CA1326300C - Translating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract:

A translating apparatus comprises a synonym display for displaying synonyms related to a certain translated term in a translated sentence. This certain translated term can be replaced by an appropriate synonym selected from among the displayed synonyms. In this way a more suitable translated term or terms can be selected by consultation of a dictionary contained in the apparatus.
The result is an improved translation.

Description

132~oO

A translatin~ ap~aratus This application is a division o application Serial No. 615,620 filed January 23, 1990 which in turn is a division of application Serial No. 509,021 filed May 13, 1986.
The present invention relates to translating apparatus of the conversation type in which a correct translation is composed by cooperation between an operator and the apparatus.
A prior art translating system is designed so that only one translated sentence is outputted with respect to an original sentence that has been inputted into the machine for translation. For example, a system for translating an original sentence in the English language into the Japanese language will now be described in detail. Supposing that "He is one of the greatest fiqures of this century." is inputted in English. The fourth translated term in Japanese for the word "figure" is selected, according to the above system, from among the meanings 1. nu~eral, 2. calculation, number, 3;
appearance, countenance, style, 4. man, character, image, portrait, and 5. drawing, diagram, shape, form, by means of analysis of the original sentence (analysis of the structure of the sentence, analysis of the meaning of the sentence, etc.). As a result, only one translated sentence is outputted in Japanese, that is "He is one of the greatest men of this century."
On the other hand, with respect to an original English sentence, for example, "This rose smells sweet.", there are considered two kinds of Japanese translation, namely, 1) "The smell of this rose is sweet." and 2) "The fraqrance of this rose is sweet.". In this connection, however, if the former Japanese translation "smell" is : , ,~tl ~r - 2 - 132~30~
.
indicated first in the dictionary before the latter translation "fragrance", the system is so constructed as to output the former l) translation.
Since this prior art system is such as to output only one translated sentence with respect to the inputted original, it is inconvenient ~hat the outputted sentence cannot be easily corrected, even if "the greatest characters" is a more suitable translation from the viewpoint of nuance than "the qreatest men~ in the first example, and the 2) translation is better in the second example.
Accordingly, the present invention has been developed with a view to substantially avoiding this inconvenience inherent in the prior art translating lS system, and has for its essential object to provide an improved translating apparatus.
In order to accomplish this object, according to the present invention, the translating apparatus is so arranged that, in the translated sentence outputted as, for example, "He is one of the greatest persons of this ; century." in Japanese, when a cursor is moved to the word ~person" and a return key is operated, synony~s related to ; the indicated term "person~ are displayed in the following manner:
"He is one of the greatest ~) personS of - 2) characters 3) images 4) portraits this century."
Thereafter, if the 2) translation is indicated by the operator, "persons" is replaced by "characters" for the sentence to read "He is one of the greatest characters ~ of this century." Accordingly, the apparatus is able to ; achieve a translation with minute and delicate nuance.
Another object o~ the present invention is to provide apparatus as described above in which an original sentence and its trans1ated equivalent can be disp~ayed in '~,'~' , .. .
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~ 3 ~ 1326300 ., an editable region on the display screen in a dif~erent manner from other original sentences and their translated equivalents.
A further object of the present invention is to ; 5 provide translating apparatus that can edit both the original sentence and its -translated equivalent on the basis o their respective linguistic characteristics, so that the edited original sentence is displayed in a position corresponding to its translated equivalent.
A still further object of the present invention - is to provide translating apparatus that is so designed that, when the translating operation is being carried out, ~his fact is automatically displayed on the display screen.
These and other features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. l is a block diagram showing the construction of translating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a translating module of the apparatus of Fig. l:
Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the procedure of a translating operation carried out by the apparatus of Fig.
l;
Fig. 4 is a diagram of a translatLng module of ` the apparatug;
Figs. 5(a) to 5(e) are views respectively showing the content stored in each of various buffers of the apparatus;
' Fig. 6 is a flow-chart of the operation of the ~ apparatus of Fig. 1;
'~ Figs. 7 and 8 (with Figs. 5(d) and (e)) are views showing examples of a dictionary display;
Fig. 3 is a flow-chart showing the operation of translating apparatus according to a second embodiment o the present invention;

