Translation in a hurry

2000 words in two minutes

The completely new language technology makes it possible for a machine to translate any language into any other language between 40-80 percent faster than existing programmes. Normally, it would take one person a day to translate 2000 words, but with this new technology, it takes two minutes. And it's been developed by the researchers, Jakob Elming, PhD fellow, and Daniel Hardt, Associate professor, from the Department of International Language Studies and Computational Linguistics at CBS.

- Previously, a programmer would sit and code in all of the grammatical rules for a language before a programme could translate. But with our technology, all that is needed is a large amount of text that the programme can process, which means that you don't need as much preparation time as before, says Jakob Elming.

Overwhelming enthusiasm

Daniel Hardt was surprised by the feedback received from companies who participated in the pilot project to test the technology.

- When I first went out to talk to them, I was very anxious. I was maybe even a little afraid that they hadn't used it, or that it was difficult to use. But they were overwhelmingly enthusiastic and used it all the time, he says.

Participating employees at the company Lingtech are not shy of showing their enthusiasm for the technology either, which has already replaced their old system.

- I am very surprised by the quality. The first time we tried the programme, we were in no doubt that our company would be helping to finalise its development, which has now taken place. This September, we dropped our old system and went over completely to the new one. I believe that large companies, who do their own translations, will be able to complete 50 percent more translations in the same time and with the same resources, says Managing Director of Lingtech, Birgit Pichat.