, and then the user is required to post-edit
such hypothesis. In contrast, in interactive machine translation the system produces a
new translation hypothesis each time the user interacts with the system, i.e. after each
word (or letter) has been introduced.
computer-aided translation. Under this translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
paradigm, the
computer software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
that assists the human translator attempts to predict the
text the user is going to input by taking into account all the information it
has available. Whenever such prediction is wrong and the user provides feedback
Feedback
Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
to the system, a new prediction is performed considering the new information
available. Such process is repeated until the translation provided matches the
user's expectations.
Interactive machine translation is specially interesting when translating
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
texts in domains where it is not admissible to output a translation containing
errors, hence requiring a human user to amend the translations provided by the
system. In such cases, interactive machine translation has been proved to
provide benefit to potential users
.
Nevertheless, there is no commercial software
Commercial software
Commercial software, or less commonly, payware, is computer software that is produced for sale or that serves commercial purposes.Commercial software is most often proprietary software, but free software packages may also be commercial software....
implementing interactive machine translation as of yet and work done
in the field is restrained to academic research.
History
Historically, interactive machine translation is born as an evolution of thecomputer-aided translation paradigm, where the human translator and the
machine translation system were intended to work as a tandem
Tandem
Tandem is an arrangement where a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction....
. This first work was extended within the TransType research project, funded by the
Canadian government. In this project, the human interaction
Human–computer interaction
Human–computer Interaction is the study, planning, and design of the interaction between people and computers. It is often regarded as the intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, design and several other fields of study...
was aimed towards producing the target text for the first time by embedding
data-driven machine translation
Machine translation
Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.On a basic...
techniques within the interactive translation
environment with the goal of achieving the best of both actors: the efficiency
of the automatic system and the reliability of human translators.
Later, a larger-scale research project, TransType2, funded by the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
extended such work by analyzing the incorporation of a complete
machine translation system into the process, with the goal of producing a complete
translation hypothesis, which the human user is allowed to amend or accept. If
the user decides to amend the hypothesis, the system then attempts to make the
best use of such feedback
Feedback
Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
in order to produce a new translation hypothesis that
takes into account the modifications introduced by the user.
Recent work on involving an extensive evaluation with human users
revealed the fact that interactive machine translation may even be used by users
that do not speak the source language in order to achieve near professional translation
quality. Moreover, it also elucidated the fact that an interactive scenario is more beneficial
than a classic post-edition scenario.
Process
The interactive machine translation process starts with the system suggesting atranslation hypothesis to the user. Then, the user may accept the complete
sentence as correct, or may modify it if he considers there is some error.
Typically, when modifying a given word, it is assumed that the prefix until
that word is correct, leading to a left-to-right interaction scheme. Once the
user has changed the word considered incorrect, the system then proposes a new
suffix, i.e. the remainder of the sentence. Such process continues until the
translation provided satisfies the user.
Although explained at the word level, the previous process may also be
implemented at the character level, and hence the system provides a suffix
whenever the human translator types in a single character. In addition, there
is ongoing effort towards changing the typical left-to-right interaction scheme
in order to make human-machine interaction
Human-machine interaction
Human–machine Interaction is the interaction between machines and the persons who operate them. An old-fashioned term is is Man-machined Interaction - Related terms:...
easier
within the MIPRCV project, funded by the Spanish government.
A similar approach is used in the Caitra
Caitra
Caitra is a translation tool developed by the University of Edinburgh. This Computer Assisted Tool or CAT tool is provided from an online platform, accessed from http://tool.statmt.org/ or http://www.caitra.org. It's based on the AJAX Web.2 technologies and the Moses decoder...
translation tool.
Evaluation
Evaluation is a difficult issue in interactive machine translation. Ideally,evaluation should take place in experiments involving human users. However,
given the high monetary cost this would imply, this is seldom the case.
Moreover, even when considering human translators in order to perform a true
evaluation of interactive machine translation techniques, it is not clear what
should be measured in such experiments, since there are many different
variables that should be taken into account and cannot be controlled, as is
for instance the time the user takes in order to get used to the process.
Typically, interactive machine translation is measured in laboratory conditions
by using the key stroke ratio or the word stroke ratio. Such
criteria attempt to measure how many key-strokes or words did the user need
to introduce before producing the final translated document.
Differences with classical computer-aided translation
Although interactive machine translation is a sub-field ofcomputer-aided translation,
the main attractive of the former with respect to the latter is the interactivity. In
classical computer-aided translation, the translation system may suggest one translation
hypothesis in the best case, and then the user is required to post-edit
Postediting
Postediting “is the process of improving a machine-generated translation with a minimum of manual labour”. A person who postedits is called a posteditor. The concept of postediting is linked to that of pre-editing...
such hypothesis. In contrast, in interactive machine translation the system produces a
new translation hypothesis each time the user interacts with the system, i.e. after each
word (or letter) has been introduced.
See also
- Machine translationMachine translationMachine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.On a basic...
- Statistical machine translationStatistical machine translationStatistical machine translation is a machine translation paradigm where translations are generated on the basis of statistical models whose parameters are derived from the analysis of bilingual text corpora...
- Computer-aided translation
- Computational linguisticsComputational linguisticsComputational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective....
- PosteditingPosteditingPostediting “is the process of improving a machine-generated translation with a minimum of manual labour”. A person who postedits is called a posteditor. The concept of postediting is linked to that of pre-editing...
- TranslationTranslationTranslation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...