LINGUA INGLESE 2A – a.a. 2018/2019 Computer-Aided Translation Technology LESSON 3 prof. ssa Laura Liucci – laura.liucci@uniroma2.it

Terminology-management systems A major part in any translation project is identifying equivalents for specialized terms. Subject fields such as computing, manufacturing, law and medicine all have significant amounts of field-specific terminology. Researching the specific terms needed to complete a translation is a time-consuming task. A terminology-management system (TMS) can help with various aspects of the translator’s terminology-related tasks, including the storage, retrieval, and updating of term records.

Terminology-management systems Effective terminology management can: Help to cut costs Ensure greater consistency (internally and externally) Improve linguistic quality Reduce turnaround times for translation

Terminology-management systems STORAGE TMS acts as a repository for consolidating and storing terminological information for use in future translation projects. IN THE PAST: TMSs stored information using one-to-one correspondences. Users could only choose from a predefined set of fields. TODAY: TMSs use a relational model, which permits mapping in multiple language directions. TMSs adopt a free entry structure, which allows users to define their own set of fields.

Terminology-management systems TMS term record with free entry structure (which allows users to define their own set of fields)

Terminology-management systems RETRIEVAL Once the terminology has been stored, translators need to be able to retrieve this information. A range of retrieval mechanisms is available: A simple look-up to retrieve an exact match. Wildcards for truncated search (EX: comput*) Fuzzy matching techniques. A fuzzy match retrieves terms that are similar to the requested search patterns, but that do not match it exactly.

Terminology-management systems Term records retrieved using fuzzy matching Hit lists retrieved for different search patterns

Terminology-management systems ACTIVE TERMINOLOGY RECOGNITION AND PRE-TRANSLATION A feature of some TMSs, particularly those that operate as part of an integrated package with word processors and translation-memory systems. It is essentially a type of automatic dictionary look-up Some systems also permit a more automated extension of this feature in which a translator can ask the system to do a sort of pre-translation or batch processing of the text.

Terminology-management systems Automatic replacement of source-text terms with translation equivalents found in a term base

Terminology-management systems TERM EXTRACTION Also called “term recognition” or “term identification”. This process can help a translator build a term base more quickly. Even if the extraction is performed by a computer, the resulting list of candidates must be verified by a human.  Semi-automatic (computer-aided) process Unlike the word-frequency lists described earlier, term extraction tools attempt to identify multi-word units. Linguistic approach Statistical approach

Terminology-management systems Linguistic approach to term extraction: the tools tries to identify word combinations that match particular part-of-speech patterns. EX: NOUN+NOUN or ADJECTIVE+NOUN (typical in English) In order to implement such an approach, each word in the text must by tagged with its appropriate part of speech. Then, the tool identifies all the occurrences that match the search. Unfortunately, not all texts can be processed this neatly: 1. Not all the combinations that match the specific patterns can be qualified as terms. 2. Some legitimate terms may be formed according to patterns that have not been pre-programmed into the tool.

Terminology-management systems Let’s take this text as an example Adopting a linguistic approach to term extraction, the tool looked for the combinations NOUN+NOUN and ADJ+NOUN

Terminology-management systems 1. Not all the combinations that match the specific patterns can be qualified as terms. EX: NOUN+NOUN or ADJ+NOUN “antivirus software” “current status”  NOISE 2. Some legitimate terms may be formed according to patterns that have not been pre-programmed into the tool. “after-the-fact detection”  SILENCE (is legitimate but its pattern is PRE+ART+NOUN+NOUN)

Terminology-management systems Statistical approach to term extraction: the most straightforward statistical approach to term extraction is for a tool to look for repeated series of lexical items, specifying a threshold (the number of times a series must be repeated). If the threshold is two, a series of lexical items must appear at least twice to be recognized. Unfortunately, not all repeated series qualify as terms ( NOISE) and not all legitimate candidates are repeated ( SILENCE)

Terminology-management systems Both linguistic and statistical approaches have drawbacks, but there is a clear advantage in adopting the latter… Statistical approach is NOT language-dependent while the linguistic approach is.

Bibliography BOWKER, L. (2002). Computer-Aided Translation Technology: A Practical Introduction, University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION… and good luck!  Prof. Laura Liucci – laura.liucci@gmail.com