JPH0934896A - Machine translation device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] The present invention relates to a machine translation device for translating a source language into a target language, and in the process of translating a certain word, the present information set to dynamically changeable information of another word. An object of the present invention is to provide a means for dynamically generating a translated word by referring to a value and keeping the translated word uniform. [Constitution] A word in which a reference element 16 of a source language in which a target word translation 17 is variable is displayed separately for each word 14, and a control symbol 18 indicating a variable part is displayed in a variable portion of the translation word 17. Dictionary 13 and translation 17 of the word dictionary 13
When the control symbol 18 indicating a variable portion is included in the word, the word 14 indicated by the reference element 16 in the source language displayed in the divided state
The variable translation generation unit 11 is configured to generate a translation based on the value of the translation 17 set in step 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a machine translation device for translating a source language into a target language. When a plurality of workers share a certain document and translate it, how to unify the translated words becomes a problem. For example, if one worker translates "user" into "user" and another worker translates into "user", it causes confusion for readers.

As a solution to this problem, it is possible to use a machine translation device. If a machine translation device is used, a specific translated word is literally mechanically assigned to a specific word regardless of the operator. For users who expect this advantage, the machine translation device needs to output a specific translated word for a specific word.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional machine translation device, for example, "u
When the translated word "user" is assigned to the word "ser", conditional translation (in the case of the same spelling original language, the meaning of which is changed depending on the flow of the sentence) when the dictionary is registered or translated, This can be changed to the translated word "user" by means of translation word selection and translation word change. Thus, there is a device for changing the translated word information assigned to a specific word, that is, a dictionary maintenance device.

[0004]

However, in the conventional machine translation device, in addition to the word "user", "user preference" or "u" is used.
If there is the word "serpreference" and the translation "user preference" is assigned, even if the translation of "user" is changed from "user" to "user", the translation of "userreference" will be There has been a problem that the translations are not kept consistent without changing to "user preference".

Further, in the conventional technique, the grammatical information about the word "write" refers to the information about the word "write", so that a mechanism for referring to static information of another word at the time of translation. Exists. However, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, it is premised that the information of the referenced word can change, and a mechanism for dynamically generating data based on the referenced information is required.

In view of such a point, the present invention dynamically generates a translated word by referring to the current value of dynamically translated word information of another word in the process of translating a word. However, the purpose is to provide a means for keeping the translations consistent.

[0007]

The above-mentioned problems can be solved by a machine translation device configured as follows. FIG.
[FIG. 3] is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

The word dictionary 13 has information on the words in the source language and the target language, and displays the reference elements 16 in the source language for which the translation of the target language is variable for each word 14 in a divided manner.
The variable part of the translated word 17 displays a control symbol 18 indicating the variable part, and the variable translated word generation means 11
Is based on the value of the translation word 17 set in the word 14 indicated by the reference element 16 of the source language displayed in the above-described division when the translation word 17 of the word dictionary 13 includes the control symbol 18 indicating a variable part. To generate a translated word (claims 1 and 3).

In addition to newly registering a word, the dictionary maintenance means 12 also provides the reference element 16 of the word dictionary when the user changes the variable part of the translated word 17 having the reference element 16 of the translated word. The value of the translated word of the word indicated by is set to the content changed by the user (claim 2,
4).

[0010]

When the translated word 17 of the word dictionary 13 includes the control symbol 18 indicating a variable portion, or when the reference element 16 is not an empty character string, the reference element 16 of the source language displayed in the above-described section indicates The translated word is generated based on the value of the translated word 17 set in the word 14 (claims 1 and 3), and the user changes the variable part of the translated word 17 having the reference element 16 of the translated word 14. In this case, the value of the translated word of the word indicated by the reference element 16 of the word dictionary 13 is set to the content changed by the user (claims 2 and 4).

[0011]

EXAMPLES First, the positioning of the present invention in the examples of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 shows an explanatory diagram of an example of the translation flow. The machine translation apparatus of this embodiment analyzes the meaning content of the original sentence and processes it by a method called "semantic transfer method" which is taken into consideration during translation.

