Basically what you want is a far simpler system than Google Translate.
What you need (in effect) is a fast hashing dictionary which gives a
number of alternatives. I do not have such a system for Spanish, but
you can see what I mean with this Arabic system.
http://sites.google.com/site/aitranslationproject/hash-translation
It does not itself translate, it (effectively) takes every word,
provides you with alternatives and allows you to make your own
translation. If you were to work on a GUI you could translate using a
mouse or touch screen. As you can see a lot of alternatives are given,
only one of which (usually). I say usually because in Sura 51 of the
Qu'ran there is an ambiguity. AlTwr could be translated (legitimately)
as both "Mount" and "Time".
I have, if you look up my other postings, felt for some time that GT
was fundamentally unsound. It is NOT an AI system and NOT a simple
dictionary system. In fact, as you point out, a simple hashing
dictionary would be more comprehensible.
This is where I need your help, perhaps. I am not familiar with the
workings of GUI. What I would like to do is embed the program in
Native Client. (I call it salt as NaCl is the formula for common
salt). I would like to be able to take input and output in HTML. This
involves (in the case of Arabic) Unicode. I would like to present a
number of translations which could be mouse/touch screen selected.
Eventually with the ability to change order with a GUI.
I am using Windows Vista, but my compiler is GNU C++. It will work
therefore in either a Windows of Linux/UNIX environment. I/O is non
GUI at present. HOW DO I GO ABOUT IT. What you want is in fact a
Spanish dictionary which you can build a similar hashing algorithm
around. I feel that if I could get a GUI I would have a viable
(Arabic) product. The equivalent in Spanish would I think not be
difficult to do.
What is the status of my work? Look at the reference and take a look.
Feel free to browse round.
- Ian Parker
On Jan 28, 3:49 pm, GOP wrote:
> I just wanted to find out if I am wasting my time. I have been in
> Puerto Rico for 4.5 years now and I understand a great deal of Spanish
> - but I would not say I am fluent. Once get outside my area of
> expertise (computer systems) I often don't understand words that don't
> come up a lot in contexts that I am reading. I use Google translate to
> look up single words, phrases I don't understand, and entire paragraph
> from emails I receive.
>
> Once I see the translation of the pieces I don't understand the
> meaning of the paragraph becomes clear, and I can see how some parts
> have been rearranged incorrectly or words translated to to a
> particular country's style (usually Mexico as opposed to generally
> accepted word translation. When this happens, I try to provide a
> better translation. I have been doing this for almost two years now,
> and I have not seen an improvement in the translation that takes place
> with Spanish to English and in fact I believe the translation of
> English to Spanish has actually gotten worse.
>
> So basically I am just inquiring as to whether or not the things that
> I submit are being used or if I am wasting my time trying to make this
> a better tool. I don't mind taking the time to supply better
> translations if it will help others get past the struggles of trying
> to understand a foreign language, but not seeing an improvement in the
> tool over a lengthy period makes me feel my efforts are wasted.
>
> Basically, I am just looking for reassurance that my effort is
> actually contributing something and not just going into what we call
> the 'bit bucket'.
