汉英机器翻译对比研究
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摘要
机器翻译至今已有50多年的历史,从它诞生的第一天起,人们对它就褒贬不一。不能否认的是,尽管有其固有的问题,不断改进的机器翻译已经成为许多翻译工作者的翻译工具。机器翻译的方法规则一直都是研究者们热衷的一个课题,但是汉英机器翻译中的语言错误却并没得到太多的关注。本文中,两种目前最广泛使用的翻译工具----Systran和Google翻译了四个不同题材的文本,通过分析所得到的翻译文本,我们得到汉英机器翻译中最常见的语言错误。分析发现在汉英机器翻译中,歧义是最常见的错误,除了词的歧义之外,翻译连续的动词结构和连续的名词结构时出现歧义也是最多的。分析也同时发现,在整体上Google翻译软件的翻译质量要略高于Systran翻译软件的翻译质量,同时机器翻译在翻译复杂结构和多内容的文章时还有很大的不足。在文章最后作者提出了一些建议,重点解决在翻译连续动词和连续名词中出现的歧义问题。
Machine translation (MT) has existed for more than 50 years. It received praises and criticism as well. One cannot deny that MT-much improved since then, is a useful tool for the human translator, although it inherently has many problems. Since it was first introduced researchers have showed great enthusiasm in developing the approaches to MT. However, one important issue which to our knowledge has not yet been widely investigated is the linguistic errors in MT. In the present study, we try to examine the linguistic errors through comparing the performance of Chinese-English machine translation in four different text genres which vary in their structures, using Systran Systems and Google Translator, which are widely used. Our results show that besides the lexical ambiguity, syntactic ambiguity involving serial verb construction and semantic ambiguity involving serial nouns are of most frequent ambiguities. Our results also show that on the whole Google translation tool did a relatively better job than Systran translation tool. In addition to the two findings, we find that MT is still limited in its ability to process certain text types, namely those with complex sentence structures, high amounts of pragmatic information and broad semantic domains. In the final part of the paper, the author came up with some suggestions to the disambiguity strategy with regard to the serial verb construction and serial noun construction.
Machine translation (MT) has existed for more than 50 years. It received praises and criticism as well. One cannot deny that MT-much improved since then, is a useful tool for the human translator, although it inherently has many problems. Since it was first introduced researchers have showed great enthusiasm in developing the approaches to MT. However, one important issue which to our knowledge has not yet been widely investigated is the linguistic errors in MT. In the present study, we try to examine the linguistic errors through comparing the performance of Chinese-English machine translation in four different text genres which vary in their structures, using Systran Systems and Google Translator, which are widely used. Our results show that besides the lexical ambiguity, syntactic ambiguity involving serial verb construction and semantic ambiguity involving serial nouns are of most frequent ambiguities. Our results also show that on the whole Google translation tool did a relatively better job than Systran translation tool. In addition to the two findings, we find that MT is still limited in its ability to process certain text types, namely those with complex sentence structures, high amounts of pragmatic information and broad semantic domains. In the final part of the paper, the author came up with some suggestions to the disambiguity strategy with regard to the serial verb construction and serial noun construction.
引文
Aiping Fu. The Research and Development of Machine Translation in China [J] MT Summit VII,1999.
Alexander Gross. Machine Translation & Natural Language Processing [C]. John Newton. Computers in Translation:A Practical approach. London:Routledge, 1992.
Andreea S.Calude. Machine Translation of Various Text Genres. http://www.mt-archive.info/Calude-2003.pdf,2003.
Arnold,D.J. Lorna Balkan, Siety Meijer, R.Lee Humphreys and Lousia Sadler. Machine Translation: An Introductory Guide [M], London: Blackwells,1993.
Budiansky, Stephen. Lost in Translation [J]. Atlantic Monthly,1998, (6).
Chang Huangchang and Gilbert K.Krulee. Resolution of ambiguity in Chinese and Its Application to Machine Translation [J]. Machine Translation,1991, (4).
Chang Huangchang. Resolving Ambiguities in Mandarin Chinese: Implications for Machine Translation[PhD Thesis]. Northwest University,1991.
Chang Huangchang and Gilbert K.Krulee. Prediction Ambiguity in Chinese and Its Resolution [C]. Proceedings of 1991 International Conference on Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Language,1991.
Feng Zhiwei. Experiment in Automatic Translation from Chinese to French, English,
Japanese, Russian and German [C] Machine Translation in China. Shanghai:
Knowledge Publishing House,1984.
