JP3324830B2 - Machine translation equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a machine translation system that specifies the source of a dictionary in a translation system used for translation to a user when editing a translation after performing a translation operation using the machine translation system. It concerns the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, commercially available dictionaries and dictionaries are not sufficient for performing translation work, and the knowledge of translators and a glossary of original terms are used in combination. Is done. This situation is the same for machine translation.

[0003] In general, as a dictionary used in a system such as a machine translation system, a basic dictionary to which a general grammar and a translation word are assigned and which covers the widest range of entries is used as a first dictionary of the system. It is held internally. Further, a specialty dictionary for words depending on a certain specific field is held in the system as a second dictionary, and this specialty dictionary can be used depending on the application. This includes words that appear only in a specific field, words that have special usage, words whose translations change, and the like. In this way, phrases that are dependent on a particular field are assigned general translations in that field.

However, since actual translations contain a considerable proportion of terms and phrases used by individual users, only the basic dictionaries and specialized dictionaries prepared in advance on the system side are required. Insufficiently, there are unregistered words.

[0005] Further, even if a phrase is entered in the basic dictionary or the specialized dictionary, the translated word is not always the one most suitable for the user. Some phrases, such as fixed phrases and unique expressions used by a particular user, are not translated literally and are inconvenient unless they are translated in the desired way. For example,
Japanese kanji notation for the reading "Kama"
There are "kiln", "pot" and "sickle". In addition, even if you say "kiln" in a bite, when it comes to English, you can bake pottery "kil"
“n”, “oven” for baking bread, “furnance” for furnace
Even if it is a "pot", it is also possible to use the "iron p"
There are various "kettles" such as "ot", "kettle", and pot-type "ca (u) ldron", and "sickle" such as "sickle" and "hook". Furthermore, as a sewing machine term, a bobbin case that holds a bobbin around which a bobbin thread is wound is referred to as a "kama", and its translation is "shuttl
e ”. When translating a text in the field of sewing machines, if a translation other than“ shuttle ”appears,
The user can never be satisfied because it is probably wrong. In this way, "kama" to use casually
It can be understood that even with the notation, the meaning represented by the type of text is limited and variously translated.

That is, in order to perform the translation process accurately, it is necessary to select and use a dictionary including a translation word corresponding to the type of the text to be translated. Since the basic dictionaries and specialized dictionaries usually provided by the system are general, a user dictionary is required as a third dictionary capable of limiting the use of words and phrases at the same time as selecting a plurality of specialized dictionaries. . In some cases, it may be necessary to develop a plurality of user dictionaries depending on the field and the user among the user dictionaries. In other words, a translated sentence cannot be made without a user dictionary. Therefore, in such a situation, the development of the user dictionary by the user himself is indispensable.

[0007]

However, unlike a basic dictionary or a specialized dictionary that is comprehensively constructed, a user dictionary includes words created by the user on the fly, and the processing of the system. Since the procedure is not taken into account, its credibility is lower than that of a basic dictionary. Therefore, the cause of the translation failure may be a part of speech of the user dictionary or a defect in individual information.

However, it is difficult for a user to find a defect only from a translated sentence. In addition, even if a phrase may have a different meaning or a different translation due to a different field being used, once it has been replaced with the other language in the translation, each individual phrase will be truly different. Determining the correct translation is a difficult and tedious task, even for experts in the field. In particular, when a plurality of users use one system, there is a risk that a user who does not have specialized knowledge may edit technical terms that should not be corrected because they do not know the technical terms.

[0009] On the other hand, once a user dictionary is created, there is no guarantee that subsequent translations will be perfect. That is, if a user inadvertently creates a user dictionary for a phrase having both a special usage and a basic usage, an ordinary sentence may not be translated well.
For example, in "mold", "flow in mold", "remove from mold"
In the case of "casting mold", such as "die", "mold", "castin"
"g" is required, and "m" for "model"
"odel" and "type" for "type". Although the meaning of the "bite" is roughly divided according to the field, the "model" and "type" of the "type" do not depend on the field, but the "word" used in any field. And “translation”.

