机器翻译热的冷思考

50多年来,机器翻译在目标定位、理论研究、技术开发以及系统的产品化和产业化等诸多方面都取得了巨大的进步,尤其是随着世界经济全球化和以互联网为代表的信息技术的迅猛发展,机器翻译需求愈加旺盛,世界范围内掀起了机器翻译研发的新热潮。然而,国内的机器翻译在热闹的表面下还存在着一些亟待正视的问题,如理论上的误区、技术上的盲从和市场化中的迷失等。只有以与时俱进、不断创新的思想探索机器翻译的新理论、新技术和新方法,才能逐步解决机器翻译的难题,提高机译产品的翻译质量,满足用户的需求。

Pitfalls in the Upsurge and Feast of Machine Translation

Over the past 50-odd years,machine translation has made great progress in terms of its aim,theory,technical approach and even the commercialization and industrialization of MT systems.In particular,along with the globalization of world economy and the rapid development of information technology,the world has seen a greater-than-ever demand for MT products,which has brought along an upsurge of MT research and development.In this feast of MT,however,there exist some undercurrents or pitfalls with regard to the supporting theories,technical approaches,marketing strategies,etc.To tackle the tough MT problems and enhance the quality of MT systems,we must keep an open mind in the pursuit of innovative MT attempts.