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QT21: A New Era for Translators and the Computer - 25th November

Date

Title: QT21: A New Era for Translators and the Computer

When: 25 November 2016, 2-3pm

Who: Alan K. Melby, Professor Emeritus at Brigham Young University (BYU), and a member of the Council of the International Federation of Translators (FIT).

Recipient of the Alexander Gode Medal of the American Translators Association.

Where: Baines Wind, Miall LT,

http://www.teachingspace.leeds.ac.uk/room_details.asp?ID=1-01-086-2423-02-234

Abstract

QT21 (see http://www.qt21.eu/) is an EU-funded project with several goals related to machine translation. This presentation relates to the QT21 goal of "improved evaluation … informed by human translators", using a framework that harmonizes MQM (Multidimensional Quality Metrics) and DQF (Dynamic Quality Framework). The purpose of the presentation, which expresses my personal views, is to obtain feedback on three claims I am making about translation quality evaluation of both human and machine translation: (1) Both automatic, holistic reference-based metrics (such as BLEU) and analytic manual metrics of translation quality are needed; (2) one metric is not sufficient for all translation specifications; and (3) widespread use of specifications and the harmonized MQM/DQF framework for developing metrics will have a positive impact beyond the QT21 project. If these three claims turn out to be true, we will see a new era in the relationship between translators and computers.