Review

Reviewed Work(s): Computer Aided Translation Technology: A Practical Introduction by

Lynne Bowker
Review by: Lorna Balkan
Source: Machine Translation, Vol. 18, No. 4 (2004), pp. 349-352
Published by: Springer
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20060459
Accessed: 12-05-2019 05:30 UTC

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Machine Translation (2005) 18:349-352 ? Springer 2005
DOI 10.1007/s 10590-005-6599-0

Book Review

Lynne Bowker, Computer Aided Translation Technology: A Practical

Introduction, University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa, Canada, 2002. xx + 185 pp.

1. Purpose of the Book and Overview

Computer-Aided Translation Technology: A Practical Introduction aims to
provide a basic introduction to various types of computer-aided (or-assisted)
translation (CAT) technology and tools that translators are likely to
encounter and find helpful in the course of their work. As well as describ
ing the tools themselves, it discusses issues such as how translators interact
with the tools, and the impact the tools may have on the working life of
translators.
The target audience of the book is translation students and trainers,
but it is also intended to be of interest to professional translators who
would like to learn more about CAT technology. Since the book is aimed
primarily at the users of such tools, rather than the developers, it does
not attempt to explain computational algorithms or technical implemen
tation strategies used to build the tools. Rather, the aim is to "explain
the underlying concepts and general issues associated with the technol
ogy as a whole". It is suggested that the book could serve as a starting
point for tutorials or practical sessions that will allow trainee translators
to get hands-on experience using the specific products that are available at
their institutions. It stresses that application of the technology to a partic
ular translation task will depend on many factors, including the translation
domain.
The book gives a thorough overview of the different types of CAT tech
nology and tools. It includes tools such as optical character recognition
(OCR) software that are of relevance not just to the translation profession,
but to a wider community, but which the author feels the trainee transla
tor may not be familiar with. Other, more familiar general purpose tools
and technology such as the WWW and wordprocessors are not included in
this book (the author refers the interested reader to Austerm?hl (2001) and
other sources for a discussion of the use of these for translators).

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 350 BOOK REVIEW

Other topics that have been deliberately omitted from this book include
a thorough discussion of Machine Translation (MT) which the author
feels has been adequately documented elsewhere [such as Hutchins and
Somers (1992), Arnold et al. (1994) and Trujillo (1999)], and an extended
discussion of corpus design and terminological and translation principles,
although an understanding of these topics is recognised as an important
prerequisite for making good use of CAT technology.
The book comprises six chapters. Each chapter ends in a summary of
key points and a guide to further reading.
Chapter one addresses the question of why it is relevant and impor
tant for translators to learn about technology. Training the translator in
the use of CAT tools is seen as useful, not only because they are increas
ingly becoming a prerequisite for the translation profession, but they are
also helping to transform it, opening up new areas of translation activity,
such as localization. Other advantages quoted include reinforcing transla
tion skills and producing data that can be used for empirical investigations.
Chapter two explains how information can be converted into machine
readable form using OCR and voice-recognition software. Benefits and
drawbacks of each technology are discussed. The chapter also includes a
section on file formats and file conversion. A useful table of different for
mats and their properties is presented.
Chapter three discusses the different features of corpus-analysis tools,
including word-frequency lists, monolingual and bilingual concordancers,
and collocation generators. A wide variety of search and display options
are discussed for concordancers, illustrating the different types of linguistic
information that can be gleaned from a corpus. The notion of alignment
is introduced and some of the limitations of automatic alignment pro
grams are discussed. The section on collocation generation briefly mentions
Mutual Information. The chapter also includes an overview of annotation
and mark-up. It is stressed how corpus-analysis tools are not intelligent,
relying as they do on pattern-matching techniques.
Chapter four deals with terminology-management systems. Traditional
elements of terminology management systems (storage, retrieval, active ter
minology recognition and pre-translation, i.e. automatic look up and inser
tion of corresponding equivalent into the target text) are all discussed, as is
terra extraction. The two approaches to term extraction - linguistic (based
on part-of-speech patterns) and statistical - are compared and contrasted.
The chapter concludes with an interesting discussion of how the new tech
nology is having an impact not just on the manner in which terminological
information is being recorded, but on the actual content of that informa
tion

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 BOOK REVIEW 351

Chapter five focuses on translation-memory systems. The main subsec

tions here cover segmentation, different types of matches (full, fuzzy, term,
and sub-segment), and creating a translation memory (TM) (either interac
tively, during the translation process, or post-translation). Problems asso
ciated with TMs are then discussed, including standards for data-exchange
formats, the contentious issue of rates of pay for TM work, and intellectual
property rights.
Chapter six looks at future developments such as software localization
tools, new types of translation work, the integration of translation into the
document-production cycle, and diagnostic tools (tools that decide whether
a given document should be translated by an unaided human translator, a
human using CAT tools, or an MT system).
There are two appendices. Appendix A contains a glossary of important
terms and concepts related to translation technology. Appendix B provides
details of a variety of commercially available CAT tools. It also contains
a number of questions that potential users might consider asking vendors
when attempting to evaluate whether or not a given tool will meet their
needs, and includes links to online reviews of the products.

2. Critical Assessment

This book fills a definite gap in the market. As noted above, it covers sim
ilar ground to Austerm?hl (2001), which is targeted at the same audience,
but while Austerm?hl's discussion centres around specific products, Bowker
treats the topic at a more general level. In a way, these two books comple
ment each other. Somers (2003), which is also targeted at translators, also
covers CAT tools, but in much less detail, while Esselink (1998) is narrowly
focused on localization tools.
The material is well-presented, with few typos, and amply illustrated.
The further reading section at the end of each chapter provides useful
pointers for those who wish to explore topics raised in the chapter more
thoroughly. For those who wish to get hands-on experience with actual sys
tems, Appendix B provides links to relevant web sites.
Only occasionally one feels that the attempt to spare readers too much
technical detail, as for example, the discussion of Mutual Information in
Chapter three, might actually leave them more confused.
In general, the book serves its target audience well, with the user's per
spective and interests always to the fore.
I would recommend this book not only to trainee translators and their
trainers but to any professional or trainee linguists who have an interest in
translation. If read in conjunction with text books on Machine Translation,
it gives a good overview of how technology has affected the translation

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 352 BOOK REVIEW

industry. It should be readily accessible to under-graduates and post-grad

uates alike, and does not require an in-depth knowledge of computers.

References
Arnold, D. et al.: 1994, Machine Translation, An Introductory Guide, NCC Blackwell,
Oxford.
Austerm?hl, F.: 2001, Electronic Tools for Translators, St. Jerome Publishing, Manchester.
Esselink, B.: 2000, A Practical Guide to Localization, Rev. ed. John Benjamins, Amsterdam
and Philipelphia.
Hutchins, W. J. and H. Somers: 1992, An Introduction to Machine Translation, Academic
Press, London.
Somers, H.: 2003, Computers and Translation: A Translator's Guide, John Benjantins,
Amsterdam.
Trujillo, A.: 1999, Translation Engines: Techniques for Machine Translation, Springer Verlag,
London.

LORNA BALKAN
Data Archive
University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park
Colchester C04 3SQ
UK
E-mail: balka@essex.ac.uk

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