Chinese to english translation tool

• US 8,041,556 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2005
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Yen-Fu, Dunsmoir, John W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smits; Talivaldis I
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAKER, MATTHEW H
• Application Number:
  US11/291,537
• Publication Number:
  US 20070129932A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,147 Days
• Field of Search: 704 1- 10
• US Class Current: 704/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/45 Example-based machine translation; Alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/53 Processing of non-Latin text kana-to-kanji conversion G06F40/129; vowelisation G06F40/232

Abstract

A Chinese to English Translation Tool (CETT) locates pre-existing translations of phrases and increases probabilities for a match by searching independently of proper nouns and Western characters. The CETT comprises an enhancement program, a search program and a display program. The CETT is adapted to access a translation database, a proper noun table, and an unmatched translation table. The translation database is a central repository of an accumulated body of translated literature. The proper noun database is a table showing the associations between English and Chinese for proper nouns.

Claims

1. A method for locating a pre-existing English translation of a Chinese phrase, the method comprising:

a computer accessing a database comprising a plurality of phrases in Chinese and a plurality of phrases translated from Chinese into English, wherein each Chinese proper noun in the plurality of phrases in Chinese is associated with a first marker and each Western character in the plurality of phrases in Chinese is associated with a second marker;

the computer accessing table linking one or more Chinese proper nouns associated with the first marker to one or more of a plurality of English proper nouns in the table;

the computer identifying a first clause in Chinese for translation into English;

the computer responsive to identifying the first clause, removing a set of proper nouns from the first clause to form a modified clause and searching for a matching clause in Chinese in the database that matches the modified clause while ignoring any proper nouns and any Western characters in the database;

the computer responsive to locating the matching clause, identifying an English translation for the matching clause in the database and including one or more English proper nouns from the table in the English translation for each proper noun in the set of proper nouns from the first clause to form a translated clause;

the computer displaying the first clause and the translated clause on a display;

the computer responsive to locating a plurality of matching clauses in the database that match the modified clause and a plurality of English translations for one or more of the plurality of matching clauses, identifying a preceding clause that precedes a first matching clause in the plurality of matching clauses and a following clause that follows the first matching clause in the plurality of matching clauses for one or more matching clauses in the plurality of matching clauses to form a plurality of group clauses; and

the computer responsive to identifying the plurality of group clauses, examining one or more preceding clauses and one or more following clauses from the plurality of group clauses and identifying one of the plurality of matching clauses as a closest match to the modified clause based on the one or more preceding clauses and one or more following clauses from the plurality of group clauses.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the computer responsive to a failure to make a match, writing the clause to a file for manual translation.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the computer responsive to manually translating the clause, placing the clause and the translation into an unmatched clause file accessible by a search program.

4. A computer system comprising one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices and program instructions which are stored on the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by the one or more processors via the one or more memories and when executed by the one or more processors perform the method of claim 1.

5. A computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices and computer-readable program instructions which are stored on the one or more storage computer-readable, tangible devices and when executed by one or more processors perform the method of claim 1.

6. A computer system for locating a pre-existing English translation of a Chinese phrase, the computer system comprising:

one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, and one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to access a database comprising a plurality of phrases in Chinese and a plurality of phrases translated from Chinese into English, wherein each Chinese proper noun in the plurality of phrases in Chinese is associated with a first marker and each Western character in the plurality of phrases in Chinese is associated with a second marker;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to access a table linking one or more Chinese proper nouns associated with the first marker to one or more of a plurality of English proper nouns in the table;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to identify a first clause in Chinese for translation into English;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to remove, responsive to identifying the first clause, a set of proper nouns from the first clause to form a modified clause and to search for a matching clause in Chinese in the translation that matches the modified clause while ignoring any proper nouns and any Western characters in the database;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to identify, responsive to locating the matching clause, an English translation for the matching clause in the database, and to include one or more English proper nouns from the table in the English translation for each proper noun in the set of proper nouns from the first clause to form a translated clause;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to display the first clause and the translated clause at a display;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to identify, responsive to locating a plurality of matching clauses in the database that match the modified clause and a plurality of English translations for one or more of the plurality of matching clauses, a preceding clause that precedes a first matching clause in the plurality of matching clauses and a following clause that follows the first matching clause in the plurality of matching clauses for one or more matching clauses in the plurality of matching clauses to form a plurality of group clauses; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to examine, responsive to identifying the plurality of group clauses, one or more preceding clauses and one or more following clauses from the plurality of group clauses and to identify one of the plurality of matching clauses as a closest match to the modified clause based on the one or more preceding clauses and one or more following clauses from the plurality of group clauses.

7. A computer program product for locating a pre-existing English translation of a Chinese phrase, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices, to access a database comprising a plurality of phrases in Chinese and a plurality of phrases translated from Chinese into English, wherein each Chinese proper noun in the plurality of phrases in Chinese—

is associated with a first marker and each Western character in the plurality of phrases in Chinese is associated with a second marker;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices, to access table linking one or more Chinese proper nouns associated with the first marker to one or more of a plurality of English proper nouns in the table;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices, to identify a first clause in Chinese in a document for translation into English;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices, to remove, responsive to identifying the first clause, a set of proper nouns from the first clause to form a modified clause and to search for a matching clause in Chinese in the database that matches the modified clause while ignoring any proper nouns and any Western characters in the database;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices, to identify, responsive to locating the matching clause, an English translation for the matching clause in the database, and to include one or more English proper nouns from the table in the English translation for each proper noun in the set of proper nouns from the first clause to form a translated clause;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices, to identify, responsive to locating a plurality of matching clauses in the database that match the modified clause and a plurality of English translations for one or more of the plurality of matching clauses, a preceding clause that precedes a first matching clause in the plurality of matching clauses and a following clause that follows the first matching clause in the plurality of matching clauses for one or more matching clauses in the plurality of matching clauses to form a plurality of group clauses; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices, to examine, responsive to identifying the plurality of group clauses, one or more preceding clauses and one or more following clauses from the plurality of group clauses and to identify one of the plurality of matching clauses as a closest match to the modified clause based on the one or more preceding clauses and one or more following clauses from the plurality of group clauses.

8. A method for locating a pre-existing translation of a Chinese clause, the method comprising:

a computer accessing a database comprising a plurality of Chinese phrases and a plurality of English phrases translated from the plurality of Chinese phrases;

the computer locating a Western character in the plurality of Chinese phrases;

the computer locating a Chinese proper noun within the plurality of Chinese phrases;

the computer linking the Chinese proper noun to an English translation of the Chinese proper noun in a table;

the computer identifying the Chinese clause for translation into English, the Chinese clause comprising a proper noun;

the computer removing the proper noun from the Chinese clause;

the computer searching the plurality of Chinese phrases in the database for at least one clause that at least partially matches the Chinese clause while ignoring the Western character and the Chinese proper noun;

the computer, responsive to locating a plurality of clauses in the plurality of Chinese phrases that at least partially match the Chinese clause, locating a preceding clause that precedes a first clause in the plurality of clauses and a following clause that follows the first clause in the plurality of clauses of clauses to form a plurality of group clauses;

the computer identifying one of the plurality of clauses a closest matching clause to the Chinese clause;

the computer identifying an English translation of the closest matching clause in the plurality of English phrases in the database; and

the computer including the English translation of the Chinese proper noun within the English translation of the closest matching clause.

9. A computer system comprising one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices and program instructions which are stored on the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by the one or more processors via the one or more memories and when executed by the one or more processors perform the method of claim 8.

10. A computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices and computer-readable program instructions which are stored on the one or more storage computer-readable, tangible devices and when executed by one or more processors perform the method of claim 8.