[0010] Therefore, the "type" is set to "die" in the user dictionary.
Or "mold", for example, "general type",
"Types" such as "special types" are not translated as "general model", but as "general die". Of course, there are cases where this is fine, but there are cases where it is inconvenient. But,
After all, translations such as “die” and “mold” for “type” are necessary at the level of specialized dictionaries and user dictionaries.
If the user used a professional dictionary and registered himself in the user dictionary, he had to find “general die” in the translation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a translation work using a machine translation apparatus.
When editing the translation after performing the above , by highlighting the words and phrases of the translation sourced from the dictionary specified by the user, by allowing the user to edit the translation while referring to it It is another object of the present invention to provide a machine translation apparatus that can reduce the time and labor required for post-editing of a user and improve the quality of a translated sentence.

[0012]

In order to achieve this object, a machine translation apparatus according to claim 1 comprises an input means for inputting an original sentence in a source language, a headword, a translation word corresponding to the headword, and A first dictionary for storing knowledge information such as wording necessary for translating a headword, a headword depending on a specific field, a translation corresponding to the headword, and a translation of the headword. A second dictionary for storing knowledge information necessary for the headword, an arbitrary headword, an optional translation for the headword, and a user dictionary for storing knowledge information necessary for translating the headword. Dictionary creating means for creating the user dictionary; selecting means for selecting at least one of the second dictionary and the user dictionary; and selecting the second dictionary and the user dictionary based on the selection by the selecting means. Control the priority and And translation means for performing translation processing using calligraphy, and output means for displaying the translations in the target language obtained by the translation unit, each dictionary or we used in the translation process
And specifying means for specifying the type of one of the dictionary, when the type of dictionary is designated by the designation means, if the entry word in the original language belonging to the dictionary document that was used in the translation process has been present in the original And an emphasis means for emphasizing and outputting the original text or the corresponding headword or translation.

The machine translation apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention further comprises output control means for displaying the type of dictionary used for the translation processing on the output means as required, and each dictionary displayed on the output means. designated by the designation unit one dictionary of the enhancement means, to highlight the entry word or textual translation or corresponding to a dictionary designated by the designation means and sources.

[0014]

According to the machine translation apparatus of the first aspect having the above-mentioned configuration, the translation means includes a first dictionary, a second dictionary,
The user performs a translation operation using the user dictionary created by the dictionary creation unit, and displays the translation in the obtained target language by the output unit. After the translation work , when editing the translated sentence, the designation unit specifies one dictionary type from each dictionary used for the translation process, and the emphasis unit specifies the dictionary type by the designation unit. If the lemma of the source language belonging to the dictionary specification used in the translation process is present in the original text, by highlighting the original or appropriate entry word or translation, the user will see it user Edit translations by creating and modifying dictionaries or replacing them with other translations.

Further, in the machine translation apparatus according to the second aspect, the type of each dictionary used for the translation processing is displayed on the output means by the output control means, and each dictionary displayed on the output means by the designation means. Specifies one dictionary of, to highlight the translation or corresponding headword or original and the specified dictionary citation by highlighting means.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a Japanese-English machine translation apparatus embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a hardware configuration of a machine translation apparatus according to the present invention. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the machine translation apparatus includes a display unit 11 including a CRT or the like, an input unit 12 including a keyboard or the like, a printing unit 13 including a laser printer or the like, a hard disk, an optical disk, or the like. And a storage unit 15 for storing the input sentence input from the input unit 12 and the translated result as a pair, and an editing unit for controlling the entire system. A translation unit 17 for performing translation processing, a dictionary selection unit 18 for allowing a user to select each dictionary in the electronic dictionary unit 14 used for translation processing, and an electronic dictionary unit selected by the dictionary selection unit 18 A dictionary control unit 19 for controlling the dictionaries of the electronic dictionary unit 14, a dictionary editing unit 20 for editing the dictionary in the electronic dictionary unit 14, and searching for dictionary information, and a display control unit 21 for controlling data to be sent to the display unit 11. It is constructed from.