~ , - 132~300 Fig. 10 is a block diagram showing the construction of the apparatus of Fig. 9;
Figs. 11 and 12(a) to 12(c) are views showing examples of displays in the apparatus of Fig. 9;
S Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing the construction of translating apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 14 is a flow-chart showing the procedure of the translating operation carried out by the apparatus of Fig. 13;
Fig. 15 is a view showing a display screen of the apparatus of Fig. 13;
Figs. 16(a~ and 16(b) are views explanatory o~
the sequence of the editing operation carried out by the apparatus of Fig. 13;
Fig. 17 is a flow-chart showing the operation of translating apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 18 is a block diagram showing the construction of the apparatus of Fig. 17; and Fig. 19 is a view showing an example of a display in the apparatus of Fig. 17.
Referring first to Fig. 1, the translating apparatus includes a central processing unit (CPU) 1 for perfo~ming the translating operation, etc., a main memory 2 for storing programs necessary for the translating operation in the CPU 1, a display device (CRT) 3, a keyboard 4 through which necessary information for the translating operation is inputted, a translating module 5 ;~ 30 ~or storing necessary information during the process of translating and a table 6 which contains a dictionary, grammatical rules and rules related to the change in the structure of a sentence.
A preferred embodiment of the translating module 5 shown in Fig. 2 includes five buffers, A, B, C, D and E, a CPU and a memory o translation programs. Each of these buffers A, B, C, D and E ~tores data in a respective , . , - , :

analysis level of the translating process, as will be described latec.
A general translating operation using a translating machine will be described below. In general, there are the levels shown in Fig. 3 in translation by machine. When a source language is inputted from the upper left portion as seen in the drawing, the analyzing operation will proceed from level 1) of consulting a dictionary through level 2) of analyzing the elements to ` 10 level 3) of analyzing the structure of the sentence.
Translation by machine is roughly divided into two systems.
One is a pivot system according to which the source language is analyzed into a concept not relying on any language (referred to as an intermediate language) in level 6), thereby to form a translation into the target language. The other is a transfer system according to which the source language is analyzed to any one of levels - 2), 3), 4) and 5) so as to obtain the internal structure thereof, which structure is in turn changed into the structure of the target language at the same level as that of the source language to produce the translation. The content of each of the analyses will be described in Table ,' 1.
Table 1 Step 1. AnalYsis Content Consultation of a dic- To consult a dictionary tionary and analysis of for the translation and the elements of a to obtain grammatical sentence. information with respect to the parts of speech or the like, and trans-lated terms for each word, and to analyze - the tense, person, number, etc. o~ the parts o~ the sentence.