The original sentence is input from the left side of the figure, the meaning content of the original sentence is analyzed, converted into an intermediate representation inside the computer called a conceptual structure, a translated sentence is created based on this, and output from the right side of the figure. is there.

This processing is performed by the source text analysis 21 and the conceptual structure conversion 2
2 and translation generation 23. In the original sentence analysis 21, a word dictionary, a grammar dictionary, and a semantic relation dictionary 24 work, and in a translated sentence generation, a word dictionary and a grammar dictionary 26 work.

The present invention relates to the reference and maintenance of the word dictionary 26 at the stage of translation generation 23. FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. The whole is composed of an information system including a computer.

Reference numeral 31 denotes an input unit and an output unit including a user's operation unit, a display screen, a keyboard,
It consists of a terminal equipped with a mouse, etc.
It is used for operating instructions in the translation process, checking translated text, and outputting.

A storage unit 32 is used as a buffer for holding an intermediate processing state of translation processing, various tables, a work area, and the like. Reference numeral 33 denotes a dictionary unit, which includes various dictionaries necessary for translation processing, but in the present invention, a word dictionary is particularly relevant, and includes the word dictionary 13 in the principle explanatory diagram of the present invention.

A control unit 34 controls the flow of the entire processing of the translation system operation. Reference numeral 35 is an original sentence analysis unit, 36 is a conceptual structure conversion unit, and 37 is a translated sentence generation unit, which is responsible for the main processing of translation processing as shown in the above-mentioned translation flow. The translated sentence generator 37 includes the variable translated word generator 11 of the present invention.

Reference numeral 38 is a dialogue editing section. When the user confirms the generated translated text during the translation process and changes the translated word or registers a new translated word in the dictionary, use the screen and the input / output operation unit such as the keyboard and mouse. It has the ability to interactively edit using.

Reference numeral 39 is a dictionary maintenance unit. This includes the dictionary maintenance means shown in the principle explanatory diagram of FIG. 1, and is changed by the dialogue editing unit 38 in order to newly register a word in the dictionary or to unify the translated words which is the object of the present invention. The value of the translated word is reflected in the dictionary.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration example of the word dictionary.
(A) shows a part of the information about the original word "userpreferrence". Reference numeral 41a indicates an entrance of translated word information of the original language. Reference numerals 43, 44, 48 and 45 indicate elements that make up the translated word information.

There are generally a plurality of translated word information corresponding to the original words. In the figure, an element 45 is link information that associates the plurality of translated word information with each other as indicated by an arrow 47. Further, the translation word information for the original language holds the conversion priority in 48 elements according to the frequency adopted in the conversion by the translation and the like. The numbers such as [1], [2], ... Shown in the figure indicate the priority of the above conversion.

The index 42 at the entrance of the translated word information indicates the translated word information of the first priority of the conversion, and this is called the current value of the translated word of the original language. It should be noted that the link 45 for tracing the translated word information in the conversion priority order of 48 is also provided in the 45 for use in selecting the translated word candidate.

Reference numeral 44 indicates a translated word, and 43 indicates a translated word assist for displaying a reference element to replace the "*" portion when the control symbol "*" indicating a variable portion is included in the translated word. In the example shown here, the index value is "", and the "* preference" displayed in the area 44a in the translated word information indicated by is the translated word. However, "*" is a control symbol that represents a variable part of the translated word, and means that it is replaced by the current value of the translated word of the original word "user" shown in the translated word auxiliary 43a.

According to the value of the index 42a, if "selection of *" is the translated word, the current value of the translated word of "user" in the area of 43b is replaced by the * part.
If the index 42a is "", there is no variable part of the translated word, and "user's selection" is unconditionally the translated word.

FIG. 4B also has the same structure as the above, and shows the translated word information for the original word "user". "U
The current value of "ser" is "user" with a translation of 44f, as indicated by "" in index 42b.

The original words "userpreferrence" and "user", which are the entry points for searching the words in the above-mentioned word dictionary
Are arranged based on the spelling character string, and have a structure that makes it easy to search by spelling the original language.