The electronic dictionary unit 14 includes a basic dictionary 31 and a specialized dictionary 32 which the system has in advance,
The user dictionary 33 allows the user to register necessary words and phrases via the dictionary editor 20. Specialized dictionary 32
There can be a plurality of user dictionaries 33 and a plurality of user dictionaries 33, but in the present embodiment, each one is provided for convenience.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of dictionary data of the basic dictionary 31. The individual dictionary information includes a headword 51, a part of speech 52 of the headword, and a translation word 5 corresponding to the headword 51.
3, the part of speech 54 of the translated word, and knowledge information 55 such as a grammar and a meaning necessary for translating the headword 51.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of dictionary data of the specialized dictionary 32. Like the basic dictionary 31, each dictionary information includes a headword 61 depending on a specific field and a headword of the headword. It is composed of a part of speech 62, a translation 63 corresponding to the headword 61, a part of speech 64 of the translation, and knowledge information 65 such as a wording method and a meaning necessary for translating the headword 61.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the dictionary data of the user dictionary 33. Like the basic dictionary 31 and the specialized dictionary 32, each dictionary information includes a headword 71 and a part of speech 72 of the headword 71. And any translation 73 for the headword 71, the part of speech 74 of the translation 73, and the headword 7
Knowledge information 75 such as wording and meaning required when translating 1
It is composed of

Next, a basic translation operation of the machine translation apparatus configured as described above will be schematically described with reference to FIG.

First, a Japanese sentence as a source language is prepared by operating a character key or the like of the input unit 12 (S1). When a translation execution key (not shown) of the input unit 12 is operated (S
2), the translation control process is started, and the editing unit 16 edits the Japanese sentence input from the input unit 12 into an appropriate form as necessary and sends it to the translating unit 17 where the electronic dictionary is sent. Using the dictionaries 31, 32, and 33 in the section 14, the Japanese sentence is translated into English, which is the partner language, to obtain an output sentence (S
3). Next, the editing unit 16 stores the input sentence and the output sentence in pairs in the storage unit 15 (S4). And the editing unit 1
6 reads the data of the input sentence and the output sentence from the storage unit 15 and displays them on the display unit 11 (S5).

If the output sentence (translation sentence) is incorrect or unnatural, the Japanese of the input sentence is re-edited and re-translated, or the contents of the user dictionary 33 are changed and then re-translated. Or directly modify the output sentence (translation sentence).

To re-edit and re-translate the input sentence into Japanese, after operating the input sentence editing key (not shown) of the input section 12 (YES in both S6 and S7), the input section is displayed on the display section 11. The input sentence is corrected by operating the character keys or the like of the input unit 12 to create a new input sentence (S1). Thereafter, the translation execution key is operated (S2), and the translation process is performed again (S3 to S5).

When retranslation is performed after changing the contents of the user dictionary 33, a dictionary edit key (not shown) of the input unit 12 is used.
To operate (S6 · YES, S7 · NO, S8 · YE
S) The information of the user dictionary 33 in the electronic dictionary unit 14 is searched by the editing unit 17 and the result is displayed on the display unit 11.
After the necessary words and phrases are registered in the user dictionary 33 by the dictionary editing unit 20 and the already registered dictionary information is corrected (S9), the translation execution key is operated (S6 · YE).
NO for both S, S7 and S8, S10 and YES), and perform the translation process again (S3 to S5).

When correcting an output sentence, the input unit 1
After operating the output sentence edit key (not shown) of No. 2 (S6
YES, S7, S8, S10 NO, S11, YE
S), the output sentence is directly modified by operating a character key or the like of the input unit 12, and the output sentence is stored in the storage unit 15 (S12).

Then, when the translation result desired by the user is obtained, a print key (not shown) is operated (S6 ·
YES, N for S7, S8, S10, S11, S13
O), and output to printing paper by the printing unit 13 (S1)
4). To end this control, a translation end key (not shown) is operated in S6 (YES in S6, S7).
NO for both S8, S10, and S11, YES for S13).