_ - 6 - ~32~300 2. Analysis of the To determine the structure of a structure of the sentence. sentence by correlation between the words.
3. Analysis of the To distinguish what is meaning of a correct from what is sentence. incorrect from the viewpoint of the meaning, through analysis of the structure of a plural number of sentences.
6. Analysis of the To understand what is context. intended in the sentence and to remove abbreviated or ambiguous expressions.
In the translating module in the first embodiment, the analysis is carried out at least to level 3), that is, ;~ 20 the analysis of the structure of the sentence. In other words, the translating module is comprised of an element , analyzing part 51 for consulting a dictionary and analyzing the elements, an analyzing part 52 for analyzing the structure of the sentence, a language changing part 53 and ,- 25 a target language producing part 54, as shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 5 shows the content of each of the buffers ! A-E of Fig. 2 when an English sentence "This is a pen." is to be translated into Japanese. First, the original sentence is stored in buffer A of Fig. 2 in the manner shown in Fig. 5ta). Necessary information for each of the words in the original sentence is drawn out by the analyzing part Sl to be stored in buffer B of Fig. 2.
Information related to the part of speech, which is included in this necessary information is indicated in ;` 35 Fig. 5(b). Although the word "this" can be more than one pa~t of speech, it iq determined in this instance to : !
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-` ~ 326300 express a certain meaning by the analyzing part 52, the correlation of which is stored in buffer C in the manner indicated in Fig. 5(c). At this time, the analysis represented in Table 2 is conducted, based on the S grammatica~ rules in table 6 of Fig. 2.
Table 2 Element ~ Construction A sentence ~ A subject, a predicate A subject +~ +~ A noun phrase A predicate ~ ~}~ A verb, a noun phrase A noun phrase ~+~+~ A pronoun A noun phrase ~}~-~+~ An article, a noun The grammatical rules contained in table 6 represent, for example, that "A sentence is made up of a subject and a predicate." In the language changing part 53 of Fig. 4, an analysis is carried out based on the rules of structural change in the same manner as in the ; 20 analysis of the st~ucture of the sentence, the result of which is stored in buffer D in the manner indicated in Fig. 5~d). The analyzed result has added an appropriate auxlliary word and a suitable auxiliary verb to be formed ; into the Japanese language to be stored in buffer E in the manner shown in Fig. 5(e), which becomes the output of the translating module 5.
Fig. 6 is a flow-chart showing the sequence of a translating operation carried out by this apparatus. When an English, i.e. source language, sentence namely, "He is one of the greatest figures of this century." is inputted at step nl, the consultation of a dictionary and the analysis of elements of the condition are carried out to determine the first combination of parts of speech selected to correspond to each word in step n2. The thus determined "'~ , , :
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` - 8 - 1326300 row of parts of speech is analyzed in structure in step n3. If this analysis results in success, the flow proceeds to step n4 where the language is changed, and then to step n5 where the target language is produced. T~en, the result of this translation using the terms employed in the structural analysis, i.e., "~e is one of the greatest ~
of this century." is produced in step n6, which is then displayed by the CRT 3.
Next, in step n7, an operator selects whether or not all of the translated terms (synonyms) of a designated word in the inputted sentence should be displayed. If these terms need not be displayed, the flow goes to step nl6, where it is detected whether a subsequent sentence - follows. Without any sentence following, the translating lS operation is completed. The flow returns to step nl if there is a next sentence to be translated.
On the other hand, if all of the translated terms ~synonymsJ for the desired word should be displayed in step n7, the desired word (for example, "figure~) is indicated in step n8. By way of indication, the cursor is moved to the word ~figure", or the word "figure" is input-ted through the keybaard. In this case, although the word "figure" has various translated terms, as described earlier, the fourth group of terms (man, character, image, portrait) is selected through analysis of the terms, which group is displayed in step n9 in the manner shown in Fig.
7.
When the translated term is to be changed, the operator should answer "yes" in response to an inquiry from the apparatus in step nlO. After the answer "yes" is inputted, the indicated wocd, namely, the translated term corresponding to "figure" in the present instance, i.e.
nmann, ~s reversed in step nll, with the cursor being moved to the head of an item of the translated terms in step nl2.
At thi5 time, after the cursor has been moved to a ' :~

certain translated term (foc example, "character") in step nl3 5with reference to Fig~ 8), the pushing of a return - key erases the term that is displayed, while being erased on the CRT screen (in this case, "man") in step nl4.
S Thereafter, the desired term ("character~) indicated by the cursor is inserted at the position where the erased ter~ was previously located. Then, "He is one of the greatest¦characterslof this century." is indicated in step nl5. The flow now returns to step n7.
10Accordingly, in the translating apparatus of the present invention, synonyms related to a desired term (word) in the translated sentence are displayed, so that the most appropriate one of the synonyms can be adopted, thereby enabling a more accurate translation with subtle distinctions.
As described above, the translating apparatus can provide the following advantages:
(1) When another way of expressing the thought is desired, althouyh the translation itself was correct, a more suitable translated term or terms can be selected by consulting a dictionary contained in the apparatus, without any necessity to refer manually to a commercially available dictionary of synonyms.
- (Z) When an English word, or example "like", is included in the inputted sentence to be translated, the apparatus selects the group of verb terms "like, desire".
In this case, also an auxiliary wocd of the object is changed, as is seen from ~I like reading." and "I desire to read.~ Accordingly, since the translating apparatus of the present invention can change or replace the translated term together with an auxiliary word thereof, it is helpful for the operator to be free from this concern during the operation.
A second form of translating apparatus according to the present inventon is illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10 .. :, .
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- 10 - 132~3(~(~