FIG. 5 shows an explanatory diagram of an example of translated word generation, and FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example of translated word generation. The operation of variable translated word generation will be described with reference to these. First, the configuration of FIG. 5 will be described. This is to explain the process of generating a translated word of a variable portion using the word dictionary described above and a word record with a translated word that summarizes information related to the original word obtained as a result of the search.

Reference numeral 51 is a word dictionary, 52 is an entry of the translated word information of the original word of the word dictionary, and 53 is an arrow indicating the current value of the translated word information by the index 50 described above. 55, 56, 59, 57
Is translation information. The translated word information added with the original word 52 is referred to as a word record with translated words. In this embodiment, the original word and the translated word are made to correspond to each other by the word record with the translated word in this way, but a source language dictionary (for example, English dictionary) and a target language dictionary (for example, Japanese dictionary) are provided and conceptual symbols are used. A method of associating the original word and the translated word may be adopted. Here, the concept symbol represents a concept of a word, and a word in the source language and a word in the target language having the same concept are connected by the same concept symbol between the dictionaries and between the words in each dictionary.

As a specific example, in FIG. 5, "user preference" as the "first original word" 52a and "* preference" of the translated word information in which the conversion priority 59a at the time of translation is [1] is "first". "Translation of the original language of 1" 56a, and the "second original language" corresponding to the reference element "*" in the translation
52b is designated as "user" as shown in the translation auxiliary 55a. In addition, the “user” of the translated word information related to the second original word “user” 52b is “the translated word of the second original word” 56.
The following description will be given as b.

The operation will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The first original word "userp" as shown in FIG.
The operation for obtaining the translated word "reference" is as follows. First, in step S61, the translated sentence generation unit 37.
Is the first original word "userprefe" from the word dictionary 51a.
"Translation" information is obtained in the form of word records with translations 55a, 56a, 59a, 5
7a. Naturally, the current value of the translated word information indicated by the index 50a is acquired.

In step S62, it is checked whether the translation assist of the obtained word record with translation is blank or a reference element is designated. If it is blank, the translated word of the word record with translated word obtained here in step S64 is taken as the translated word of the original language to be translated.

If it is not blank, step S
Proceeding to 63, the control symbol "*" in the translated word of the word record with translated words is replaced with the current value of the translated word of the second original word indicated in the translated word auxiliary to make it a translated word.

That is, in FIG. 5, it can be seen that "user" is displayed as a reference element in the translated word auxiliary area 55a in the word record with translated word, and the first original word "us" is displayed.
It can be seen that the translated word of the second original word "user" is necessary for generating the translated word of "erprereference", in which the control symbol "*" represents the variable part in the translated word 56a of the first original word.

From the word dictionary 51b to the second source word "user" 52, as indicated by the arrow 53b in FIG.
Get the current value of information about b. That is, 55b, 56b, 59b, 57b as word records with translated words
Is obtained. It can be seen that "user" 56b is the current value of the translated word.

First original word "userpreferenc"
Information that the translated word of "e" is the character string "* 's liking" in which the control symbol "*" is replaced with the translated word of the second original word "user", and the translated word of "user" is "user". Then, the translated word "user's preference" is generated based on the information that In this way, the translation with variable parts is completed.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of an example of changing a translated word, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are flowcharts of the example of changing a translated word (No. 1) and flowcharts of an example of changing a translated word (No. 2). The operation of changing the translated word will be described with reference to these.

In FIG. 7, the first original word "from the word dictionary 71a"
The current value of the translated word indicated by the index 80a of the user preference "72a" is set to 74 in the form of a word record with translated words.
a, 75a, 70a, 76a. The first translated word "* -no-miko" 75a is the auxiliary word translation 7
The second original word "user" which is the reference element shown in 4a.
Since the current value of the translated word is 75c "user", the user who operates at this time sees the display of the original sentence and the translated sentence on the display screen of the input / output operation unit 31, and the first original word in the original sentence "
It can be seen that "user preference" is set as the translation of "user preference".

Here, the user operates the mouse of the input / output operation unit 31 to instruct display of "user's preference", presses the "translate word selection" button of the input / output operation unit 31, and the dialogue editing unit 38 instructs the dictionary maintenance unit 39 to change the translated word. On the screen, the dictionary maintenance unit 39 can successively display and select candidates for translation change.