Here, the translation processing in the translation section 17 in S3 will be described with reference to FIG.

The morphological analysis unit of the translation unit 17 includes an editing unit 16
Using the morphological analysis rules 41 in the morphological analysis unit, the dictionary data in the electronic dictionary unit 14 is searched for each word constituting the input sentence sent from the server, and the words constituting the input sentence are cut out. Are added to the morphological analysis result (S21). Next, the analysis unit of the translation unit 17 receives the result of the morphological analysis, and uses the analysis grammar 42 in the analysis unit to
The structure of the Japanese language is analyzed (S22). The translation unit 17
The conversion unit converts the Japanese structure analyzed by the analysis unit into an English structure using the conversion grammar 43 in the conversion unit (S23). Subsequently, the generating unit of the translating unit 17 determines the word order of English from the English structure converted by the converting unit using the generating grammar 44 in the generating unit,
The personal sentence is processed to generate an output sentence composed of an English word string (S24). Then, the morpheme generation unit of the translation unit 17
Using the morpheme generation rule 45 in the morpheme generation unit, an inflected form such as a plural form of a noun, a past verb, a past participle, etc. is generated for an English word string generated by the generation unit, and an output sentence is obtained. (S25).

In performing the translation, the user needs to select the configuration of the specialized dictionary 32 or the user dictionary 33 in the electronic dictionary unit 14 as the dictionary data most suitable for the input sentence. This specification method will be described with reference to FIG.

First, when the user operates a dictionary menu key (not shown) of the input unit 12, the dictionary selection unit 18 is activated, and a menu is displayed on the display unit 11 (S31).
Here, a dictionary to be used is operated by operating a next candidate key and a selection key (both not shown) of the input unit 12 to select and specify which dictionary to use (S32). When the user dictionary 33 is selected (S33: YES), the dictionary control unit 19 sets a flag indicating that the user dictionary 33 is selected, that is, sets the flag to the ON state (S3).
4). When the specialized dictionary 32 is selected (S35 · Y
ES), the dictionary control unit 19 turns on a flag indicating that the specialized dictionary 32 has been selected (S36). In this embodiment, it is assumed that the user selects both the user dictionary 33 and the specialized dictionary 32. Then, the dictionary control unit 19 transmits the respective flag data to the translation unit 17 (S3).
7).

A plurality of user dictionaries 33 and specialized dictionaries 32 are provided. When a plurality of the user dictionaries are selected, a flag is set for each of the dictionaries and flag data is transmitted to the translator 17. If neither the user dictionary 33 nor the specialized dictionary 32 is selected, the flag data is not transmitted to the translator 17 but the flag data of the basic dictionary 31 in the translator 17 is always ON. In the translation process, only the basic dictionary 31 is used.

The translator 17 looks at the state of the flag and, if the user dictionary 33 has been selected, performs the translation process with the highest priority, and if the specialized dictionary 32 has been selected, the user dictionary 33
Translation processing is performed with priority next to. In this translation processing, a detailed flow of dictionary search in the morphological analysis processing in S21 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the input sentence sent to the translation unit 17, first, the words constituting the input sentence are cut out by the morphological analysis unit (S41). At this time, the morphological analysis unit converts the
In accordance with the flag indicating whether or not the basic dictionary 31, the specialized dictionary 32, and the user dictionary 33 are used (S42,
(S45), search each dictionary data in the electronic dictionary unit 14 (S43, S46, S48).

Here, the flag of the user dictionary 33 is ON.
Since it is in the state (S42 / YES), the dictionary data of the user dictionary 33 is searched first (S43). And
If the dictionary is closed, a source flag indicating the source of the dictionary from which the headword has been searched is added (S44). Next, because the flag of the specialized dictionary 32 is ON (S45)
(YES), the dictionary data of the user dictionary 32 is searched (S)
46), a source flag indicating the source of the dictionary in which the headword has been searched is added (S47). Subsequently, the dictionary data of the basic dictionary 31 is searched (S48), and a source flag indicating the source of the dictionary in which the headword has been searched is added (S49).