which respectively show a flow-chart explanatory of the sequence of the operation, and a block diagram of its construction.
First, the construction of the apparatus will be schematically explained with reference to Fig. 10. The apparatus includes a control part 121 comprised of a CPU, etc., an input part 122, a display part 123, a ROM part 124 and a RAM part 125.
The input part 122 has a keyboard provided with various kinds of keys for inputting an original sentence (for example, an English sentenceJ, editing the original sentence and its translated sentence (for example, a Japanese sentence) or performing any other operations.
The display part 123 is comprised of display devices such as cathode ray tubes (CRT~ which are able to display the original sentence together with the translated sentence, and with ruled lines, electro-luminescence displays (EL displays), liquid crystal displays, plasma displays or the like.
In the ROM 124 there are stored a dictionary or a table necessary for the translating operation, programs for carrying out the translating operation and programs for displaying-the translation, etc.
The RAM 125 has memory areas utilized as a register memory or a display buffer during the performance of each of the programs.
The operation of the translating apparatus in accordance with the second embodiment will be described hereinbelow with reference to the flow-chart of Fig. 9 and an example o a display in Fig. 11.
Original sentences inputted through the keyboard in the input part 122 are successively transferred to the display part 123 and are displayed at a position 131a indicated ac ~original~ on the display screen (the inputting step 112). After a fixed unit of the original , . . . . . .
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13~6~(~0 (~or example, a unit of one sentence) has been inputted through the keyboard in this manner, the apparatus is ordered by a function key of the input part 122 (the ordering step 113) to start the translating operation with S the help of the dictionary etc. in the ROM 124 (the translating step 114). The resultant translation is displayed at a position 131b indicated as "translated sentence" on the display screen (Fig. 11). Thereafter, the resultant translation is edited in conversation between the apparatus and the operator, in order to correct or change any inadequate portion therein (the editing step 117). When approval is obtained from the operator (the approving step 118), the original sentence is completely translated, and the flow proceeds to another translating operation on a new original sentence.
In this translating process there are a display starting step 115 and a display ending step 119 before and after the editing step 117. Therefore, in order to carry out the editing operation in step 117, the program for displaying the region to be edited in the translation that is stored in the ROM 124 is first processed in step 115 so that the original sentence and its translated equivalent to be edited are distinguished by a frame 133 (Fig. 11) from the other originals and their translated equivalents on the screen. Then, when the original and translated sentences encircled by the frame 133 are edited, the frame 133 is erased in step 119.
This indication of the region to be edited is conducted by depressing a predetermined key after the cursoc 134 has moved to the cegion of the original sentence to be edited. In other words, it is so arranged that, when the cursor 134 is moved to below a word in the original sentence to be edited and the predetermined key is depressed, the portion related to the original sentence is again read into the RAM so as to be able to be edited.
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. , ~ - 12 - 1326300 At the same time, the subject original sentence and its translated equivalent are surrounded by the frame 133.
As shown in Fig. 12, in the editable region, it is possible to eEfect a side-by-side displaying function (referring to Fig. 12(a)), a candidate selecting function (referring to Fig. 12(b)) and an operator's dictionary registering function (referring to Fig. 12(c)). With the side-by-side translation displaying function, when a desired word both in the original sentence and in the translated equivalent are indicated by the cursor, with the predetermined key being depressed, the word is dis-played in such a manner as to be distinguished from other words. On the other hand, according to the candidate selecting function, when some word in the original sentence is indicated by the cursor and the predetermined key is depressed, the translated terms with respect to some other related words are indicated in a window 136, so that the operator can select a most suitable translated term.
Further, according to the dictionary registering function, when it is indicated that the translated term of a word in the original sentence is not suitable, a more appropriate term for the word can be displayed in a window 137.
It is to be noted that in Fig. 11 numerals 132a and 132b designate ruled lines, and numeral 132c is a head mark for each original sentence.
Although the editable region is encircled by the frame 133 in the oregoing example, this region can be distinguished by a different color, or the display in the editable region can be reversed.
As is clear from the foregoing embodiment, according to translating apparatus of the present invention, since it is so arranged that the original sentence and its translated equivalent are displayed on the screen within the editable region with clear distinction from other regions that need not be edited, '' ' , :

