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SYSTRAN on AltaVista A User Study on Real-Time Machine Translation on the Internet

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Machine Translation and the Information Soup (AMTA 1998)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 1529))

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Abstract

On December 9 1997, SYSTRAN and the AltaVista Search Network launched the first widely available, real-time, high-speed and free translation service on the Internet. This initial deployment, treated as a global experiment, has become a tremendous success. Through this service, machine translation (MT) technology has been pushed to the forefront of worldwide awareness. Besides growing media coverage, user response during the first five months has been overwhelming. This paper is a study of the user feedback from the MT developer’s perspective, addressing such questions as: Who are the users? What are their needs? What is their acceptance of MT? What types of texts are being translated? What suggestions do users offer? Finally, this paper outlines our view on opportunities and challenges, and on how to use this feedback to guide future development priorities.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SYSTRAN Software, Inc., 7855 Fay Avenue, Suite 300, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA

    Jin Yang & Elke D. Lange

Authors
  1. Jin Yang
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  2. Elke D. Lange
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Computing Research Lab, New Mexico State University, Box 30001 / 3CRL, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, USA

    David Farwell

  2. SYSTRAN Inc., 7855 Fay Avenue, Suite 300, P.O. Box 907, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA

    Laurie Gerber

  3. Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, 4676 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey, CA, 90292-6695, USA

    Eduard Hovy

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© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Yang, J., Lange, E.D. (1998). SYSTRAN on AltaVista A User Study on Real-Time Machine Translation on the Internet. In: Farwell, D., Gerber, L., Hovy, E. (eds) Machine Translation and the Information Soup. AMTA 1998. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 1529. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-49478-2_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-49478-2_25

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-65259-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49478-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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