Candidates for changing these translated words are shown in FIG.
With respect to the second original word “user” 41b shown in FIG. 2, “user” 44d, “user” 44e, and “○○○” 44g follow the links in the “other” area 45 of the word record with translated words, It is presented in the order of conversion priorities held in 48, and in FIG. 7, it is shown that “user” 75d is selected.

In FIG. 8, in step S81, the first word instructed to change the translated word each time this step is called.
While following the links of the translation candidates of the original language, the word records with translations are obtained in the order of conversion priority.

In step S83, it is checked whether or not the translated word includes the control information "*". When "*" is not included, for example, when the translated word is "user's selection" like 44c in FIG. 4, the process proceeds to step S84 and step S85. That is, the obtained translation word candidate “user's selection” is displayed and the user is requested to judge whether or not to adopt it.

If it is adopted, the process proceeds to step S86 to set this as a translated word and to update the current value of the word dictionary,
In step S87, the display of the conversion priority and the link are corrected. When the user does not adopt the translated word candidate "user's selection" displayed above, the process returns to step S81,
Searching for the next translation candidate for the first original language, step S82
Thereafter, similar processing is repeated.

When the control symbol "*" is included in the translated word of the first original language in step S83, that is,
When the second original word, which is the reference element, is indicated in the translation aid, the process proceeds to step S91 in FIG. FIG. 9 shows a logic for searching for a translation word candidate for the second original word which is a reference element when a portion of the word dictionary that changes to the translation of the first original word is included. That is, when the translated word candidate of the second original language is determined in FIG. 9, the translated word of the first original language is determined. Further, if the user does not adopt the translation word candidate including the control symbol of the first original word even if all the translation word candidates of the second original word are combined, the process proceeds to the step of searching for the next translation word candidate of the first original word. Become.

Similar to step S81, in step S91, each time this step is called, one translation word candidate for the second original word is obtained from the word dictionary in accordance with the conversion priority order. In step S92, if the user does not adopt the translated word of the first original word even if all the translated word candidates for the second original word are combined as described above, the next translated word candidate of the first original word is searched. Therefore, the process returns to step S81.

When the translated word candidates of the second original language still remain, the process proceeds to step S93, and the control symbol "*" of the translated word of the first original language is replaced with the translated word of the second original language which has just been obtained. It is displayed as a translation of the original language of 1 and presented to the user.

When the user does not adopt the displayed translated word in step S94, the process proceeds to step S91 to search for a translated word candidate next to the second original word. When the translated word of the first original word in which the translated word of the second original word is replaced with the control symbol "*" of the translated word of the first original word is adopted in step S94, the second original word is related to the second original word in steps S95 and S96. Displaying the current value of the translated word in the word dictionary and the priority of conversion,
The link is updated, and the process returns to the update of the first original language dictionary in step S86.

A concrete example will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 4. In FIG. 7, when the user designates the "user's preference" portion displayed in the translated text on the screen with the mouse, the first original word "userpreferen" in the word dictionary is displayed.
The current value of the translated word "ce" 72a is "* 's preference" 75a. The reference element shown in the translation assistance 74a is "
user ”, which is the second original language.

Since "*" is detected in step S83, the process proceeds to step S91 in FIG. Although only a part of the word dictionary is shown in FIG. 7, the second original word “user” in FIG.
As for the current value of the translated word, the translated word is "user" as indicated by the index of 42b. The conversion priority 48f is [1], and in step S91, the translated word having the next priority is searched for to find the "user" having the priority [2]. In FIG. 7, the translated word information about “user” having the second highest priority is 74d,
It is obtained as 75d, 70d, and 76d.

At this time, 75b in step S93.
As shown in FIG. 3, the translated word “user's preference” of the first original word obtained by combining the translated word “* preference” of the first original language and the translated word “user” of the second original language is displayed on the input / output operation unit 31. The user is asked if he or she wants to be hired, and it is in the hired state.

In steps S95 and S96, the current value of the translated word indicated by the index of the dictionary of the second original word "user" in FIG. 7 is changed from "user" to "user". Indicator 8
The arrow 77b indicated by 0b is changed to 77c, and accordingly, the index of 80b is changed from to,
The priority of 70d is also set to [1], and the link information is also changed.