-~ - 13 - 132630~

it is highly convenient ~or the operator and the apparatus to be operated with ease.
Referring further to Fig. 13 showing a block diagram of a translating apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention, an input part 201 is comprised of a keyboard, etc., in which the original sentence is inputted, the original sentence and its trans-lated sentence are edited, and various other operations are ordered.
The apparatus also has a control part 202, a read-write memory RA~ 203 and a read-only memory RO~ 204. The original sentence inputted in the part 201 is translated by these components and both the original and the translated sentences are edited based on their linguistic characteristics.
The operation of the apparatus will now be described on the assumption that the original sentence is in the English language, and the translation thereof is in the Japanese language.
The RO~ 204 stores (a) a dictionary and a table necessary for the translating operation, (b) programs for carrying out the translating operation, and (c) programs for handling prohibitions. The RAM 203 is used as a regis-ter memory or a display buffer while each of the programs is being processed.
Referring to the flow-chart of Fig. 14, and examples of display in Figs. 15 and 16, the original sentence inputted into the part 201 is transferred to the display part 205 to be displayed successively below an original mark 206a on a display screen 209 shown in Fig.
15 (step Sl of Fig. 14). Once a predetermined unit of the originals ~for example, a unit of one sentence) is inputted ; ~step sl), the original is processed with respect to the prohibitions (step S2).
When an order to perform the translating operation : '.
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-. ; . , is made by a ~unction key or the like in the input part 201 (step S3), the translation is per~ormed using the dictionary and the table in the ROM 204 (step S4), the result of which is displayed in association with a translation mark 206b that corresponds to the original mark 206a on the screen 209. Thereafter, the apparatus is brought into an editing operation (step S5), where an improper or inadequate ~ortion in the translated sentence is corrected or changed by conversation between the apparatus and the operator.
After the lapse of time, when approval from the operator has been detected, or the movement of the cursor has been detected (step S6), the translated sentence is processed with regards to the prohibitions (step S7).
When this procedure has been repeated for the other original sentences, a display such as illustrated in Fig. 15 is obtained. It is to be noted that ruled lines 207a and 207b, a head mark of the original sentence 207c and a frame 208 are employed to clarify the correlation between original sentences and their translated equivalents, as well as the editable region. These marks, are not essential to the present invention.
Thus, the third embodiment of the present invention is arranged to carry out an editing operation on the basis of characteristics of each language, and to display the edited original sentence in a position corresponding to the edited translated sentence.
To perform the editing operation in English, as shown in Fig. 16~a), the apparatus can display such functions as the word wrap around function, the hyphenation function, etc. in addition to a so-called justify function by which one English word 210a ranging over two lines is arranged to be displayed in either one of the two lines (as shown by a reference 210b).
3S On the other hand, in order to perform the :' - lS - 1326300 .
editing operation in Japanese, as s~own in Fi~. 16(b), ; such representative prohibitions are noted that a closing bracket 211a should not be at the beginning of a line, but should be brought to the end of a precedinq line (as indicated by a reference 211b), or a closing bracket, a mark or a punctuation mark should not be located at the beginning of a line.
Thus, if the original sentence and its translated e~uivalent are edited on the basis of their respective linguistic characteristics, it becomes easy for the operator to see the original sentence and the translated sentence displayed beside each other.
Accordingly, since the translating apparatus of the present invention is provided with a first editing means which edits the original sentence on the basis of its linguistic characteristics, a second editing means which edits the translated sentence on the basis of its linguistic characteristics, and display means which displays the origir.al sentence edited by the first editing means in a location corresponding to that of the translated sentence edited by the second editing means, it is easy for the operator to see the original and translated sentences within the editable region, thereby minimising operator fatigue and improving translation efficiency.
In Fig. 17, there is shown a flow-chart of a translating operation performed by apparatus of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
The construction of this fourth embodiment will first be described with reference to the block diagram of Fig. 18. The apparatus includes a control part 321 comprising a CPU, etc., an input part 322, a display part 323, a ROM part 324 and a RAM part 325.
The input part 322 has a keybcard with various function keys for inputting an original sentence (for example, an Engllsh sentence1, editing the original .... .