Freigang, Karl-Heinz. Machine Aided Translation[C] Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London: Routledge,2001.
Hirst,G Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity [Mj.New York: Cambridge University Press,1987.
Huang,C.T.J.. Logical Relations in Chinese and the Theory of Grammar[PhD Thesis]. MIT,1982.
Hutchins, John and Somers, Harold. An Introduction to Machine Translation [M]. London: Academic Press Limited,1992.
Hutchins, John. Current Commercial Machine Translation Systems and Computer-Based Translation Tools:System Types and Their Uses. http://www.hutchinsweb.me.uk/IJT-2005.pdf,2005.
Isabelle,P. Another Look at Nominal Compounds [C]. Proceedings of COLING-84.1984.
Jill Archer. Internationalization, Technology and Translation [J] Perspectives:Studies in Translatology.2002,(4).
Levi,J. The Syntax and Semantics of Complex Nominals [M]. New York: Academic Press,1979.
Li.C., and S..Thompson.. Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. [M] Berkeley: University of California Press,1981.
Li,Y.-H. Order arid Constituency in Mandarin Chinese. [M]. Dordrecht: Klwer Academic Publishers,1990.
Liu,K., and J.Li. Ambiguity in Chinese and Resolving Strategies [C]. International Conference on Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Languages,1990.
Liu Sujian, Zhang Jian, Huang Xiong, Bao shuo, and Liu Qun. Semantic Computation in a Chinese Question-Answering System [J] Computer Science & Technology,2002 (6).
Lorna Balkan. Book Review: Lynne Bowker, Computer Aided Translation Technology: A Practical Introduction, University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa, Canada, 2002.xx+185 pp. [J]. Machine Translation,2004, (4).
Marie Lebert. Multilingualism on the Web. http://www.ceveil.qc.ca/multiengO.htlm. 1999.
Ma Qianzhu. On the Order of Adjectives and Their Classification in the Multiple Attributive Structures[J] ZHONGGUO YUWEN,1995, (5).
Melby,Alan..K. Why Can't a Computer Translate More Like a Person? Translation Theory & Technology, http://www.ttt.org/theory/barker.htlm.1995.
Melby Alan.K. Should I Use Machine Translation (MT for me?). The Translation Research Group, http://multiling.com/mt/article/mt4me.html.1997
Munday, Jeremy. Introducing Translation Studies:Theories and Applications [M]. London: Routledge,2001.
Napier,Marieke. The Soldiers are in the Coffee-An Introduction to Machine Translation. Cultivate Interactive, http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/mt/
Newmark, P. A Textbook of Translation [M]. New York&London: Prentice Hall,1988
Paul Bennett. Machine Translation as a Model of Human Translation [C]. Lynne Bowker, Michael Cronin, Dorothy Kenny and Jennifer Pearson.Unity in Diversity? Cureent Trends in Translation Studies. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,2007.
Pun,K.-H. Analysis of Serial Verb Constructions in Chinese [C] International Conferece on Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Languages,1991.
Pun,K.H., and B.Lum. Resolving Ambiguities of Complex Noun Phrases in a Chinese Sentence by Case Grammar.[R] Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Languages.1989.
Qian Nairong. Contemporary Chinese. [M].Beijing: Higher Education Publishing House,1990.
Rapoport,T. Secondary Predication and the Lexical Representation of Verbs [J] Machine Translation,1990(5).
Reinhard Schaler. The Problem with Machine Translation [C]. Unity in Diversity? Current Trends in Translation Studies. Lynne Bowker, Michael Cronin, Dorothy Kenny and Jennifer Pearson.Unity in Diversity? Cureent Trends in Translation Studies. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,2007.
Sadler,Y. Working with Analogical Semantics:Disambiguation Techniques in DLT.[M].Dordrecht: Foris Publications,1989.
Sager,N. A Computer Grammar of English and its Applications [M] MA:Addison Wesley,1981.
Somers Harold. Computers and Translation: a Translator's Guide [M] Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company,2003.
Somers Harold. Machine Translation [C]. Mona Baker. Routledge Encylopedia of Translation Studies. London: Routledge,2001.
Wei,L.Y. Disambiguation in Chinese Language [C]. International Conference on Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Languages,1990.
Wu Weitian. The Principles of Grammar and Transformation in SinoTrans [C]. Proceeding of 1992 International Conference on Chinese Information Processing, 1992.
