An Approach to Computer-Aided Translation

Abstract

As part of a preliminary investigation of computer-aided translation under time-shared data processing, various techniques of computerized dictionary lookup and text file management have been explored under the time-sharing system TSS/360. Computer-aided translation (CAT) is a storage and retrieval operation carried out on line with a computer during the time in which a translation is produced. A system of dictionary access and updating routines, text-processing facilities, and online utilities is designed to telescope the delay between the initiation of a translation and its finished printout. The system does not attempt to simulate the human translator by producing an autonomous translation via programmed algorithms; rather, it serves as an extension of the capabilities of the user, who is able to call on the resources of the computer as needed in the process of translation and get an immediate response. Under the system described, users communicate over ordinary telephone lines with the computer by means of remote terminals. In employing the system, the user can switch back and forth as many times as required among human translation, direct dictionary lookup, editing, printing, and system interrogation, and thereby achieve rapid iteration toward the desired goal, i.e., a finished translation. Copyright © 1971 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.