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; - 16 -sentence and its translated sentence ~for example, a Japanese translation) or performing other operations.
The display part 323 is composed of devices that can display the original sentence in a corresponding position to the translated sentence, such as cathode ray tubes (CRT), electro-luminescence displays (EL displays), liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, etc.
In the ROM 324 there are stored a dictionary or a 10table 324a for the translating operation, a program 324b for performing the translating operation and a program 324c for displaying the translation. Each of the memory areas of the RAM 325 is utilized as a register memory or a display buffer while each of the programs is being carried out.
15The operation of the translating apparatus will be described now with reference to the flow-chart of Fig. 17 and an example of a display shown in Fig. 19. Reference numerals 333, 331a, 331b, 332c, 332a, 332b of Fig. 19 respectively correspond to numerals 208, 206a, 206b, 207c, 207a, 207b of Fig. 15.
The original sentences inputted through the keyboard of the part 322 are transferred to the display 323 to be displayed successively at the position 331a indicated by "original" on the display screen, as shown in Fig. 19 (the inputting step 312). After a predetermined unit of original sentences ~for example, a unit of one sentence) has been inputted through the keyboard and performance of a translating operation has been indicated by a function key of the input part 322 (the lndication step 313), the translating operation is conducted using the dictionary and/or the table stored in the ROM 324 ~the translating step 315). The result of this operation is displayed at the position 331b indicated by "translated sentence" on the display screen 335 (with reference to Fig. 19). Therea~ter, the apparatus is brought 35 into the editable condition in which an inadequate portion in the translated sentence can be corrected or changed by conversation between the operator and the apparatus (the `"
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-17- 13263a0 editing step 317) . When approval is gained from the operator in step 318, the translating operation for the original sentence is completed, and the flow passes to a step where the next original sentence is to be trans~ ated.
During this procedure, since there are provided a starting step 314 in which the display of the translated sentence is started and an ending step 316 in which the display of the translated sentence is completed, respectively before and after the step 315, the program stored in the ROM 324 for displaying the translation is processed in step 314, resulting in the display "doing translation" at 334 at the los~er le~t corner of the screen.
When the translating operation is completed, the flow proceeds to step 316 where the display 334 is erased.
Thus the operator is advised of the condition of the apparatus.
Although the display is expressed as "doing translation" in the foregoing embodiment, the manner of ~0 this display is not restricted to this form.
In Fig. 19 numerals 332a and 332b represent ruled lines, with numeral 332c representing a head mark of the original sentence and numeral 333 representing frame lines that are used to make clear the correlation between the original sentence and the translated sentence and the editable region., ' Since the translating apparatus can indicate the condition that the translating operation is in, the operator can easily confirm that the apparatus is working properly. Moreover, it is possible to detect immediately whether the apparatus is in a normally-operating condition : or in an inoperative condition resulting from an accidental runaway of the program or the like, and prompt counter-measures can be taken.
Although the present invention has been fully described by way of example with reference to the ":

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~~` - 18 - 13263~0 accompanying drawings, it is to be noted here that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. There~ore, unless otherwise such changes and - modifications depart rom the scope of the present invention, they should be construed as being included therein.

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Claims

CLAIM

1. A translating apparatus comprising means for translating original, inputted sentences into translated sentences, display means for displaying said original sentences and said translated sentences on a display screen, and indicating means, including a showing on said display means, for indicating that a translation operation is being carried out, and further indicating means, including a showing on said display means after completion of the translation operation, for indicating a translated sentence that corresponds to an original inputted sentence.