As described above, not only the translation of the first source language is changed but also the translation of the second source language, which is a reference element of the variable part of the translation of the first source language, is linked to the change of the target language adopted by the user. Then, the dictionary maintenance unit 39 operates so that the translated text for the original text that uses the second original language independently does not become a translated text that lacks uniformity.

In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the source language is English and the target language is Japanese, but any combination of languages can be used for translation. Although the example of the above-mentioned translation generation has been explained by generating a translation of a noun, when generating a translation of a verb, information about inflections is required, but such information should also be searched in the word dictionary. Can be obtained by

The present invention is also effective when the dictionary maintenance unit can change grammatical information, meaning, conceptual information, etc., such as particles and numbers for a certain word. You can keep the translation in the same way as shown in.

Also, the original word "userpr" is used as a reference element.
Although "user", which is a part of the spelling of "efference", is exemplified, another original word having a different spelling may be used as a reference element. For example, in the word "adjusting knob", the translated word is "adjustment knob" * If you select "Knob", "adjustin" as a reference element
"g" or its prototype "adjust" can be selected, but in Japanese technical documents, it is more comfortable to translate such words with consecutive nouns, so "adjus"
"adjustment", which is a derivative of "t", is used as a reference element. At this time, when the translation of "adjustment" is changed from "adjustment" to "adjustment",
The translation of “tment” will be changed to “adjustment knob”.

The "userpre" used in the examples
To change the translated word "user's preference" from "ference" to "user's preference", use "userpreferrenc".
By comparing the translated word "* 's preference" set in e "with the new translated word, it can be seen that the one corresponding to" * "is" user ", but when changed to"user's selection " It doesn't match the "* taste", so "userp
The translated word value of "reference" is set to "user's selection", but the translated word value of "user" is not changed. When this happens, "userprefe
Until the translated word "rence" is returned to "* 's preference"
Even if the translation of "user" changes to "user" etc.
The translated word of "userpreferrence" is not changed and remains "selected by the user".

[0056]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in the translation process of a certain word, the dynamic value of another word can be changed by referring to the current value of the dynamically changeable information. A translated word is generated, the translated word is kept uniform, and a specific translated word is literally mechanically assigned to a specific word regardless of an operator, so that translation quality is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a translation flow.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration example of a word dictionary.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an example of translated word generation.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an example of translated word generation.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an example of changing a translated word.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart (1) of an example of translation change.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a translation change example (part 2).

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 translated word generation means 12 dictionary maintenance means 13 word dictionary 14 words, word record with translated words 15 original language 16 reference element, translated word assistance 17 translated word 18 control symbol

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A machine translation device for translating a source language into a target language, comprising a source language and information about a word in the target language, and a reference element in the source language, in which the translated word of the target language is variable, in the word. The word dictionary is displayed separately and the control part indicating the variable part is displayed in the variable part of the translated word, and when the translated word of the word dictionary includes the control sign indicating the variable part, the word is displayed separately. A variable translation generating unit that generates a translated word based on the value of the translated word set to the word indicated by the reference element of the generated source language. 2. When the user changes the variable part of the translated word having the reference element of the translated word, the value of the translated word of the word indicated by the reference element of the word dictionary is set to the content changed by the user. The machine translation device according to claim 1, further comprising dictionary maintenance means for performing the dictionary translation. 3. A machine translation device for translating a source language into a target language, which has information about the source language and words in the target language, and divides the reference element in the source language into which the target language is variable. The first word in the word dictionary is generated as a translation of the first word, which is translated by using a word dictionary in which a control symbol indicating that the variable portion is a variable part is displayed. When the first translation of the above includes a control symbol indicating a variable part, the above control is performed based on the value of the second translation set in the second word indicated by the reference element of the source language displayed in the above-described division. A machine translation method comprising replacing symbols and generating a first translated word. 4. When a user changes a variable part of a translated word having the reference element of the translated word, the value of the translated word of the word indicated by the reference element of the word dictionary is set to the content changed by the user. The machine translation method according to claim 3, wherein