JPH0721188A - Electronic translation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform accurate translation by generating a message in fixed form consisting of a limited index word. CONSTITUTION:A translation dictionary 7 holds equivalent data generated by translating index words. A translation part 20 once inputting a source language generated by sectioning a sentence to be translated, word by word, and converting them into an index word group translates only words and phrases which are present as index words in the translation dictionary 7 and outputs words other than the index words as a target language. For example, when the translation part 20 obtains equivalents to specific words and phrases, an index retrieval part 71 is retrieved by using the words and phrases as retrieval words. The index retrieval part 71 specifies entries of an index part 72 corresponding to the retrieval words. The index part 72 selects a last selected equivalent with top priority and the translation part 20 obtain the equivalent from an equivalent data part 73.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic translation device for translating a source language into a target language.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, so-called machine translation is performed in which an electronic device translates Japanese to English.
In such machine translation, conventionally, there has been a system in which a sentence to be translated is mechanically analyzed using a grammar and a dictionary and translated into another language mainly for the purpose of translating a sentence in a natural language. In addition, as another machine translation, an example sentence that is likely to be frequently used is stored in advance, and when a translation target sentence is given, a translation is performed in which the stored example sentence is searched to replace a phrase. Was there.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional machine translation, for example, in a system that analyzes and translates natural language, due to the ambiguity of morpheme, syntax, and meaning that occurs when analyzing and generating natural language. , It was very difficult to do the correct translation automatically with an electronic translation device. In addition, in the case of translations that store typical examples to improve the quality of machine translation, a huge amount of example sentences must be prepared in order to perform accurate translations. It was difficult to deal with various expressions.

The present invention has been made to solve the above conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic translation apparatus that can perform accurate translation and does not need to store example sentences. .

[0005]

An electronic translation apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention provides a parallel translation dictionary in which translated word data obtained by translating a headword is stored in association with the headword, and a headline in which a sentence to be translated is separated by a delimiter. A source language including a word group is input, and only a phrase existing as a headword of the bilingual dictionary is translated in the source language, and a translation unit that makes the target language as the source language other than the headword is provided. It is characterized by.

In the electronic translation apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the bilingual dictionary is an index unit that selects the translation word of the target language selected last time with the highest priority when there are a plurality of translation words corresponding to the entry word. It is characterized by having.

In the electronic translation apparatus of the third invention, in the first or second invention, the translation unit is configured to add a reference word list obtained when the translated word data is back-translated in correspondence with the translated word data. It is characterized by being present.

In the electronic translation apparatus of the fourth invention, in the first to third inventions, the translation unit translates one sentence to be translated with an entry word indicating the central word attribute of the sentence added. It is characterized by being configured.

In the electronic translation apparatus of the fifth invention, in the first to fourth inventions, the translation unit is configured to classify one sentence to be translated by type and perform translation in a state in which a type name indicating the classification is given. It is characterized by that.

In the electronic translation apparatus of the sixth invention, in the first invention, the translation unit translates a sentence to be translated with an entry word indicating a central word attribute of the sentence added, and Is configured to be translated in a state in which a type name indicating the classification is added, and a keyword attribute is added to the headword group, and the keyword attribute and the headword indicating the central word attribute It is characterized by comprising an output means for outputting the type name and the type name in a distinguishable manner.

[0011]

In the electronic translation apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention, when the source language is input to the translation unit, the translation unit searches the bilingual dictionary and outputs only the words and phrases registered as the entry words of the bilingual dictionary as the target language. To do. For example, image data such as numbers and diagrams are output as they are.

In the electronic translation apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention, when the translation unit searches the bilingual dictionary, the index unit of the bilingual dictionary selects the translated word selected last time with the highest priority. Further, when a translation other than the translation selected last time is selected, the index unit sets the translation as the next highest priority selected translation.

In the electronic translation apparatus according to the third aspect of the invention, when the translated target language is obtained, the translation unit performs back translation using the target language as a headword. As a result, the obtained translated word is added to the target language of the headword to be translated as a reference word list of the source language.

In the electronic translation apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a headword, which is an entry word indicating the central word attribute of the sentence, is added to one sentence to be translated. Then, this headword is placed at the beginning of the message to become a function name, and one sentence to be translated is converted into a predetermined function format.

