机器翻译-的利与弊-口译方向英语论文本科学位论文.doc

本科生毕业论文（设计）册

学院 XXX学院
专业 机译
班级 XXXX级机译班
学生 XX
指导教师 XXX

XXXX大学本科毕业论文（设计）任务书
编 号：
论文（设计）题目： 机器翻译的利与弊
学院： XXX学院 专业： 机译 班级： XXXX机译班
学生姓名： XX 学号： XXXX 指导教师： XXX 职称： 副教授

1、 论文（设计）研究目标及主要任务
本论文的研究目标是了解机器翻译的发展历程，并通过人工翻译与机器翻译的比较，探讨机器翻译的利与弊。其主要任务是正确地评价机器翻译，合理地使用机器翻译来辅助人工翻译。
2、论文（设计）的主要内容
本论文分为四章，第一章介绍机器翻译在国内外的发展历史，第二章介绍机器翻译的优势，第三章介绍机器翻译的弊端，最后一章讨论了机器翻译的发展前景。
3、论文（设计）的基础条件及研究路线

本论文的基础条件是不同的翻译家及计算机语言学家对机器翻译的研究成果。研究路线是通过具体实例对机器翻译和人工翻译进行多方面的比较, 总结出机器翻译的优势与发展瓶颈。
4、主要参考文献
Brown-Samuelsson, Geoffrey. 2004. A Practical Guide for Translators. Britain: Cromwell Press Ltd.
Hutchins, W. J. & Somers. 1992. An Introduction to Machine Translation. London: Academic Press .
韩建国. 1999. 浅谈机器翻译问题. 中国科技翻译（2），33.
张景丰. 2009. 机器翻译之利与弊. 河南机电高等专科学校学报(5), 56.
张景丰. 2008. 机器翻译和人工翻译之比较. 新乡学院学报(4), 110.

5、计划进度

阶段
起止日期
1
确定初步论文题目
3月16日前
2
与导师见面，确定大致范围，填开题报告和任务书，导师签字
3月17日-3月23日
3
提交论文提纲
3月24日-3月30日
4
交初稿和文献综述
3月31日-4月20日
5
交终稿和评议书
4月21日-5月8日

指 导 教师： 年 月 日
教研室主任： 年 月 日

XXXX大学本科生毕业论文（设计）开题报告书
XXX 学院 机译 专业 XXX 届
学生
姓名
XX
论文（设计）题目
机器翻译的利与弊
指导
教师
XXX
专业
职称
副教授
所属教研室
翻译教研室
研究方向
口译

课题论证：通过具体实例从多角度比较人工翻译与机器翻译，探讨机器翻译的利与弊。

方案设计：第一章介绍机器翻译在国内外的发展历史
第二章探讨机器翻译的优势
第三章探讨机器翻译的弊端
第四章阐述机器翻译的发展前景

进度计划：3月16日前确定初步论文题目
3月23日前写开题报告、任务书
3月30日前提交论文提纲
4月20日前提交初稿和文献综述
5月 8 日前交终稿和评议书
指导教师意见：

指导教师签名： 年 月 日
教研室意见：

教研室主任签名： 年 月 日

XXXX大学本科生毕业论文（设计）评议书
姓 名
XX
学院
XXX学院
专业
机译
年级（班）
XXXX级机译班
论 文 题 目
机器翻译的利与弊
完成时间
XXXX/5/5
论

文

内

容

摘

要

机器翻译自从其诞生以来经历了漫长而又曲折的历程，分为四个阶段：开创期，受挫期，恢复期和新时期。它速度快、效率高，彻底改变了传统的手工翻译方式。机器翻译具有很多优势，得到了很多国家的关注，也因此促进了机器翻译的发展。另一方面，机器翻译仍然面临着许多瓶颈需要攻克。然而，不可否认的是机器翻译已经取得了长足的进展，无论是在技术还是在应用方面，机器翻译都具有广阔的发展前景。
本文首先阐述了机器翻译在国外以及中国的发展历程, 然后介绍了机器翻译的优势及各种应用。并通过具体实例对机器翻译和人工翻译进行了比较, 总结出机器翻译存在的弊端,如机器翻译缺少可读性和流畅性，在处理多义词，句子结构，自动分词，语言和文化语境方面能力不足。最后本文预测了机器翻译的发展前景。