Yu Shiwen. Automatic Evaluation of Output Quality for Machine Translation Systems [J]. Machine translation,1993, (8).
Wu, Zhijie. The Status Quo of Chinese Word Segmentation in Machine Translation [J]. Foreign Language Research,2009,(1).
Zhongjun He, Qun Liu, Shouxun Lin. Improving Statistical Machine Translation Using Lexicalized Rule Selection [C] Proceedings of The 22nd International Conference on Computational Linguistics. Manchester,UK,2008.
曹英华.汉语机器理解与汉英机器翻译[J].内江师范学院学报,2006,(1).
冯志伟.自然语言机器翻译新论[M]．北京：语文出版社,1994.
刘彬,李丽.机器的消歧策略[J].中国科技翻译,2008,(1).
刘群.中国翻译研究新发展[J].当代语言学,2009,(2).
鲁松.汉英机器翻译中主语省略现象的处理方法[硕士学位论文]．北京：北京工业大学,1998.
宋柔.汉语叙述文中的小句前部省略现象初析[J].中文信息学报,1992,(3)
杨沐昀,李志升,于浩.机器翻译系统[M].哈尔滨工业大学出版社,2000.
杨宪泽.机器翻译的词处理研究[J].计算机工程与科学,2009,(5).
杨宪泽.机器翻译的一些消歧方法研究[J].西南民族大学学报·自然科学版,2008,(4).
叶俊.机器翻译中的多义问题探析[J].长江大学学报(社会科学版),2005,(3).
张斌.新编现代汉语(第二版).复旦大学出版社.2008
朱洁.机器翻译中多义词的消歧[J].合肥学院学报,2007,(6)
Alexander Gross. Machine Translation & Natural Language Processing [C]. John Newton. Computers in Translation:A Practical approach. London:Routledge, 1992.
Andreea S.Calude. Machine Translation of Various Text Genres. http://www.mt-archive.info/Calude-2003.pdf,2003.
Arnold,D.J. Lorna Balkan, Siety Meijer, R.Lee Humphreys and Lousia Sadler. Machine Translation: An Introductory Guide [M], London: Blackwells,1993.
Budiansky, Stephen. Lost in Translation [J]. Atlantic Monthly,1998, (6).
Chang Huangchang and Gilbert K.Krulee. Resolution of ambiguity in Chinese and Its Application to Machine Translation [J]. Machine Translation,1991, (4).
Chang Huangchang. Resolving Ambiguities in Mandarin Chinese: Implications for Machine Translation[PhD Thesis]. Northwest University,1991.
Chang Huangchang and Gilbert K.Krulee. Prediction Ambiguity in Chinese and Its Resolution [C]. Proceedings of 1991 International Conference on Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Language,1991.
Feng Zhiwei. Experiment in Automatic Translation from Chinese to French, English,
Japanese, Russian and German [C] Machine Translation in China. Shanghai:
Knowledge Publishing House,1984.
Freigang, Karl-Heinz. Machine Aided Translation[C] Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London: Routledge,2001.
Hirst,G Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity [Mj.New York: Cambridge University Press,1987.
Huang,C.T.J.. Logical Relations in Chinese and the Theory of Grammar[PhD Thesis]. MIT,1982.
Hutchins, John and Somers, Harold. An Introduction to Machine Translation [M]. London: Academic Press Limited,1992.
Hutchins, John. Current Commercial Machine Translation Systems and Computer-Based Translation Tools:System Types and Their Uses. http://www.hutchinsweb.me.uk/IJT-2005.pdf,2005.
Isabelle,P. Another Look at Nominal Compounds [C]. Proceedings of COLING-84.1984.
Jill Archer. Internationalization, Technology and Translation [J] Perspectives:Studies in Translatology.2002,(4).
Levi,J. The Syntax and Semantics of Complex Nominals [M]. New York: Academic Press,1979.
Li.C., and S..Thompson.. Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. [M] Berkeley: University of California Press,1981.
Li,Y.-H. Order arid Constituency in Mandarin Chinese. [M]. Dordrecht: Klwer Academic Publishers,1990.
Liu,K., and J.Li. Ambiguity in Chinese and Resolving Strategies [C]. International Conference on Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Languages,1990.
Liu Sujian, Zhang Jian, Huang Xiong, Bao shuo, and Liu Qun. Semantic Computation in a Chinese Question-Answering System [J] Computer Science & Technology,2002 (6).