In the electronic translation apparatus according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, sentences to be translated are classified by type and a type name indicating the classification is determined in advance. The type name is a word whose translation is limited to one type. And
This type name is given to each sentence to be translated, and the translation unit translates in this state.

In the electronic translation apparatus according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a keyword attribute is added to a headword group to be translated, such as a phrase to be emphasized. Then, the phrase having such a keyword attribute, the type name, and the headword specify, for example, the character type at the time of printing. This allows
When the translation result is printed, each phrase is output in a recognizable state.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the electronic translation apparatus of the present invention. Prior to this, the overall configuration of the electronic translation apparatus will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the electronic translation device. The apparatus shown in the figure includes a message editor 1, a message translator 2, a translation editor 3, a dictionary editor 4, an input / output communication manager 5, a system manager 6, a bilingual dictionary 7, a message database 8, a display 9, a keyboard 10, a printer 11, and a modem 12. Consists of.

Message editor 1 to system management 6
Is a program module and has the following functions. That is, the message editor 1 has a function of generating a message, and includes a message type reference tool and a function format conversion tool described later. The message translation 2 has a function of accessing the bilingual dictionary 7 and translating it when a message is given. The translation editor 3 is an editor for displaying the result translated by the message translation 2 on the display 9 or the like and correcting the translated word of the translation result. The input / output communication management 5 is for performing output control to the display 9 and the printer 11 and communication management to other nodes via the modem 12. Further, the system management 6 has a function of setting for various processes such as a language pair for translation.

The bilingual dictionary 7 and the message database 8 are data stored in an external storage device or an internal storage device, and the bilingual dictionary 7 will be described in detail later. The message database 8 is a database that stores translation target sentences, and stores messages and the like generated by the message editor 1. The display 9 to the modem 12 are hardware and have the following functions. That is, the display 9 is an output device for displaying a process selection screen, a process result, etc., and the keyboard 10
Is an input device for an operator to make various inputs.
The printer 11 is an output device for printing the translated processing result of the target language or the like. Further, the modem 12 is a device for transmitting / receiving data via a communication line.

Next, the electronic translation apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described. In FIG. 1, the translation unit 20 corresponds to the configuration of the message editor 1 to system management 6 in FIG. 2 described above, and inputs the source language in which the translation target sentence is divided into words and converted into headword groups, In the source language, translate only words and phrases that exist as index words in the bilingual dictionary 7,
Non-languages such as characters, symbols, numbers, or image data such as charts other than the headword have a function of being the target language as they are as the source language.

The bilingual dictionary 7 includes a headline search unit 71,
It is composed of an index part 72 and a translated word data part 73. The headline search unit 71 is composed of a hash table or a B-tree and indicates an entry of the index unit 72 corresponding to a headword registered as the bilingual dictionary 7, and is stored in the internal storage device. The index part 72 has a translated word data part 7 in which each entry corresponds to a headword.
3 shows the storage position of the translated word in No. 3, and when there are a plurality of translated words for the headword, each storage position is represented by a bias value for the head storage position. Also, it has a function of holding the priority of selection in a plurality of translated words so that the translated word selected last time becomes the highest. The index unit 72 is stored in the internal storage device or the external storage device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of the index section 72 and a description of the stacking position. FIG.
(B), (c) is explanatory drawing of a stack position. That is,
As shown in (a), the index part 72 has a structure in which each entry has a translated word priority stack 72a. This stack has a fixed length, 5 in the example shown.
The individual stacks (72a-1 to 72a-5) are provided. And these stacks 72a-1 to 72a-5
Are stored in descending order of priority, and in translation word selection during translation, the pointer of the translation word of the first stack 72a-1 is selected. This stack is at least 1
The number is provided, and the number is set by starting the system management 6.

Returning to FIG. 1, the translated word data section 73 is configured in an external storage device or the like, and the translated words for the respective headwords are stored at predetermined addresses. Further, the bilingual dictionary 7 is configured so that, for example, not only a translation from Japanese as a source language to English as a target language, but also a backward translation from English to Japanese can be similarly performed.

Next, the operation of the electronic translation apparatus having the above configuration will be described. First, when the electronic translation device is activated, various function selection screens are displayed on the display 9. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the display screen. In the figure, 30
Is a menu window. In this menu window 30, a message editor 31 and message translation 3
2. A translation editor 33, a dictionary editor 34, an input / output communication management 35, and a system management 36 are displayed as a selection section. The message editor 31 to system management 36 correspond to the message editor 1 to system management 6 shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 37 denotes a translation language pair,
In this example, the translation is from Japanese to English. Such designation is performed by a command or the like given when the system is executed. Then, for these system control information, select the system management 36 (system management 3 on the screen).
6 can be displayed and specified by specifying 6 with a pointing device or the like.