指
导
教
师
评
语

年 月 日
指 导 教 师

职称

初评成绩

答辩小组
姓名
职称
教研室
组长

成员

答辩记录：

记录人签字： 年 月 日
答辩小组意见：

组长签字： 年 月 日
学院意见：

评定成绩： 签章

年 月 日

XXXX大学本科生毕业论文（设计）文献综述

Literature Review
Machine translation is a sub-field of natural language processing that investigates the use of software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another. It is closely related to computational linguistics and natural language understanding.
In 1949, W. Weaver published a memo on translation in which the idea of machine translation was first put forward officially. Since then, machine translation has experienced ups and downs. Its development history can be divided into four periods: pioneering period, frustration period, recovery period and the new period. The progress and potential of machine translation have been debated much through its history. Since 1950s, a number of scholars have questioned the possibility of achieving fully automatic machine translation of high quality. Some critics claim that there are in-principle obstacles to automizing the translation process (Madsen, 2010:174).
There are many different approaches to machine translation and the ultimate aim of them all is to translate one language to another in an automated fashion. The three systems that have delivered the best results and therefore deemed successful are Rules-based Translation, Statistical Machine Translation and Example-based Translation
Machine translation has revolutionized the way of traditional manual translation. Compared to human translation, machine translation has many incomparable advantages. Geoffrey Samuelsson-Brown, a technical Swedish translator has illustrated six major advantages of machine translation in his book A Practical Guide for Translators:
u Repetitive or similar texts need to be translated once.
u Once glossaries have been entered in the system, future translation will always be consistent providing the translator selects the option offered by the terminology management system.
u Greater speed of draft translation, thereby allowing more time for quality control.
u A computer can work on draft translation at any time of the day, thus a 10,000 word translation that may take a human translator a week to produce could be done overnight ready for editing the next morning.
u Reduction in production costs, thereby producing greater profitability.
u Better quality control since text already entered in the software will not need to be re-checked if it can be identified uniquely (Brown-Samuelsson, 2004:77).
On the other hand, despite the spectacular advancement in machine translation, it still has many disadvantages when compared to human translation. The biggest bottleneck facing machine translation is the problem of ambiguity. Ambiguity comes from two sources: ambiguity of language itself and the technological limitations of computer. Ambiguity of language itself means that a word has more than one meaning in the language to which the word belongs. The limitation of computer mainly refers to the deficient ability of automatic word segmentation. The problem of ambiguity was first raised in 1950s by Yehoshua Bar-Hillel. He pointed out that without a "universal encyclopedia", a machine would never be able to distinguish between the two meanings of a word (Bar-Hillel, 1960). What’s more, machine translation lacks readability and fluency. It is deficient when dealing with figures of speech, linguistic and cultural context.
At present, machine translation is able to meet people’s all kinds of needs of translation and is widely used in many different fields. From the type of application, machine translation is used for four purposes: information distribution, information assimilation, information exchange and information retrieval, of which the former two are the major use of machine translation. Information distribution refers to the traditional need for translations of good quality, particularly the production of materials like news, laws, advertisings, product specifications etc. Here the output of machine translation systems can save time and costs by providing draft translations which are then edited for publication. Information assimilation refers to the need of rough translation results which may be grammatically imperfect and lexically awkward but convey the main idea of the source text. The notable rise of social networking on the website in recent years has created another niche for the application of machine translation software in utilities such as Facebook, or instant messaging clients such as Skype, GoogleTalk, MSN Messenger, etc. It allows users speaking different languages to communicate with each other. Machine translation applications have also been released for most mobile devices. Due to their portability, such instruments have come to be designated as mobile translation tools, thus facilitating foreign language learning and unaccompanied travel to foreign countries without the help of a human translator.
In the 21st century, due to the rapid development of the Internet and the acceleration of world economic integration, information in the network is expanding quickly and international exchanges become more frequent. So how to overcome the language barrier has become a common concern of the international community. As human translation is far from satisfactory to meet the needs, the use of machine translation technology to help people get information quickly has become an inevitable trend.
American inventor Ray Kurzweil once predicted that by 2029 the quality of machine translation would reach the level of human translation. This prediction has triggered heated controversy in the academic community. Anyway, the current development trend of machine translation is favorable. It is believed that machine translation has promising prospects in the future. As long as linguists, computer experts, mathematicians etc work collectively, all the bottlenecks facing machine translation will be solved.

本科生毕业论文设计

题目 机器翻译的利与弊

作者姓名 XX
指导教师 XXX
所在学院 XXX学院
专业（系） 机译
班级（届） XXX级机译班

完成日期 XXX 年 4 月 21 日

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Machine Translation

BY
XX
Prof. XXXX, Tutor

A Thesis Submitted to Department of English
Language and Literature in Partial
Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of B.A in English
At XXXX University

