语言学之机器翻译

Abstract:With the rapid development of computer technology, more and more translation methods software has been developed and improved to help human’s translation, even sometimes they have replaced human work. In this article, we are going to make some comparison between MT (machine translation) and HT (human translation) according to the history and current situations of MT and HT. Then we will make some factual examples to make our reader clear.
Key Words: MT, HT, Examples, Characteristics
Some Comparisons between MT and HT
(一)The Definition of MT and HT
MT refers to the use of machine (usually computers) to translate texts from one natural language to another. MT can be divided into two types: Unassisted MT and Assisted MT. (Napier, 2000).While the definition of HT can be got in terms of its appearance meaning. It is a kind of way of depending on human labor’s translation.
(二) The Background and Current Situation of MT and HT
1.Before the MT comes to the reality, there always has been using human to translate foreign language and works, which can be traced to CHUN QIU times。

When Confucius visited countries all around, because of the different pronunciation of same words, people did not communicate with each other very often, thus they had to rely on the people called “Xiang” and “Ji”, who are now called translator. Till now,
humans still play an ritual role in translating. However, the history of MT development can be traced back to 17th century, R.Descartes, philosopher and mathematician of France, and G.W. Leibniz, the philosopher and mathematician of German, both advised to the use of mechanical dictionaries to overcome barriers of language.
2. Then in 1954, the first word-to-word translation machine, cooperated by Georgetown University and IBM, came to world. In some degree, we can say it was really a significant step point for MT’s replacement of HT.
3. When it came to 90s, with the quicker speed of CPU and larger storage of USB, machine translation entered into a new stage. (/view/d3f0eded5ef7ba0d4a733b60.html) Many technology companies produced their own translation software, like “译星”，“雅信”，“通译”，“华建”.Therefore, they have saved the human translat or’s energy in some degree.However, they couldn’t be a substitution of human labors.
4. Though the MT can not replace HT, it still has had a great improvement. Many websites or soft wares has put modern translation methods and skills and slang words into the exploring engines, besides, they update their information in a short time, thus ,we can get the newest definition of a fresh word timely, such as “Google”,“Facebook”,“youdao”, “金山词霸”etc.
(三) The Comparison of Characteristics of MT and HT
Firstly, in terms of veracity, human translation has more advantage than machine translation. We can choose a specific definition of a word which can express our thought particularly, while the machine will give us a general meaning of this word regardless of the special situation. For example, if I use “youdao” to translate “他真贴心”，it will say “he is really close”. While I want to express his consideration for people, the machine ignores my subjective opinion. If a person translates it, he or she will translate it into “he is so considerate” through choosing a specific word form a lot words to attend my thoughts.
Secondly, it is about grammaticality. As the people who have used MT know, most of the time, MT gets a lot grammatical errors. In regardless of grammar, machine organizes a sentence by different words. I print “她美丽动人”in the original language of Google Translation, when it comes out by saying “her beautiful”, even not a phrase. But sometimes you can get the right answer by entering the simple sentences. Thus we are able to get the conclusion that human translation does better in this aspect, because human have learned how to organize a sentence in a good and right order.
Thirdly, if we judge by the vocabulary, we have to admit that even if we have known a large amount of words, we are still failed to dictionaries’ vocabulary. MT does contain great number words in storage,
and they can pick up what they need at any time. If we refer to “文人”, what we can think of the translation is “scholar”, but MT can provide us a wide range choice like “literati”,“man of letters”,“a knight of the pen”. In spite of this, it also provides some typical sentences to help us understand.
Additionally, MT saves human much more time than HT, which is actually true. The time for translating a whole article may cost people one or two days, but in a few seconds a general structure will be taken on to you, and only if you make some modification, you will get a perfect version.
(四) Conclusion
Having analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of MT and HT, we can combine them together to serve our translation. Definitely the system of translation will perfect day by day, but human’s cognizance is growing correspoundly. Thus, the computer can not substitute humans finally for human’s intelligence is growing with by the development of computers.
References:
Qian Duoxiu, Computer-aided Translation: A Course book, Beijing, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Page 11-17.
冯志伟. 机器翻译研究, 北京，中国对外翻译出版公司; 页码 566.
张政, 计算机翻译研究,北京，北京大学出版社; 页码 1,2 3,182,183.
胡壮麟，语言学教程（第三版），北京，北京大学出版社；页码247-253.。