Subject: New Translation Software and Tools
The Web's First Language Is English, but New Translation Software and
Tools Are Turning It Into a Multilingual Community.
By MARIE-CLAUDE LORTIE, Special to The Times
http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/CUTTING/topstory.html-QA@world.std.comtd.com
MONTREAL--Americans had been using e-mail for quite some time when
the French government decided last May that the official translation
for e-mail would be mel. This convenient expression sounds just like
"mail" with a French accent and fits perfectly on a business card
under the word tel, for "telephone."
But when it comes to "browsing the Net," the language policy is not
as clear. In the French-speaking province of Quebec, for example,
where the percentage of people who browse is much higher than in
France, some may call their tool butineur, some call it fureteur or
even navigateur.
Others just call it a "browser."
Americans tend to see the French sensitivities as silly, but there's
nothing trivial about the problem of making the Internet--the famously
"global" network--something more than an English-only medium.
Until recently, this wasn't much of an issue. The Internet was born
in the United States, and the few non-Americans who had an interest in
it or access to it tended to be English-speaking elites.
But that's changing fast. And as non-English-speaking nations and
individuals race to get onto the Net, a whole new industry is
developing to build the software, services and translation tools
needed to allow everyone to talk to one another.
The range of products and services required to make the Net
multilingual is vast. On a simple level, there's the need for software
and e-mail programs that can handle different alphabets and character
sets.
While major software firms have long translated their programs into
many languages--a process known as "software localization"--the Net
introduces a new wrinkle: Netscape and Microsoft, for example, have
versions of their browsers available in many languages, but users are
forced to pick their alphabet or character type. You can't send an
e-mail message in Chinese, for example, if you're using the English
version of the software.
Zi Corp. in Calgary has developed e-mail software that solves that
problem without often-cumbersome plug-ins. The software allows users
to choose from among three Chinese character sets--those used in Hong
Kong, Taiwan and China--when writing, whereas most other solutions
offer only two.
But the biggest challenge in breaking down language barriers on the
Net lies in developing processes and technologies that can provide
rapid, accurate translation of Web pages, electronic databases,
advertising copy, e-mail messages and even the chatter in a chat room.
The Holy Grail is fully automated translation, where one could, say,
type an e-mail in one language and have a correspondent across the
ocean receive it in another.
That goal remains elusive: The often-illogical subtleties of
linguistic expression make translation a difficult task for computers,
and even the most sophisticated programs still make errors that would
be obvious to a first-year language student.
There are a few automatic translation products for consumers on the
market. A Fairfax, Va., company called Globalink sells a product
called Globalink E-mail Translator for Eudora, which translates
e-mail messages automatically in five West European languages.
Transparent Language in Hollis, N.H., has a product called Easy
Translator that translates Web sites as well as mail.
But these programs provide, at best, a rough translation, and
sometimes yield egregious errors that can make them risky to use for
anything other than recreational purposes.
Other companies, including Santa Clara, Calif.-based Logos, one of
the pioneers in the field, and La Jolla-based Systran, have developed
machine-translation solutions aimed at the booming corporate market
for language services. They're often used as part of a process that
also includes human translators.
"Machine translation is appropriate in certain limited circumstances,
but it's not yet ready for widespread use," says Steven Fingerhood,
chairman and chief executive of a San Francisco translation service
company called Direct Language Communications.
Fingerhood says there are other tools that are having a more
immediate impact on the translation world, including what's known as
"translation memory." That's based on the simple concept of storing
translations for reuse, so that a given text never needs to be
translated more then once.
Direct Language has developed its own tools for facilitating
different pieces of the process, such as software that can
automatically extract text from Web documents and then reinsert the
human-translated text into the original format.
Indeed, there is a host of hybrid approaches that use technology to
support human translation. A number of mostly small companies,
including many in Southern California, now broker human translation
services via the Internet: Customers send a Web text or an e-mail,
and the company then routes it to either an in-house translator or a
freelance contractor--promising in some cases to turn it around
within hours.
Montreal-based Alis Technology has developed a product called Alis
Translation Solution, which company founder Jean Bourbonnais calls
"tele-translation middleware."
ATS connects companies that need translation to people or computers
that can offer translation. ATS can work, for example, with machine
translation software developed by Systran, or with traditional
translation services such as those provided by Berlitz and many other
companies.