April 21st, XXXX

摘要

机器翻译自从其诞生以来经历了漫长而又曲折的历程，分为四个阶段：开创期，受挫期，恢复期和新时期。它速度快、效率高，彻底改变了传统的手工翻译方式。机器翻译具有很多优势，得到了很多国家的关注，这也因此促进了机器翻译的发展。另一方面，机器翻译仍然面临着许多瓶颈需要攻克。然而，不可否认的是机器翻译已经取得了长足的进展，无论是在技术还是在应用方面，机器翻译都具有广阔的发展前景。
本文首先阐述了机器翻译在国内外的发展历程, 然后介绍了机器翻译的优势及各种应用。并通过具体实例对机器翻译和人工翻译进行比较, 总结出机器翻译存在的弊端,如机器翻译缺少可读性和流畅性，在处理多义词，句子结构，自动分词，语言和文化语境方面能力不足。最后本文预测了机器翻译未来的发展前景。

关键词 机器翻译 利与弊 歧义

Abstract

Since its emergence machine translation has embarked on a winding and long path of development, which can be divided into the following 4 stages: pioneering period, frustration period, recovery period and the new period. Featuring fast speed and high efficiency, machine translation has revolutionized traditional manual translation. Impressed by its vast advantages, machine translation has drawn attention from many countries, which has consequently facilitated its development. On the other hand, machine translation is still confronted with various bottlenecks to tackle. However, it is undeniable that machine translation has achieved tremendous progress and it has a broad future in terms of technologies and applications.

This paper firstly elaborates the development history of machine translation both in foreign countries and China. Then it describes the advantages of machine translation as well as its diverse applications. After comparison between human translation and machine translation through specific examples, it summarizes the disadvantages of machine translation, for example, machine translation lacks readability and fluency and has difficulties in dealing with polysemy, syntactic structure, automatic word segmentation, linguistic and cultural context. Finally, this paper draws a conclusion and predicts the prospect on the research of machine translation.

Key words machine translation advantages and disadvantages ambiguity

iv

Table of Contents

Introduction 1
Chapter One The evolution of machine translation since its emergence 3
1.1 Development of machine translation in foreign countries 3
1.1.1 Pioneering period（1946-1964） 3
1.1.2 Frustration period（1964-1975） 3
1.1.3 Recovery period（1975-1989） 4
1.1.4 New period (1990—now) 4
1.2 Development of machine translation in China 5
Chapter Two Advantages of machine translation 6
2.1 Strengths of machine translation 6
2.2 Various application of machine translation 7
2.2.1 Information distribution 7
2.2.2 Information assimilation 7
2.2.3 Information exchange 8
2.2.4 Information access 8
2.3 Suitable source materials 8
Chapter Three Disadvantages of machine translation 10
3.1 Lack of readability and fluency 10
3.2 Ambiguity 11
3.2.1 Polysemy 12
3.2.2 Part of speech 12
3.2.3 Syntactic ambiguity 13
3.2.4 Automatic word segmentation 14
3.2.5 Dictionary volume 15
3.3 Difficulties in understanding figures of speech 15
3.4 Context analysis 16
3.4.1 Linguistic context 17
3.4.2 Cultural context 18
Chapter Four Development prospect of machine translation 20
4.1 Technologies 20
4.2 Applications 20
Conclusion 22
Bibliography 23

v

Introduction

Machine translation, or MT for short, is the process of using machine to translate a language into another one. It is an interdisciplinary field of linguistics, natural language processing, artificial intelligence and so on. The ultimate goal of machine translation is to achieve fully automatic translation of natural language.
The notion of using digital computers to translate documents was first put forward by Warren Weaver in 1949. From then on, machine translation had embarked on a long and devious road. At the very beginning, people were excessively optimistic about machine translation. They predicted that imminent breakthroughs of fully automatic systems would come soon. However their enthusiasm was dampened as more and more complicate linguistic problems became more apparent. For example, first, not all the words in one language have equivalent words in another one; Second, many words are poly-semantic and sometimes a sentence may have at least two meanings in a language but computer is not able to decide the exact meaning in the source text. Third, the ways of how sentences are put together are not the same in different languages. These above mentioned challenges are only the tip of the iceberg. In addition, the disappointing translation results of early translation systems frustrated people’s efforts in machine translation research. Researchers began to question the possibility of full automation and good quality
However, the spectacular advancements of computer technologies and computational linguistics bring machine translation to life again. These advancements include increased processing speed, enlarged computer memory and improved database technology etc. Besides, there is a strong connection between machine translation and the modern society. For example, when exporters market their products in a foreign country they definitely need documents in the language of that country. Governments and all kinds of organizations are in great need of faster and cheaper translations. Spurred by all these factors, the passion of researchers was ignited again. As a result, many useful MT systems came into being one after another and are widely used to aid humans in translating various materials about science, industry, journalism etc. And, most significantly, compared to human translation, the machine translation systems featuring low cost and rapid response are able to increase the volume of immediate translations manifold, addressing the social need of quick translation of materials in a foreign language. What’s more, t