If any of the searched words have the same headword and the same part of speech (S50 · Y
ES), the headword of the dictionary having the higher priority remains, and the other headwords are discarded (S51). In this case, the priority order is the user dictionary 33, the specialized dictionary 32, and the basic dictionary 31. If the part of speech is different even if the headword is the same, it remains as a word candidate. Thereafter, the plurality of candidates are set in the S2
After entering the analysis section in 2, the candidates are narrowed down to appropriate candidates.
In this way, the input sentence is cut into constituent words, and the subsequent processing is performed with a source flag indicating which dictionary is the source or a part of speech information, and finally a source flag indicating the source is set. An output sentence is generated by storing the output sentence in association with the words constituting the output sentence.

When the output sentence is completed, when translating a certain input sentence, the user determines which dictionary should be used and selects an appropriate dictionary for efficient post-editing of the output sentence. There is a need to. The determination method when the user selects the dictionary and the flow of the efficient post-editing will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 9 using an example of an input sentence “Use a half-rotation type as the bite type”. explain.

In the example sentence described briefly, the first “type” may be a translation word “mold” registered in the user dictionary 33, but the second “type” may be Instead of "mold", "type" representing "type" is appropriate.

When performing the translation process, the translation unit 17 stores a source flag indicating the source of the dictionary using the words and phrases in the input sentence in association with the words constituting the output sentence, and ends the translation process. are doing. Further, the editing unit 16 stores the input sentence and the output sentence that is the translation result as a pair in the storage unit 15.

In this state, as described above, when the user operates the translation end key of the input unit 12 in S6 of FIG. 5 (S11 / NO), the translation processing is terminated, and the editing control shown in FIG. 9 starts. Then, the head of the input sentence and the output sentence is displayed on the display unit 11 (S61). The display control unit 2 is operated by operating a use dictionary menu key (not shown) of the input unit 12.
1 is started (S62). The display control unit 21 stores the specialized dictionary 32 and the user dictionary 33 stored in the dictionary control unit 19.
As shown in FIG. 10, a menu indicating the type of dictionary data selected by the user is displayed on the display unit 11 in accordance with the flag indicating whether or not to use the dictionary (S63).

Select and specify which dictionary is to be used. Specifically, the next candidate key of the input unit 12 (S64
-YES, NO for both S65 and S66, S67) or select key (YES for both S64 and S65) to select and specify. When the user dictionary 33 is selected (S
64, S65, and S68 are both YES), the display control unit 21 checks the source flag stored in the translation unit 17 in association with the output sentence, and highlights the word whose source is the user dictionary 33 on the display unit 11. That is, the display is blinked (S69). As shown in FIG. 10, in this case, two “molds” whose source is the user dictionary 33 are blinkingly displayed.

Thus, the user can change the "type" to "die".
It can be recognized that the word "mold" is registered in the user dictionary 33 as a translation instead of "casting", and it is very easy to verify that the translation of "type" is correctly used. it can. However, the second "type"
Is appropriate for "type" representing "type" instead of "mold" in the user dictionary 33, so if the user operates the output sentence edit key of the input unit 12 during this highlighted display (S6).
(4. YES, NO for both S65 and S66), and in S67, the same output sentence correction processing as in the above 12 can be performed. Specifically, by deleting “mold” and inputting “type”, the modified output sentence is stored in the storage unit 15. Alternatively, other dictionary information can be confirmed by activating the dictionary editing unit 20 and replacing the translated word.

On the other hand, similarly, when the professional dictionary 32 is selected by the user (YES in both S64 and S65, S
68 / NO, S70 / YES), the display control unit 21 checks the source flag stored in the translation unit 17 in association with the output sentence, and highlights the word whose source is the specialized dictionary 32 on the display unit 11. (S71). As shown in FIG. 11, in this case, "shuttle" whose source is the specialized dictionary 32 blinks. In this case, the user can understand at a glance that "shuttle" as a professional expression is appropriate for "bite" and it is not necessary to correct this.

