|
Languages:
Minimum Requirements:
Applications:
Language Translation Software:
STATEOFTHEART MACHINE TRANSLATION
BASIC INFORMATION
PCTranslator was developed by Linguistic Products in 1 9B5. This translation tool serves as a long term solution for the company needing to communicate in multiple languages.
PCTranslator translates documents written in WordPerfect, MS Word, and WordStar, maintaining all formatting, fonts, graphics, tables and codes of the source text. It also accepts ASCI I files. Minimum requirements are 386 IBM compatible, 4 MB of hard disk space, 2MB of RAM, and DOS 5.0 or 6.2.
The program includes a Core Dictionary, a User Dictionary, two or more Phrase Dictionaries and an Automatic Dictionary for unknown words. These can be easily modified by the program's builtin utilities. Using most word processors, existing term databases can be imported.
The dictionaries are ASCII files and contain thousands of single words and phrases. Users can store their own special terminology and phrases in separate dictionaries. Most terms can be added in less than 20 seconds.
TRANSLAJION COSTS
Conventional language translation is a costly process. Professional rates begin at 14.5 ¢ per word and 50 ¢ is common for legal and technical topics. PCTranslator can enable you to communicate faster and much more efficiently in other languages.
CUSTOMIZING
PCTranslator learns languages word by word and phrase by phrase. Imagine translating proposals from English to Spanish. Using the English proposal, you enter the basic terms into a PCTranslator dictionary with the exact Spanish translation. It will then automatically convert all similar proposals to correct Spanish. Quantities and terms may change, but everything else stays the same. This method can also be applied to other documents, such as shipping papers, forms, invoices and bills of lading. When a previously translated document has to be revised, PCTranslator only needs to learn about the changes. The exact terminology of the original document is still stored in its database.
TECHNICAL TERMS
It is very difficult to translate company specific and technical terminology to other languages. A lot of thought goes into creating and maintaining terminologies for new products. Only the human mind is capable of this process, but PCTranslator offers the best method to organize and maintain these databases. Its dictionarydatabases ensure precise and consistent conversions from one language to another. Not one word is ever forgotten. This consistency is especially valuable when translations are being produced by more than one individual.
HOMONYMS
Many words have different meanings and the same spelling. An example of a typical homonym is the word bank. There are financial banks, blood banks, data banks and river banks. After grouping such words In subject specific dictionaries users can instruct PCTranslator to consult only those dictionaries that are relevant. Up to 20 subject specific dictionaries can be prioritized for any given translation.
PCTranslator HIGHLIGHTS
"WILDCARDS"
Only PCTranslator offers them !
PCTranslator learns the idiom of other languages from the entry of ordinary phrases, but it learns grammar and syntax from Wildcard Phrases, an option not available in any other translation program. A Wildcard is represented by two question marks in sequence and an indicator such as "??AMS". This indicator tells the program that the Wildcard word is (A) an adjective; (M) masculine; (S) singular. In the target language the Wildcard counterpart is the @ sign. Version 3.4 recognizes multiple WildCards in a phrase. A double Wildcard Phrase looks like this: THE ??AMS ??NMS ,EL @1 @0,,
This phrase translates "The white horse" in English to "El caballo blanco" in Spanish. It will also conclude that "The dirty plate" is "El plato sucio." This one phrase is all it takes to select the correct article of all male nouns in singular and the correct gender of all adjectives that qualify the noun. In this manner Wildcard Phrases find the correct gender of nouns and adjectives, and conjugate regular verbs.
By entering the verb roots, marked with conjugation indicators, into any of the dictionaries, the main Spanish, French and Italian verb forms can be generated from the compound tenses of English. While whole verbs are characterized with a V, we have marked the roots with a W, and a number. The number indicates which conjugation they follow. Typically, they look like this:
| English | Spanish | French | Italian |
| Talk | Habl,W1 | Parl,W1C | Parl,W1C |
| Learn | Aprend,W2 | Apprend,W3V | Aprend,W2V |
| Live | Viv,W3 | Viv,W3C | Viv,W2C |
Phrases in the Wildcard dictionary look like those in the next example. The two question marks in sequence (??) represent the "WILDCARD" word in the source text, while the "@" marks its translated version in the output. The first, second, or third conjugation of a verb is indicated by 1, 2, or 3 respectively.
| English | Spanish | French | Italian |
|---|---|---|---|
| She will ??W1 | @a | Wile @era | @era |
| We would 7?W1 | @lamos | Nous@erions | @eremmo |
| They will ??W2 | @an | ils@eront | @eranno |
These phrases enable PCTranslator to translate "She will talk" to "Elle parlera" in French; or "We would learn" to "Aprenderiamos" in Spanish or "Apprenderemmo" in Italian.
For further information, please send e-mail to :info@gy.com