FIG. 5 shows the control information screen. That is, the system control items include a translatable language pair, message conversion, default unknown word processing, character type designation, stack number, translated word display mode, and English character output.

Here, the translatable language pair designates a source language and a target language such as Japanese-English. Also, the message conversion is to select whether the message is unconverted or has a predetermined function format, and the state in the figure shows a state in which the unconverted circle is selected. Note that the other items also indicate that the process marked with ● is selected. Further, the default unknown word process is to select a process of a phrase that does not exist as a headword of the bilingual dictionary 7, the non-conversion is a process of leaving the source language as it is, and the deletion is an unknown word. If so, the process is to delete.

Hereinafter, the character type designation means designation of a character type such as a type name or head word at the time of printing, the number of stacks means the number of priority stacks 72a in the index section 72, and the translated word display mode will be described later. Select whether or not to add a reference word list obtained by back-translating the translated word, and English character output is to specify in what state when outputting English characters .

After such system settings are made, translation processing is performed. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the translation process. When performing the translation process, first in step S1,
Select the message editor 31 from the menu window 30. This activates the message editor 1 shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the sentence to be translated is called a message. This message may be generally considered to be a document composed of natural language text, alphanumeric characters, symbols, image data, etc., but the translation target of this embodiment is a headline registered in the bilingual dictionary 7. It is limited to the word part. Therefore, in the following, a message is defined as text limited to headwords, numbers, and symbols. Also, as a special expression form of a message, a message is expressed like a function by a function name followed by parenthesized arguments, which is called a function form.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the message of this embodiment. In the figure, (a) is a message that the catalog has been received, (b) is a message that you will purchase if it is less than 1 million yen, (c) is a message that you would like us to send you an estimate by April 19, ( d) is an example of a message consisting of a contact phone and name. Also,
A headword, which is an entry word indicating a central word attribute of a message such as “accept”, is a function name. Incidentally, the central word in this example is a word or phrase indicating an important action concept of the sentence, such as "accepting", and the main verb of the sentence is usually the central word. Further, here, the phrase to be emphasized in the message is designated as a keyword.

As described above, in this embodiment, not the natural language but one sentence to be translated is used as a message of a fixed format composed of a group of headwords separated by delimiters. Here, the term “delimiter” refers to a predetermined blank or symbol for separating each word.

Further, a known conversion tool may be used to convert the natural language into a fixed form message. For example,
Examples of the messages (a) and (b) in FIG. 7 are shown below. FIG. 8 shows an example thereof. As shown in (a) of FIG. 8, in the case of the messages (a) and (b) in FIG. 7, in the natural language sentence, “Yesterday, processor [product name / BC
3] catalog has been received. Price is 10 as a condition
I think that I bought it if it's less than 0,000 yen. "

When this is converted by the conversion tool,
As shown in (b) of FIG. 8, the message format is changed to yesterday, processor [product name / BC3] catalog, condition price of 1 million yen or less, and purchase. In this way, the natural language message conversion tool internally drives natural language analysis to perform word segmentation and word deletion.

Further, the operator who translates edits the message shown in FIG. 8B using the message editor 1 to create a message in the fixed format as shown in FIG. In addition, the message created or edited by the message editor 1 can be stored in the message database 8.

Next, in this embodiment, in order to clarify the meaning of the message, the type name of the message is given. FIG. 9 is an example of a message to which a type name is added. In the figure, (a) indicates that this message represents facts, (b) states an opinion, and (c) conveys a request. The message type name is given by a message type reference tool (not shown) in the message editor 1.

FIG. 10 shows a message type name window called by the message type reference tool. That is, in the present embodiment, classification such as which type a message belongs to is made in advance,
The type name of each is determined. And this type name is, for example, "fact" is "fact",
One-to-one correspondence with a translated word, that is, its meaning is determined without looking up the bilingual dictionary 7.

