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Machine translation overview

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Wayne Santos
Wayne Santos
Local time: 18:37
Portuguese to English
+ ...
I disagree Google Translate is as bad as you make it out to be Jul 27, 2010

I have tried most MT engines *Systran inclusive* and nothing compares to Google.
Is it just because it's "free"..?? Nothing Google does is free of charge..we pay for all those clicks!
I understand it is limited (does not 'learn') for a translator's unique needs and lacks many of the high tech features others have to offer.
And don't even think of using it for literary translations!!! But for TECHNICAL TRANSLATIONS, nothing compares to Google - free or not free -
just test it
... See more
I have tried most MT engines *Systran inclusive* and nothing compares to Google.
Is it just because it's "free"..?? Nothing Google does is free of charge..we pay for all those clicks!
I understand it is limited (does not 'learn') for a translator's unique needs and lacks many of the high tech features others have to offer.
And don't even think of using it for literary translations!!! But for TECHNICAL TRANSLATIONS, nothing compares to Google - free or not free -
just test it against the others with a simple paragraph and you will see the huge gap between Google's quality and the rest..
and you will see...

[Edited at 2010-07-27 23:01 GMT]
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Pablo Bouvier
Pablo Bouvier  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:37
German to Spanish
+ ...
I disagree Google Translate is as bad as you make it out to be Jul 28, 2010

Wayne Santos wrote:

I have tried most MT engines *Systran inclusive* and nothing compares to Google.
Is it just because it's "free"..?? Nothing Google does is free of charge..we pay for all those clicks!
I understand it is limited (does not 'learn') for a translator's unique needs and lacks many of the high tech features others have to offer.
And don't even think of using it for literary translations!!! But for TECHNICAL TRANSLATIONS, nothing compares to Google - free or not free -
just test it against the others with a simple paragraph and you will see the huge gap between Google's quality and the rest..
and you will see...

[Edited at 2010-07-27 23:01 GMT]


Try to translate some complex technical text from German into Spanish and you will dream in colors with Google Translate or with any other MT... Translation wil not be only bad, it will be the worst translation you have ever seen in your life.


 
Virgilio Dominguez del C
Virgilio Dominguez del C
Local time: 15:37
English to Spanish
+ ...
PROMT Sep 15, 2010

I translate technical texts (mostly patents) and I really recommend to try PROMT 9. Obviously you have to teach it (make specific glossaries), and it also has the ability to handle TM (even from TRADOS!) and much more. Download a demo, make a glossary and give it a try. You obviously have to polish the translated text, but after hundreds of thousands terms I´ve introduced, I can say this program can save me about 70%+ of the work in one clic.

[Edited at 2010-09-15 19:54 GMT]


 
Jeff Allen
Jeff Allen  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:37
Multiplelanguages
+ ...
I will come back and answer these questions Oct 1, 2010

Sorry, I was out of the country for 4 weeks soon after the webinar, so I didn't come around to answering these questions but will do that probably this weekend.

Jeff


 
Jeff Allen
Jeff Allen  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:37
Multiplelanguages
+ ...
thanks for comments on MT overview webinar Oct 12, 2010

To those who have filled out the survey on having watched the video, thanks for your comments, and I am incorporating many of your comments and feedback into the MT for freelancers and MT for agencies webinars which are scheduled for this week and in 2 weeks. Many of those questions are most appropriate for those sessions that are specific to the types of systems and roles of people who participating in using systems in each general context.

These more recent specific webinars are al
... See more
To those who have filled out the survey on having watched the video, thanks for your comments, and I am incorporating many of your comments and feedback into the MT for freelancers and MT for agencies webinars which are scheduled for this week and in 2 weeks. Many of those questions are most appropriate for those sessions that are specific to the types of systems and roles of people who participating in using systems in each general context.

These more recent specific webinars are also benefitting from many questions asked during the Virtual conf for freelancers and Virtual conf for agencies.


Jeff
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Jeff Allen
Jeff Allen  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:37
Multiplelanguages
+ ...
non-customizable vs customizable MT systems Oct 12, 2010

