Kim I.A.
Taraz State
University, Kazakhstan
Advantages and
disadvantages of online translation programs
At present time there
is a wide access to information sources via the Internet. Most textbooks and original
sources in any language can be found and downloaded on-line. Reading the
literature in a foreign language is of no difficulty, because it can be
translated by means of online translation programs.
Online
translation or machine translation is one of the best translation tools. It is
fast, affordable and free. "Machine translation is still far from being perfect,
but anyone can use it to at least understand the basic meaning of the
document." It is applied in situations where the idea or basic meaning of
the text is more important, than stylistic precision.
By definition,
"Machine translation is an action performed on the computer to transform the
text in an original language into an equivalent text in another language, as
well as the result of this action"
There are
the following main goals of using machine translation
- Rapid
introduction of interesting information - automatic translation allows you to
outline the information about the content of articles, books, research, etc.
- Possibility of
communication - machine translation enables you to write to anyone from any
part of the earth;
- Simplification
of interpreting - using machine translation, the translator can significantly
accelerate the translation of the text.
Among a variety
of translation programs in existence today, the most popular among the students
and the faculty of Taraz State University, are the following on-line
translation software: Translate.ru (PROMT) and Google Translate (Google).
The most popular
among them - is PROMPT, which exists since 1998. It translates into seven
European languages: English, Russian, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese and
French. With this program you can translate texts in different fields of
knowledge: economy, technology, computers, etc. In addition, you can use
specialized dictionaries, configure settings to transfer large amounts of text,
get grammatical information. Ready translation can be sent by e-mail, or printed.
The next
program, which is often used - is Google Translate. This online translator is
working with 51 languages. This service includes several new user-friendly
features. Now you do not need to use the button "Translate", as the
program automatically translates a word or a text as you type it in the box. When
translating individual words program operates as an online dictionary, and
offers all the possible options for the translation, breaking all the words by
parts of speech. In addition, the translation program prompts the user to
select the option "Show transliteration" when there is a word with a difficult
pronunciation. However along with a lot of technical advantages there are problems
relating to the quality of translation, which is the main criterion for the
quality of the program. For example, translating the text of the scientific and
technical style, we have
noted a number of errors in
the translation from Russian into English.
Let's look at
the passage of the translation of a scientific article on the hard cheese
production technology.
Let us analyze the translation made by PROMT program.
Твердые
сычужные сыры вырабатывают из тщательно отсортированного, нормализованного по
жиру (с учетом содержания белка) пастеризованного молока с внесением различных
бактериальных заквасок. Технология выработки, микробиологические процессы
созревания сыров обусловливают сравнительно глубокий распад белков, что
способствует получению специфических свойств. Внешний вид твердых сыров (кроме
швейцарского) - корка прочная, ровная, без повреждений и без толстого
подкоркового слоя, покрытая парафиновым, полимерным, комбинированным составами
или полимерными пленками. На поверхности сыров допускаются отпечатки серпянки.
Цвет теста - от белого до слабожелтого, одинаковый по всей массе.
Hard abomasal
cheeses develop from carefully sorted, normalized on fat (taking into account
protein content) pasteurized milk with introduction of various bacterial
ferments. The technology of development, microbiological processes of maturing of cheeses cause rather deep
disintegration of whites that
promotes obtaining specific properties. Appearance of hard cheeses (except
Swiss) - a crust strong, equal,
without damages and without thick subcrustal layer, covered paraffin,
polymeric, combined by structures or
polymeric films. On a surface of cheeses serpyanka
prints are allowed. Color of dough - from white to slabozhelty, identical on all weight.
The example demonstrates the poor quality of the
translation of this service. Lexical analysis suggests that the interpreter is
not provided with a sufficient terminological base. As a result the term
"serpyanka" is simply translated by transliteration. The program
selected an incorrect equivalent to the terms "сычужный",
"белок" that
completely distorts the meaning of the original words. In addition, there are
terminological inaccuracies and grammatical errors relating to the use of the
active voice instead of the passive, no predicate in a sentence, wrong choice
of prepositions, repetition of the preposition «of», violation of the word
order and misuse of articles in some sentences. On the whole we can say that we
have got a word by word translation of the Russian text.
And now let us analyze the translation made by “Google
Translate” program.
"Solid rennet cheese produced from carefully
sorted, normalized for fat (based on protein content) pasteurized milk with the
introduction of a variety of bacterial starter cultures. The technology of
production, the microbiological processes of cheese ripening cause a relatively
deep breakdown of proteins, thereby obtaining specific properties. The
appearance of hard cheeses (except Swiss) - solid crust, smooth, without damage
and without a thick subcortical layer, covered with paraffin, polymeric, combined
formulations or polymer films. On the surface of the cheese prints serpyanku
allowed. Test color - from white to slabozheltogo, uniform throughout the mass"
In this translation, we see more correct selection of
Russian equivalents of the terms except the cases with transliteration, but at
the same time there is a number of grammatical errors: absence of a predicate,
violation of the word order, use of the active voice instead of the passive
voice. But on the whole it can meet our demand to get the main idea of the
passage.
Having analyzed the translations made by two online
translation programs we can say that even if the online translators and other
services of machine translation are provided with a terminological base and
grammatical rules they will hardly ever replace professional translators in the
near future. On the other hand this translation is free of charge, it is
available any time you need it and it is very fast. If a person needs a better
translation he can make corrections in the translation made by online programs.
And doing this work he saves his time.
So we can make a conclusion that despite the low level
of the quality of translations, modern online translators are quite common on
the Internet, and people often use them. We must admit that they have more pros
than cons as they are created not to replace the living interpreters, but
stimulate cross-cultural communication and multilingual information exchange
across language barriers.
Bibliography
1. Винокуров А.А.,Чуканов В.О. Новый
метод оценки машинного перевода.// Информационные технологии и системы. Сборник
статей: М., Международная академия информатизации, 1997.
2. Система перевода текста PROMT
Internet. Руководство пользователя. — С.-Петербург, фирма "ПРОМТ",
1999.
3. http://www.technofresh.ru/technology/internet/online-translaters.html
4. http://alemeln.narod.ru/pages/progs/progtr1.html
5. http://whoyougle.ru/texts/online-translator/