Re: Russian to English Machine Translators

["Raymond A. Hoover" <rayhoover@hotmail.com>]

Well, since others are commenting let me get my 2 cents in.

My wife is a professional translator (Primarily Russian-English).  Her 
opinion is that machine translators do an ok 1st cut translation, but that 
the output then needs to be reworked by a professional like herself.  As 
Ruth states they almost always miss the nuances and idioms.  They are pretty 
much useless for specialized stuff.  When I was working in the Ukraine, we 
would frequently get what appeared to be machine translations and just as 
frequently the "translated" documents were pretty much garbage.

>From: "ruth_weiner" <ruth_weiner@email.msn.com>
>Reply-To: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
>To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
>Subject: Re: Russian to English Machine Translators
>Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2000 07:54:12 -0600 (CST)
>
>I have to back up Nick's suggestion.  I am bilingual (German and English)
>and I used to work for a translating service, translating Russian 
>scientific
>papers.  So when a colleague has a German text, I just read it aloud,
>translating as I go.  I cannot imagine a computer program that can catch 
>the
>idioms and nuances, especially with a specialized vocabulary (e.g., the
>German word for hydrogen translates, literally, to "water substance").
>Also, using a program that does a partial job is not particularly helpful 
>to
>a competent human translator.  I usually have to read the whole sentence,
>and sometimes several sentences, before I can translate competently.
>
>I am sure that with the relatively recent influx of Russian-speakers into
>the U. S., you could find someone who would be happy to translate for pay
>(that's why I used to do it).  One of my daughters has a number of contacts
>in the Russian-speaking community in Seattle, and if you write me 
>privately,
>I can perhaps find some translators.
>
>Ruth Weiner
>ruth_weiner@msn.com
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tsurikov, Nick <nick.tsurikov@iluka.com>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
>Date: Saturday, December 23, 2000 12:37 AM
>Subject: RE: Russian to English Machine Translators
>
>
> >Dear Jim,
> >As a person speaking both languages fluently I would like to suggest that
> >you stick with human translators.  I've seen these packages (don't 
>remember
> >names but there were about three or four).  All of them were very nice 
>for
> >only one thing - creating a roaring laughter when I read the translation
> >from Russian to English to my friends here (the 'other way around', 
>English
> >to Russian is even worse, believe me).  And when the laughter stops and
> >people try to understand what it all actually meant - there is simply no
>way
> >to do it.  Even simple 'personal' things I tried came up as total
>gibberish,
> >and when you try to put through something like description of a
> >technological process - forget it.
> >This is, of course, my personal experience.  Maybe someone had a better
> >luck.
> >Merry Christmas from the middle of summer!
> >Kind regards
> >Nick Tsurikov
> >Eneabba, Western Australia
> >http://eneabba.net/ <http://eneabba.net/>
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: james.g.barnes@att.net
> >[mailto:james.g.barnes@att.net]
> > Sent: Saturday, 23 December 2000 2:44
> > To: Multiple recipients of list
> > Subject: Russian to English Machine Translators
> >
> > Good morning, all.
> >
> > I am interested if anyone has used one of the Russian to
> > English machine translation software packages.  I
> > volunteer for a foundation that works a Russian
> > institute, and we are looking for an easier way to
> > surmount the language barrier.
> >
> > I know that MT will not solve all problems, but would be
> > interested in the experiences that any of you have with
> > such packages.
> >
> > I am particularly interested in how well the software
> > has performed for technical/medical communications.
> >
> > We have access to skilled human translators.  We are
> > looking at this software as a screening method so that
> > we can utilize the people translators more effectively.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Jim Barnes, CHP
> > Radiation Safety Officer
> > Rocketdyne/Boeing
> > james.g.barnes@att.net
> >
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>
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