Chinese Translation Software

[Guest guest]

Hi Attilio

 

> Hi all, I have Wenlin and Powerword, both of which translate

> Chinese to English and visa versa but only a word at a time. We

> all know the Babel fish translation website which offers a free

> service, see automated link at the bottom of this message. A

> partner of Babel fish, Systran, offers a wide range of translation

> software, including those that plug into Word and other Office

> programs, see link http://www.systransoft.com/products/index.html

> Has anyone had a chance to use them? Are they good enough for

> medical translations? Attilio

 

An academic colleague in Hongkong told me that top quality

machine translation from Chinese to English will not be available for

years yet, and that he can recommend no existing software for

accurate translation of medical chinese at the moment.

 

When I need to, I use Babelfish [ http://world.altavista.com/ ],

Systran [ http://www.systranbox.com/systran/box ], Wenlin [

http://www.wenlin.com/ ] & NJStar [ http://www.njstar.com/ ]

 

All are useful, but cannot do a really good translation. In particular,

Wenlin & NJStar are very slow and tedious to use, and fail to

recognise some hanzi characters.

 

For example try the following exercise with Systran:

 

Open the Systran translation box at

http://www.systranbox.com/systran/box

 

In the second (Web Page) box, enter the URL

http://www.activeherb.com/TCM/buzhong/

Select the option to translate from Simplified Chinese to English.

 

The translation is useful, but far from perfect.

 

Try the same exercise on Babelfish. The output is identical

[verbatim] to the Systran output.

Best regards,

 

Email: <

 

WORK : Teagasc Research Management, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, Ireland

Mobile: 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

 

HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland

Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

WWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htm

 

Chinese Proverb: " Man who says it can't be done, should not interrupt man doing

it "

[Guest guest]

Hi Phil,

 

How good is the Systran software at translating medical words? I

know other programs have problems hence i purchased the Powerword

medical version. And which Systran version do you have?

 

Attilio

 

" " <@e...> wrote:

> Hi Attilio

>

> > Hi all, I have Wenlin and Powerword, both of which translate

> > Chinese to English and visa versa but only a word at a time. We

> > all know the Babel fish translation website which offers a free

> > service, see automated link at the bottom of this message. A

> > partner of Babel fish, Systran, offers a wide range of

translation

> > software, including those that plug into Word and other Office

> > programs, see link http://www.systransoft.com/products/index.html

> > Has anyone had a chance to use them? Are they good enough for

> > medical translations? Attilio

>

> An academic colleague in Hongkong told me that top quality

> machine translation from Chinese to English will not be available

for

> years yet, and that he can recommend no existing software for

> accurate translation of medical chinese at the moment.

>

> When I need to, I use Babelfish [ http://world.altavista.com/ ],

> Systran [ http://www.systranbox.com/systran/box ], Wenlin [

> http://www.wenlin.com/ ] & NJStar [ http://www.njstar.com/ ]

>

> All are useful, but cannot do a really good translation. In

particular,

> Wenlin & NJStar are very slow and tedious to use, and fail to

> recognise some hanzi characters.

>

> For example try the following exercise with Systran:

>

> Open the Systran translation box at

> http://www.systranbox.com/systran/box

>

> In the second (Web Page) box, enter the URL

> http://www.activeherb.com/TCM/buzhong/

> Select the option to translate from Simplified Chinese to English.

>

> The translation is useful, but far from perfect.

>

> Try the same exercise on Babelfish. The output is identical

> [verbatim] to the Systran output.

[Guest guest]

Hi Attilio

 

> Hi Phil, I know other programs have problems hence i purchased the

> Powerword medical version.

 

Are you happy with that? 100-80-60% Do you recommend it to

someone who ALREADY has Wenlin AND NJStar?

 

> And which Systran version do you have? Attilio

 

Only the free online version at

http://www.systranbox.com/systran/box

 

> How good is the Systran software at translating medical words?

 

Mixed (poor to good], but fails to recognise many terms. For

example, the hanzi for Zhong Feng translates as Centre ? instead

of Stroke / Paralysis From Wind Attack.

 

Also, it makes a dog's dinner of hanzi characters for herbs &

formulas.

 

 

Best regards,

 

Email: <

 

WORK : Teagasc Research Management, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, Ireland

Mobile: 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

 

HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland

Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

WWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htm

 

Chinese Proverb: " Man who says it can't be done, should not interrupt man doing

it "

[Guest guest]

Hi Phil,

 

I've just run aload of work through the Babel fish translator on their web

site. My wife, who's fluent in written and oral Mandarin says it's rubbish.

So, I'll go along with JB on this one.

 

I did have NJstar on my pc, which I used to write Chinese, but you can do

that in Word, with language support, so I don't see the point in that

program and took it off.

 

Wenlin, as JB points out, is not principally a translating software, but

rather a learning Chinese package with an extensive dictionary. Powerword is

good when translating allopathic medical language from English to Chinese

and visa versa, although English to Chinese is better. It also speaks all

the English and Chinese words, similar to Wenlin, but again word by word. It

does have a handy mouse scroll-over function, so you can translate anything

in English or Chinese on your pc when you run the cursor over it, a small

tools box appears giving you the ability to speak the word or look it up in

the dictionary. Percentage? Mmm, probably 70% happy with it. The problem is,

is that's it's designed for the Chinese speaker, so menu bars are in

Chinese.

 

I think it's a case of having many programs which are good in their specific

areas and so can be used together. But no, there's no one perfect

translating software out there. Better do what I did, and marry your

translator!

 

Kind regards

 

Attilio

 

www.chinesedoctor.co.uk <http://www.chinesedoctor.co.uk/>

 

 

[]

05 August 2004 16:19

Chinese Medicine

Re: Chinese Translation Software

 

 

Hi Attilio

 

> Hi Phil, I know other programs have problems hence i purchased the

> Powerword medical version.

 

Are you happy with that? 100-80-60% Do you recommend it to

someone who ALREADY has Wenlin AND NJStar?

 

> And which Systran version do you have? Attilio

 

Only the free online version at

http://www.systranbox.com/systran/box

 

> How good is the Systran software at translating medical words?

 

Mixed (poor to good], but fails to recognise many terms. For

example, the hanzi for Zhong Feng translates as Centre ? instead

of Stroke / Paralysis From Wind Attack.

 

Also, it makes a dog's dinner of hanzi characters for herbs &

formulas.

 

 

Best regards,

 

Email: <

 

WORK : Teagasc Research Management, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, Ireland

Mobile: 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

 

HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland

Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

WWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htm

 

Chinese Proverb: " Man who says it can't be done, should not interrupt man

doing it "

 

 

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