SYSTRAN TRANSLATION TECHNOLOGY

Translation software is also referred to as automatic translation or machine translation. The definition of translation software is a computer program that performs the process of translating text from one natural language into another. Higher level translation programs analyze grammatical structure of each language and use linguistic rules and assumptions to transfer the grammatical structure of the source language (text to be translated) into the target language (translated text).

Translation is anything but simple, even for human translators. You cannot merely substitute each word, but you must look at the entire sentence with "all of the words" and how each word may influence the other. Words can also be spelled the same but have different meanings.

The Human language consists of morphology (the way words are built up from small meaning-bearing units), syntax (sentence structure), semantics (meaning), and countless ambiguities (something of doubtful meaning) .

SYSTRAN's Patented Technology

SYSTRAN was one of the first and is one of the few remaining independent Machine Translation (MT) developers. In 2002, SYSTRAN released a new and redesigned architecture of their translating system. This new system leverages its 30 plus years of enhancements and developments that make the overall system more efficient. Combined with the increased power in today's computers it results in even higher translation accuracy. In fact such a level of accuracy that many skeptics said would never be possible for computers.

In late 2004 Systran's Powerful  Premium translation software product was awarded the European Ist Prize. This prestigious award is given for groundbreaking products that represent the best of European innovation in information society technology.

Systran develops its technology under Linux and runs on all Unix platforms and Microsoft Windows. All SYSTRAN translation systems use one engine and utilize the latest in Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies. The systems integrate finite state technology to speed up access to very large linguistic knowledge bases. In fact, SYSTRAN has more multilingual knowledge bases that common computers can support. XML, Unicode and HTTP standards are central in the design to address multilingual issues in applications such as Web, email, Intranet, publishing, etc. SYSTRAN's research and development efforts benefit from continued development and reinvestment in linguistics and in Natural Language Processing Technology (NLP). Systran's goal is to prepare new generation of translation software to improve translation quality and robustness over multi-agent, multi-threaded architecture.

Standard Machine Translation vs. Customized Machine Translation  

When working with translation software the biggest misconception is that the first draft the software produces is the final results. With more professional versions of the software you can increase the accuracy dramatically by using the advanced tools to teach the software your style of writing and terminology. Even the additional dictionaries that are available in the Professional Premium version can give you a higher level of accuracy over the basic results produced by our Professional Standard version.

The following translation tools allow customize the software and increase the accuracy. Systran's Industry Specific Dictionaries Build Additional Customer Specific Dictionaries Build up to 40,000 entries in Translation Memory Create "Do Not Translate" Word Lists Build Normalization Dictionaries Customization is easy with Systran's intuitive tools for building dictionaries, the software can identify words not found in the current general Systran dictionary and can export a list into your own customer specific dictionary. These additional user friendly tools gives you a working environment that is efficient and intuitive.

Translation Results from our Online Translators

It is important to understand the difference between generic Machine Translation and customized Machine Translation. Our online translation demos and the technology most of the Internet portals utilize is a generic translation service that is based on the largest possible dictionaries. Its goal is to provide a "gisting level" translation service, such as looking at a foreign page and being able to understand the main lines of the page. The system must obtain not only a correct syntactic analysis of the text, but also a correct semantic analysis. This is because some words will have different meanings and syntactic behavior, depending on the semantic context in which they are used. 

It is also important to remember that the sentence structure and grammar of the source text being translated is critical, if a sentence lacks proper punctuation or grammar, the translation results are affected. The better written a document, the better chance of higher translation accuracy.

Language is very complex and a difficult task for both software and a human translator but you can increase the accuracy of the translation the software delivers by customizing the software.

The key point is that no generic MT system today can solve all translation problems and provide 100% accuracy or completely replace a human translator but it can be drastically reduce translation costs. In fact with the advanced translation tools now available more human translators are now using the software to increase productivity.

Systran will give you a rough draft of the translation that can be edited further for increased accuracy, the level of accuracy can vary depending upon the language. This time savings alone makes the investment into translation software a wise choice.