Lorna Balkan. Book Review: Lynne Bowker, Computer Aided Translation Technology: A Practical Introduction, University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa, Canada, 2002.xx+185 pp. [J]. Machine Translation,2004, (4).
Marie Lebert. Multilingualism on the Web. http://www.ceveil.qc.ca/multiengO.htlm. 1999.
Ma Qianzhu. On the Order of Adjectives and Their Classification in the Multiple Attributive Structures[J] ZHONGGUO YUWEN,1995, (5).
Melby,Alan..K. Why Can't a Computer Translate More Like a Person? Translation Theory & Technology, http://www.ttt.org/theory/barker.htlm.1995.
Melby Alan.K. Should I Use Machine Translation (MT for me?). The Translation Research Group, http://multiling.com/mt/article/mt4me.html.1997
Munday, Jeremy. Introducing Translation Studies:Theories and Applications [M]. London: Routledge,2001.
Napier,Marieke. The Soldiers are in the Coffee-An Introduction to Machine Translation. Cultivate Interactive, http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/mt/
Newmark, P. A Textbook of Translation [M]. New York&London: Prentice Hall,1988
Paul Bennett. Machine Translation as a Model of Human Translation [C]. Lynne Bowker, Michael Cronin, Dorothy Kenny and Jennifer Pearson.Unity in Diversity? Cureent Trends in Translation Studies. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,2007.
Pun,K.-H. Analysis of Serial Verb Constructions in Chinese [C] International Conferece on Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Languages,1991.
Pun,K.H., and B.Lum. Resolving Ambiguities of Complex Noun Phrases in a Chinese Sentence by Case Grammar.[R] Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Languages.1989.
Qian Nairong. Contemporary Chinese. [M].Beijing: Higher Education Publishing House,1990.
Rapoport,T. Secondary Predication and the Lexical Representation of Verbs [J] Machine Translation,1990(5).
Reinhard Schaler. The Problem with Machine Translation [C]. Unity in Diversity? Current Trends in Translation Studies. Lynne Bowker, Michael Cronin, Dorothy Kenny and Jennifer Pearson.Unity in Diversity? Cureent Trends in Translation Studies. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,2007.
Sadler,Y. Working with Analogical Semantics:Disambiguation Techniques in DLT.[M].Dordrecht: Foris Publications,1989.
Sager,N. A Computer Grammar of English and its Applications [M] MA:Addison Wesley,1981.
Somers Harold. Computers and Translation: a Translator's Guide [M] Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company,2003.
Somers Harold. Machine Translation [C]. Mona Baker. Routledge Encylopedia of Translation Studies. London: Routledge,2001.
Wei,L.Y. Disambiguation in Chinese Language [C]. International Conference on Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Languages,1990.
Wu Weitian. The Principles of Grammar and Transformation in SinoTrans [C]. Proceeding of 1992 International Conference on Chinese Information Processing, 1992.
Yu Shiwen. Automatic Evaluation of Output Quality for Machine Translation Systems [J]. Machine translation,1993, (8).
Wu, Zhijie. The Status Quo of Chinese Word Segmentation in Machine Translation [J]. Foreign Language Research,2009,(1).
Zhongjun He, Qun Liu, Shouxun Lin. Improving Statistical Machine Translation Using Lexicalized Rule Selection [C] Proceedings of The 22nd International Conference on Computational Linguistics. Manchester,UK,2008.
曹英华.汉语机器理解与汉英机器翻译[J].内江师范学院学报,2006,(1).
冯志伟.自然语言机器翻译新论[M]．北京：语文出版社,1994.
刘彬,李丽.机器的消歧策略[J].中国科技翻译,2008,(1).
刘群.中国翻译研究新发展[J].当代语言学,2009,(2).
鲁松.汉英机器翻译中主语省略现象的处理方法[硕士学位论文]．北京：北京工业大学,1998.
宋柔.汉语叙述文中的小句前部省略现象初析[J].中文信息学报,1992,(3)
杨沐昀,李志升,于浩.机器翻译系统[M].哈尔滨工业大学出版社,2000.
杨宪泽.机器翻译的词处理研究[J].计算机工程与科学,2009,(5).
杨宪泽.机器翻译的一些消歧方法研究[J].西南民族大学学报·自然科学版,2008,(4).
叶俊.机器翻译中的多义问题探析[J].长江大学学报(社会科学版),2005,(3).
张斌.新编现代汉语(第二版).复旦大学出版社.2008
朱洁.机器翻译中多义词的消歧[J].合肥学院学报,2007,(6)