« How to Translate What is Being Said About You in Other Languages | Main | Subtitles & the Translation of Dialogue »

Dec15
A History of Machine Translation and Computer-Assisted Translation

Can anyone help me find a thorough and up-to-date history of machine translation and computer-assisted translation?  Beyond the book described below, I can only find short summaries of a general nature, and I would like one that includes names of pioneers, a timetable of breakthroughs, etc.  A good summary can be found at the Translation Journal, a publication maintained by the AccuRapid Language Service.  I applaud authors Olivia Craciunescu, Constanza Gerding-Salas, and Susan Stringer-O'Keeffe for the article.

I worked as a "disambiguator" for a machine translation project at Brigham Young University in the late 1970s.  The project later left campus and became a private effort known as the Automated Language Processing System (ALPS).  At that time, it was thought that most of the translating could be done by machine if the source language were first broken down into unambiguous mathematical "codes" or 'trees" or strings that would then be matched by the computer to the best equivalent strings in the target language(s).  Project team members were trained in Junction Grammar, a deep-structure grammar developed by Eldon Lytle, a professor of linguistics at BYU.  Those were great days!  Being paid to contemplate the inner and hidden workings of language!

The project is described in "Machine Translation: past, present, future" (ISBN: 0-470-20313-7) by John Hutchins.  This book was first published in 1986 but has been updated by footnotes and bibliographic references to 2003.  The text is available online through Hutchins' webpage, along with dozens of others that he has written on the topic.  This book alone is very thorough and unbiased.  I'mm just wondering if anything similar has been published.


1 Comments/Trackbacks




Have you looked at the entries at wikipedia.com?

This one is for Machine Translation and this one is for Computer Assisted Translation.

If they don't have it right or complete there, maybe you could enhance the entry!

submit a trackback

TrackBack URL for this entry:

post a comment

Name, Email Address, and URL are not required fields.





Comment Preview

« How to Translate What is Being Said About You in Other Languages | Main | Subtitles & the Translation of Dialogue »

Advertise

sponsored ads



subscribe


Prefer Email?
Subscribe below-

Enter your Email:


Powered by FeedBlitz What's this?

Current News

Support This Blog

business social media

Use these fast growing business social media sites to promote your business, feature your products, spotlight your business leaders, create links, and drive traffic back to your company site, all for free!

BIZZlogos - Add your logo - free link to your site
BIZZphotos - Add photos of your products and people
BIZZprofiles - Submit your profile and build your online visibility
BIZZspotlight - Spotlight your business with free links
BIZZvideos - Videos about businesses, products and business people.
BIZZbites - "Digg" for Business - Submit your articles and posts

know more media network

View Network Map

Network Feed List (OPML)

Know More Media Network
Feed


we support unitus

PRWeb

Influencer



TranslationMaven is a member of the Know More Media network of business related blogs.

Here are some current headlines from some of our business publications:

ProductivityGoal

CallCenterScript

AdHurl

TheBizofKnowledge

LandingTheDeal

CustomersAreAlways

HealthCareVox

BrainBasedBusiness

TheInsurancePolicy

MarketingBlurb