NEW POSSIBILITIES IN MACHINE TRANSLATION

Abstract

There is a growing need for language translation of documents in commerce, government, science, and international organizations. At the same time, translation by computer (MT) is reaching the stage where it can deliver significant cost savings (systems are being sold in Japan that reputedly reduce the time required for translation by up to 50%). Although fully automated high-quality translation is technically not feasible today or in the near future, a number of recent theoretical developments make possible MT systens that are more powerful and effective than existing ones. These developments include: better representation techniques, a clearer understanding of semantics for translation, more complete grammars, and better generation and parsing technology. By making optimal use of existing technology, new MT projects can reach a sophisticated level of performance within a short time. This paper provides reasons for starting a new MT program and recommends the establishment of three small MT projects that address the same domain but use different theoretical frameworks.