Further, in this embodiment, the function format conversion tool (not shown) in the message editor 1 is executed to convert the translation target sentence into the function format. FIG. 11 shows a functional target translation sentence. Here, the headword is the position of the function name, and the others are enclosed in parentheses. For example, in FIG. 11, “reception”, “purchase”, and “send” are headwords. Further, for example, as shown in (c) of FIG. 9, the input sentences to the translation unit 20 are in the order of the estimate and the sending.
However, the “quote” is not a word or phrase indicating the central word attribute of the sentence, and the word or phrase indicating the central word attribute is “sending” indicating the operation concept of the sentence. Therefore, the function format conversion tool determines that the delivery is appropriate as a headword by performing the part-of-speech analysis of the words in the sentence, and converts the delivery into the functional format as the headword. In addition, (a) in FIG.
(B) and (c) are (a), (b), and
It corresponds to (c).

Next, a message translation process is performed (step S2 in FIG. 6). This message translation process is activated by selecting message translation 2. When the message translation 2 is selected, the translation unit 20 searches the bilingual dictionary 7 and translates each word. In this translation process, the translation unit 20 first searches the index search unit 71 of the bilingual dictionary 7 for the word or phrase to be translated as a search word. Then, when the entry of the index portion 72 corresponding to the search word is designated, the address of the translated word data portion 73 indicated by the leading pointer (first stack 72a-1) of the index portion 72 is accessed to obtain the corresponding translated word data. Read out.

FIG. 12 shows an example of the translation result. The example in the figure is a translated sentence corresponding to the translation target sentence of "receipt" shown in FIG. Since "BC3" is a word that does not exist as a headword in the bilingual dictionary 7, the translation unit 20 outputs this as an unknown word in the source language as it is.

Next, in this embodiment, translation editing is performed (step S3 in FIG. 6). The translation edit is activated by selecting the translation editor 33. This process is executed when the translated word is corrected while looking at the internal expression of the translated result. FIG. 13 shows the internal information of the translation result. This internal information is made up of the source language headline and part-of-speech information, and the target language translation. For example, the word "<fact>" is a message type name, the word "reception" is designated as a headword (HW), the part of speech is a sahenun, and the word "BC".
3 ”indicates that the keyword (KW) 1 is designated and is an unknown word.

The unknown word can be used for the unknown word at any time in the dictionary editor 3.
By selecting 4, the dictionary editor 4 is activated to be registered in the bilingual dictionary 7, and as the default unknown word processing, the system management 36 is selected whether the target language side outputs the untranslated or deleted source language. By doing so, the system management 6 can be activated and specified. Also, when you enter a compound word, it is automatically divided and translated,
If there is an unknown word in some of them, the unknown word processing specified by the system management 6 is followed.

Next, the operator finds a heading to be corrected from the translation result and executes the correction processing. Specifically, when the operator selects a particular headline in the source language, information such as bilingual dictionary information and headword for the headline is displayed. FIG. 14 shows an example thereof. In FIG. 14, (a) to (c) are examples of parallel translation, in which part of speech and translated word information are described. In this example,
There are two parts of speech in “receipt”, and the * mark indicates the translated word indicated by the first stack 72a-1 in the index section 72.

Further, as shown in (), a reference word list is added to each translated word so that the translated word can be accurately selected by a human. That is, the translation unit 20
Is to search the bilingual dictionary 7 for a target language translation word obtained corresponding to the source language index word, this time as the index word, and add the translation word as a reference word. As a result, even if the worker is not familiar with the target language, or even if the language is completely incomprehensible, it is possible to understand the meaning of the translated word to some extent from the assigned reference word, and select the appropriate translated word. be able to.

Further, in FIG. 14, (d) shows that the worker has selected the first translation word selection. In this case, the next highest-priority translated word will also be "receipt". On the other hand, here, for example, when the third translation is selected as the translation selection, the next highest priority translation is naturally "accept".
Becomes In this way, the highest priority translation word reflects the previous selection result, and the stack position in the index section 72 changes.

As described above, (b) in FIG.
(C) is a diagram for explaining the change of the stack position,
(B) shows the stacking order in the case where the index section 72 has three stacks, and (c) is the translated word data corresponding to the entry word “beautiful”. For example, FIG.
As shown in, the priority stack as the initial value is "0, 1, 2". Here, when "prety" in which the bias value from the top storage position (0) is 3 is selected, 3 is the top of the priority stack, and "3,
0, 1 ”. After that, when the bias value is 2, "fi
If "ne" is selected, the latest selected translation word is stored in the stack position in order from "2, 3, 0".