in the Proz Virtual conference for freelancers I talked about how each MT system type (rules-based, statistical, etc) have both non-customizable and customizable system examples. Google Translate is a good example of non-customizable (first rules-based MT up until 2007 and then statistical MT since 2007).
All success stories of MT system implementations explain how it has been done with some type of "customizable MT" (these are often explained in press release and conf talks).
On the
... See more
in the Proz Virtual conference for freelancers I talked about how each MT system type (rules-based, statistical, etc) have both non-customizable and customizable system examples. Google Translate is a good example of non-customizable (first rules-based MT up until 2007 and then statistical MT since 2007).
All success stories of MT system implementations explain how it has been done with some type of "customizable MT" (these are often explained in press release and conf talks).
On the other hand, many of the complaints about MT and failure stories about it are either:
1) people trying to make non-customizable MT fit into their workflow (lots of examples found in the ProZ MT forum) who should really use customized MT,
or
2) they just don't learn to use and master the customizable aspects of customizable MT.
It is possible to give many examples of this.
In the subsequent webinars for MT for freelancers and MT for agencies, I will give examples of which are customizable and non-customizable per system type, which will help those interested in the MT topic to focus on where to put their energy in investigating MT systems and compatible combinations with TM/CAT tools and workflow tools based.
Non-customizable MT has a purpose, but it is usually out-of-scope for those who provide language/ translation services.

Jeff
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Jeff Allen
Jeff Allen  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:37
Multiplelanguages
+ ...
3 different types of MT systems and approaches mentioned in posts above Oct 12, 2010

@Wayne, you are referring to non-customizable Rule-based MT (Systran online and Google Translate up to 2007), non-customizable Statistical MT (the current Google Translate)
@Pablo, in mentioning the current Google Translate, you are referring to non-customizable Statistical MT. But as for "any other MT", it just really depends on what you are referring to.
@Virgilio, you are referring to very customizable Rule-based MT (PROMT v9)

So we have 3 different "types" (not just bran
... See more
@Wayne, you are referring to non-customizable Rule-based MT (Systran online and Google Translate up to 2007), non-customizable Statistical MT (the current Google Translate)
@Pablo, in mentioning the current Google Translate, you are referring to non-customizable Statistical MT. But as for "any other MT", it just really depends on what you are referring to.
@Virgilio, you are referring to very customizable Rule-based MT (PROMT v9)

So we have 3 different "types" (not just brands) of MT systems mentioned, and for which some have very specific limits about what type of content (and writing style) they are designed to be able to handle well. The system type and approach has direct bearing on the expected level of quality from raw output vs postediting edits.

In the next set of webinars, I will state this in general (and tell people to watch the MT panel at Proz Virtual conf for freelancers for more description of it) and then dive into examples.

[Edited at 2010-10-12 15:53 GMT]
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Jeff Allen
Jeff Allen  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:37
Multiplelanguages
+ ...
regarding PROMT v9 Oct 12, 2010

@Virgilio, I have official certification on the PROMT-based products starting from v3 up through v7 (having worked closely with this product range over the years in development, testing, release, and deployment roles) and conducted the comparison study between the PROMT based Reverso v5 versus the PROMT v6+ product line.
PROMT v8 and v9 are extensions of the previous versions with improvements in various ways.
The type of dictionary customization that you mention for PROMT v9 (dependi
... See more
@Virgilio, I have official certification on the PROMT-based products starting from v3 up through v7 (having worked closely with this product range over the years in development, testing, release, and deployment roles) and conducted the comparison study between the PROMT based Reverso v5 versus the PROMT v6+ product line.
PROMT v8 and v9 are extensions of the previous versions with improvements in various ways.
The type of dictionary customization that you mention for PROMT v9 (depending if you are using the Standard, Professional or Expert version) has existed since very early versions, yet had a big jump in improvements in v6 and then a lot of fine-tuning with more recent versions.

Thanks for your comments on how using the dictionary module features has increased your productivity.

You can find the series of my product reviews (with direct links) of PROMT-based MT products in my LinkedIn profile.
I will also put the same links in my ProZ profile.

Jeff
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Virgilio Dominguez del C
Virgilio Dominguez del C
Local time: 15:37
English to Spanish
+ ...
Promt 9 Jan 2, 2012

Hi Jeff, thank you for your response. Yes, I use Promt 9 Professional, and the ONLY drawback is that it doesn´t keep table formating after you export it to rtf. I will take a look on your links and have already signed-up for the webinar.
Regards,
Virgilio


 
Jeff Allen
Jeff Allen  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:37
Multiplelanguages
+ ...
table export in PROMT Jan 2, 2012

@Virgilio,

PROMT does allow for Table format export (at least up to v8), but you have the choose the correct export option.
it is possible to save/export either the source or the target language in table format. It is under the File menu under Export (or Save As).
Try the several different options to see which works best for your needs and environment.

Jeff


vird wrote:
Hi Jeff, thank you for your response. Yes, I use Promt 9 Professional, and the ONLY drawback is that it doesn´t keep table formating after you export it to rtf. I will take a look on your links and have already signed-up for the webinar.


 


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Machine translation overview






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