When the user operates the end key (S64 / YES, S65 / NO, S66 / YES),
The highlighting on the display unit 11 ends, and this control ends.

With this configuration, the user can accurately recognize the source dictionary of the translated word, and can unify or confirm the word that is a translated word specific to each user and a specialized translated word. Also, the user can very easily verify that each translated word is used in a correct state. Further, it is very effective in performing translation processing by manipulating a plurality of user dictionaries and specialized dictionaries, and in verifying how to combine dictionaries and determine priorities.

In the above embodiment, the case where the user performs translation using the existing user dictionary 33 and the specialized dictionary 32 and verifies the output result has been described. It can be carried out. That is, a sufficient effect can be expected when verifying whether or not there is an inappropriate user dictionary 33 in the output sentence. Further, it can be confirmed in a similar manner whether or not there is an appropriate specialized dictionary 32 and whether or not it is used for translation.

Further, while the translation from the user dictionary 33 is highlighted, it is displayed whether or not the same headword is present in another dictionary, and the desired translation is included in the dictionary. It can be applied to a user interface that can be easily replaced.

In the above-described embodiment, the blinking display is performed as the highlight display. However, it is sufficient that the display can be distinguished from other words, and for example, the display may be reversed. In the above-described embodiment, only the translated word is highlighted. However, the original text, the corresponding headword, or the translated word may be individually emphasized and output, or they may be simultaneously highlighted.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, all the translations having a certain dictionary as a source are highlighted simultaneously. However, the headwords may be sequentially displayed for each headword, starting from the first headword. You may make it display by a different highlighting method so that it may be distinguished for every headword.

[0051]

As is apparent from the above description, in the machine translation apparatus of the present invention, a dictionary specified by the user when editing a translation after performing a translation operation using the machine translation apparatus. By highlighting the translated word whose source is, and enabling the user to edit the translated text while referring to it, it is possible to reduce the time and effort required for the user to edit the translated text and to improve the quality of the translated text. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration of dictionary data of a basic dictionary of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration of dictionary data of a specialized dictionary of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration of dictionary data of a user dictionary of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a translation process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing in a translation unit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a dictionary selection process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process of assigning a source flag in the morphological analysis unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of dictionary display control according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display state when a user dictionary display according to the present embodiment is selected.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a display state when a professional dictionary display according to the present embodiment is selected.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 display unit 12 input unit 17 translation unit 18 dictionary selection unit 19 dictionary control unit 20 dictionary editing unit 21 display control unit 31 basic dictionary 32 specialized dictionary 33 user dictionary 51 headword 53 translation word 55 knowledge information 61 headword 63 translation word 65 knowledge information 71 Headword 73 Translated 75 Knowledge Information

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An input means for inputting an original sentence in a source language, a headword, a translation word corresponding to the headword, and knowledge information such as a grammar necessary for translating the headword are stored. A second dictionary that stores headwords depending on a specific field, translations corresponding to the headwords, and knowledge information necessary for translating the headwords; A user dictionary for storing an arbitrary translation for the headword and knowledge information necessary for translating the headword; dictionary creation means for creating the user dictionary; the second dictionary and the user dictionary Selecting means for selecting at least one of the following, and translating means for controlling the priority of the second dictionary and the user dictionary based on the selection by the selecting means, and performing a translation process using each dictionary And the translation means And output means for displaying the translations in the target language obtained Ri, designating means for designating a type of each dictionary or found one dictionary used in the translation process, when the type of the dictionaries is designated by the designation means , wherein the lemma of the source language belonging to the dictionary specification used in the translation process if present in the original text, provided the emphasis means for emphasizing the output the original text or corresponding headword or translation Machine translation device. Wherein provided an output control means for displaying said optionally a dictionary of the type used in the translation process to the output means, the designated one of the dictionaries out of the dictionary is displayed in the output unit 2. The machine translation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the translation is specified by a means, and the emphasis means highlights a translated word, a corresponding headword, or an original sentence whose source is the dictionary specified by the designation means.