ABSTRACT

As a mediator of communication, a translator plays a significant role in the exchanges of the achievements in science and technology across the world. On one hand, automated translation can help make up for low efficiency in human translation. On the other hand, the accuracy of automated translation cannot be guaranteed and it needs improving. This paper explores the useful applications and improvable limits of automated translation in sci-tech translation with a case study of translating the abstract of a scientific paper. A comparative analysis of target texts from five MT systems and a human evaluation show that, automated translation of terminology is much more accurate than that of a complete sentence. However, users should not always utilize MT systems to translate a whole sentence or a whole paragraph, but may make the most of online translation and inherent functions (such as word-captured procedure) of MT software together to advance the quality of translation work. 

Keywords: automated translation; human translation; MT systems; human evaluation

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

1.1 Background of the Automated Translation-1

1.2 Objective of the Study-1

1.3 Significance of the Study-2

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 Review of Related Studies-3

2.1.1 Foreign studies-3

2.1.2 Domestic studies-4

2.2 Deficiencies of Previous Studies-4

Chapter Three RESEARCH DESIGN-6

3.1 Methodology-6

3.1.1 Data collection and analysis-6

3.1.2 Material collection-6

3.2 Data Analysis-7

3.2.1 Comparisons between human translation and automated translation-7

3.2.2 Comparisons between five systems of automated translation-9

3.3 Results of Human Evaluation-11

Chapter Four RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-14

4.1 Advantages on the Application of Automated Translation in Scientific Texts-14

4.2 Limits of Automated Translation in Scientific Texts-15

4.3 Expectations of Adaptation Methods-15

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-17

5.1 Major Findings from the Research-17

5.2 Limitations of the Study-18

5.3 Possibility for Further Discoveries-18

REFERENCES-19