Next, in this embodiment, the translated text is edited (step S4 in FIG. 6). This translation editing is activated by selecting the message editor 31 on the selection screen. Then, in this step, the message translated in the target language is edited.

Thereafter, output processing for outputting the translation result is performed (step S5 in FIG. 6). This output process is started by selecting the input / output communication management 35 on the selection screen. The input / output communication management 35 has a function of an output unit, and this output unit displays the translation result on the display 9 or prints it with the printer 11 or another node of the network via the modem 12. Process such as transferring to. FIG. 15 is an example of print output. The example shown in this figure shows the print output of the example of FIG.

In the above embodiment, the predetermined fixed form is converted into the functional form, but the form is not limited to this, and any other form may be used as long as it makes information transmission correct and easy to understand. Good. For example, the sentence "receipt, catalog, processor, ..." would read "action / receipt,
The translation target sentence may be formed in the form of "role / word" such as "object / catalog, content / processor, ...".

[0050]

As described above, according to the electronic translation apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, the translation target is not a general sentence, but a message of a fixed format composed of headword groups separated by delimiters, Moreover, since only the headwords registered in the bilingual dictionary are limited, there is no grammatical error and accurate translation can be performed.

According to the electronic translation apparatus of the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the first aspect of the invention, the bilingual dictionary has an index section that selects the previously selected translation word with the highest priority when there are a plurality of translation words corresponding to the entry word. Therefore, even if the order of selecting translated words is changed, it is not necessary for the actual translated word data to be aware of this. Therefore, management of translated word selection is facilitated.

According to the electronic translation apparatus of the third aspect of the present invention, the reference word list obtained when the translated word data is back-translated is added to the data of the bilingual dictionary. Even in the translation of, the translation word can be accurately selected, and the wrong translation word selection can be prevented.

According to the electronic translation apparatus of the fourth aspect of the present invention, since a headword indicating the central word attribute of the sentence is attached to one sentence to be translated, more accurate translation can be performed.

According to the electronic translation apparatus of the fifth aspect of the invention, since the type name is added to one sentence to be translated, the intention to convey the message can be specified for each message unit, and therefore, despite the simple expression. Can communicate the will accurately and concisely.

According to the electronic translation apparatus of the sixth aspect of the present invention, a keyword attribute is added to a group of headwords to be translated, and the keyword attribute and the headword and type name indicating the attribute of the sentence are output in a distinguishable manner. Since this is done, a part of the translation result can be emphasized and the translation can be understood easily and quickly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an electronic translation apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of an electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of an index unit in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a function selection screen in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a control information screen in the electronic translation apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a translation process in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a message in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of conversion from a natural language sentence in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a message to which a type name is added in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a message type name window in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a translation target sentence in a functional format in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a translation result in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing internal information of a translation result in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing translated word information in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a printout of a translation result in the electronic translation device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Bilingual dictionary 20 Translation part 71 Headline search part 72 Index part 73 Translated word data part

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A source language comprising a bilingual dictionary in which translated word data obtained by translating a headword is stored in association with the headword, and a headword group in which a sentence to be translated is separated by a delimiter is input, and the source language concerned is entered. An electronic translation device comprising: a translation unit that translates only words and phrases existing as headwords in the bilingual dictionary and sets the target language as the source language other than the headwords. 2. The bilingual dictionary is provided with an index unit that selects the translation word of the target language selected last time with the highest priority when there are a plurality of translation words corresponding to the entry word. Electronic translation device. 3. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the translation unit is configured to add a reference word list obtained when the translated word data is back-translated corresponding to the translated word data. Translation device. 4. The translation unit is configured to translate a sentence to be translated with an entry word indicating a central word attribute of the sentence attached.
3. The electronic translation device according to any one of 3 above. 5. The translation unit is configured to classify one sentence to be translated by type and perform translation in a state where a type name indicating the classification is given.
4. The electronic translation device according to any one of 4 above. 6. The translation unit translates a sentence to be translated with an entry word indicating the central word attribute of the sentence added, classifies the sentence to be translated by type, and indicates the classification. An output that is configured to be translated with a type name assigned, and that gives a keyword attribute to a group of headwords, and outputs the keyword attribute, the headword indicating the central word attribute, and the type name in a distinguishable manner The electronic translation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means.