The Los Angeles Times, in what's believed to be a first in the
newspaper industry, announced last month that it will use ATS to
translate portions of its Internet edition into Spanish and French
and eventually Japanese.
The Times project will use fully automatic translation, but will
initially focus only on tourist information and entertainment
listings. Information of that type has a limited vocabulary and thus
can be handled far more effectively by a computer than other kinds of
texts.
There may be other areas where automatic translation will soon play a
large role. "Machine translation can be used in areas of scientific
publishing, for example, where vocabularies are constrained," says
Pierre Delagrave, a vice president at Cossette Communications
Marketing, Canada's largest advertising firm.
And as people increasingly use the Net as a source for routine
information, such as weather reports, airplane schedules and hotel
listings, users will be indulgent when they find a site that's in
their own language, Delagrave believes.
"If . . . you're looking for something about the Netherlands on the
Net, and you find a site from there in your language, you'll be happy
with what you get," Delagrave says. "There are situations where
imperfect translation is acceptable."
Just how quickly machine translation improves is likely to have
enormous implications for the character of the Internet over the long
run. Jean-Claude Guedon, a professor of comparative literature at the
University of Montreal and author of a series of articles on the
issue of language on the Internet, sees two very different
possibilities.
In one scenario, English will be the dominant Internet language,
period, and people will be forced to learn it if they want to be
deeply involved in cyberspace--just as scientists or airline pilots
must learn at least some English today.
The other possibility, says Guedon, is that an oligarchy of trade
languages will emerge. This group of languages would include English,
Chinese, Spanish and Arabic--languages whose speakers have demographic
and economic strength.
But for such a system to appear, these languages have to create a web
of translation systems among themselves. The only economically
feasible way to do this on a large scale is with the help of machine
translation, Guedon says.
He believes the French will have a tough time. And many Francophones
think the French government should focus on changing its policies to
encourage the use of the Internet rather then worrying about the
proper translation for e-mail.
But, in any case, it seems sure that no matter what one's native
tongue, it will become a lot easier to fureteur in the future.
----------------
Also in this issue:
- Fax machine works via the Net
Panasonic announced a machine that will send a fax for the price of
an email.
- Lycos, France Telecom Sign Search Pact
Internet navigation leader Lycos announced today that France Telecom
has chosen the company to be the exclusive provider of integrated
search technologies on Les Pages Zoom, a French Internet directory
for individuals and businesses.
- Parlez-Vous Internet?
The Web's First Language Is English, but New Translation Software and
Tools Are Turning It Into a Multilingual Community.
- Bill Gates Q&A: Will Telephone Numbers Disappear?
QUESTION: Do you believe that telephone numbers will disappear and
that, instead, we'll all have e-mail addresses?
ANSWER: Yes,.....
- This Week There's A New Browser
Bigfoot Partners of New York, NY launched a new Web browser called
NeoPlanet. It combines an intuitive channel design with a built-in
Web directory--and adds some simple tools for personalization.
Says the vendor: It's a browser for the rest of us.
- EU probing Microsoft Internet contracts
BRUSSELS, Oct 21 -- The European Commission is investigating
contracts between Microsoft Corp and European Internet service
providers, Commission sources said on Tuesday.
- New Lists and Journals
* ACCTE - Asociacion para el Avance de la Ciencia y la Tecnologia en
Espana
* SBS - Shaken Baby Syndrome
* Mommies List: geared mainly towards stay at home moms
* C-SPAN-M - Scholars discuss C-SPAN Networks & services
* C-SPAN-L - Viewers Discussion List
- SURVEYS THIS WEEK:
INTERNATIONAL
: German food retailing to value 35 billion marks by 2000
: US firms locate in Japan
: Sales of PCs sluggish in Japan
: China Internet and NWI in USD110 million deal
: Vietnam to allow full Internet Access
E-COMMERCE/ADVERTISING
: The Internet brings power to Consumers
: 250,000 Active Accounts for E+Trade
: Visa announce E-Commerce Initiatives :
: Amazon.com is number one in e-commerce
SECURTITY
: Government tackles Cyberterrorism
MISCELLANEOUS
: Female business owners more likely to embrace
the Internet than male business owners
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