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Corpora and the ‘general public’ Belinda Maia and Luís Sarmento Universidade do Porto Message on translation mailing list (12.03.03) I'm considering doing a research about: Using Reference Material in Translation. But I don't know if there is any resources to depend on. And to be frank, I don't understand what is the topic about. What have reference materials to do with translation? Reply on translation mailing list (13.03.03) Look for anything dealing with parallel and comparable corpora. There are a number of relevant texts on the subject. Corpora is the magic new word in the translation world. Reply on translation mailing list (13.03.03) Parallel texts, dictionaries, terminology databases, etc. can be considered reference material. If you use translation memories, reference material has a narrow definition: it is the text (stored in a translation memory database) selected to be reused in your current translation. btw, where does your interest on the topic come from? Corpora and the ‘converted’ • Converted = linguists, lexicographers, and others who have followed the development of corpora over a period of years • It seems so obvious to us that corpora are useful! Corpora and the teacher Corpora and the student Simplicity of traditional dictionaries Using dictionaries Digital dictionaries + concordances Problems with corpora use Using corpora Findings on use of corpora Hits : 30106 Hits using regular expressions: 9882 Average results returned per hit: 1253 Hits with 0 results: 41% Hits with fewer than 10 results : 65% Hits with fewer than 100 results : 82% Hits with fewer than 1253 results: 5% Users who make one hit and never return: 23% Users who make at least 10 hits: 46 % Users who make at least 100 hits: 8% Statistics for those making at least 15 hits • Total no. of sessions : 2820 No. of requests per session : 9 Maximum no. of requests per session: 428 Average length of session: 11 minutes Users with at least 10 sessions: 21 % Users with at least 20 sessions: 11% Users with at least 100 sessions: : 1.6 % Training in corpus use Training in corpora analysis Training with tools GC – Integrated Web Environment for Corpora Linguistics What is GC? GC is a Web tool being developed at Linguateca/CLUP that aims to provide a comprehensive work environment for Corpora-Based Linguistic Research. GC allows users to: Motivation • access several Corpora tools from a single entry point using a regular web browser • Lack of Comprehensive, wide-scope Corpora Tools • Commercial Packages are usually difficult to Integrate/Customize • Tools are not prepared to support cooperative work. • Linguistic knowledge is not usually integrated in tools. • access and query generic Corpora (BNC, Reuter’s, COMPARA, CETEMPúblico) • build personal simple, parallel and comparable Corpora from text files (PDF, PS, Word, HTML, TXT) • use several (on-line/off-line) tools with their personal Corpora (statistics, POS-taggers, Filters, etc.) • communicate and exchange results with other users Internet Integration GC provides seamless integration with the World Wide Web allowing users to: Developer’s Tasks: • Integrate Existing Tools/Resources BNC • Develop Additional Generic Tools • search specific Corpora resources on the Internet CETEM Público COMPARA Custom Interface Custom Interface Others • use available translation-engines in parallel. Developer Task: • Interact with Users/Administrator Custom Interface • query the web for concordances Custom Interface • Develop Custom Tools for particular research needs DEV Administrator’s Tasks: • Concordance Engine • Corpora Bot • Taggers • Statistics Tool Pool • Aligner (Semi-Auto) Internet • Custom Tools Terminology DB • Users, Groups and Disk Quotas • Corpora Taxonomy (see box) Inter-user Communication • Documentation Organization • Access Service Statistics ADM USER Teacher’s Tasks: • Provide on-line tutorials • Provide links to: • on-line teaching material • bibliography and other resources Virtual Desktop Personal Corpora Terminology Extraction Tool (Auto/Semi-Auto) PS Inter-User Communication • Tagging and Aligning Cooperatively TXT RTF HTML • Messaging Service • Exchange of Corpora Resources PDF DOC Corpora Taxonomy • Medium: written, spoken, multimedia • Domain: Engineering, medicine, etc. • Genre: scientific, technical, informative, etc.