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User Dictionary Manager
User's Guide
Version 5.0
User Dictionary Manager
User's Guide
Version 5.0
Note
Before using this information and the product it supports, read the general information under “Notices” on
page 291.
This edition applies to Version 5 Release 0 of IBM WebSphere Translation Server (program number 5724 G55) and to
all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions. Make sure you are using the
correct edition for the level of the product.
© Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2014.
US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract
with IBM Corp.
Contents
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About this information . . . . . . . . ix
Who should use this book . . . . . . . ix
How to use this book . . . . . . . . . ix
Typographic conventions . . . . . . . . x
Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Making comments on this information . . . x
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary
Manager? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
IBM WebSphere User Dictionary Manager
(UDM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Components . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
User dictionaries . . . . . . . . . . 3
Dictionary entries . . . . . . . . . 4
User Dictionary Source . . . . . . . . 4
User Dictionary File . . . . . . . . . 5
User Dictionary Manager Graphical User
Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Main view . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
New Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . 7
Dictionary View . . . . . . . . . . 7
Add Entry . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Modify Entry . . . . . . . . . . 16
Semantics . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Subject Areas. . . . . . . . . . . 20
Context . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Context Semantics . . . . . . . . . 27
Inflections. . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Duplicate and Similar Entries . . . . . 35
Test Translation . . . . . . . . . . 36
Lexical analysis . . . . . . . . . . 38
Test Options . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Subject Areas test option . . . . . . . 42
User Dictionary Sequence . . . . . . 44
Keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . 45
Linguistic Notes for the User Dictionary
Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
English. . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Translating Brazilian Portuguese to
English . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1994, 2014
Translating
Translating
Translating
Translating
French to English .
German to English
Italian to English .
Spanish to English
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125
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202
228
Chapter 2. Installing User Dictionary
Manager (UDM) . . . . . . . . . . 261
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Chapter 3. Starting the User Dictionary
Manager . . . . . . . . . . .
. 263
Chapter 4. Work with dictionaries .
Creating a new dictionary . . . . .
Opening an existing dictionary . . .
Importing a file . . . . . . . .
Exporting a file . . . . . . . .
Searching a dictionary . . . . . .
Word Lookup . . . . . . . . .
Building a dictionary . . . . . .
Testing your translation . . . . . .
Loading a User Dictionary file on to the
WebSphere Translation Server. . . .
. 271
Chapter 5. Working
Adding new entries
Modifying entries .
Copy Entry . . .
Deleting entries .
with
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Chapter 6. Assigning
Semantics . . . .
Subject Areas . . .
Context . . . . .
Context Semantics .
Inflections . . . .
. . 265
. . 265
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. . 266
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. . 270
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entries . . . . 273
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attributes to words
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286
288
Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Glossary .
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Index
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User's Guide
Figures
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1994, 2014
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Tables
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1994, 2014
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About this information
This book tells you about:
v The features of User Dictionary Manager
v Installing and configuring User Dictionary Manager
v Using User Dictionary Manager to customize WebSphere Translation Server
translations for particular contexts
v Solving linguistic problems that might arise using User Dictionary Manager
for translating to and from specific languages
Throughout this book, User Dictionary Manager is also referred to as UDM
and WebSphere Translation Server is also referred to as WTS.
Who should use this book
The primary audience for this document includes, but is not limited to:
v WebSphere Translation Server administrators
v WebSphere Translation Server application developers and testers
v Translation service provider support personnel
To use this book successfully, you should also be familiar with the operating
system on which WebSphere Translation Server is running.
How to use this book
This book is comprised of several chapters.
v Chapter 1, “What is User Dictionary Manager?,” on page 1 introduces you
to User Dictionary Manager and provides a ‘route map' to key information
v Chapter 2, “Installing User Dictionary Manager (UDM),” on page 261
explains how to install the product
v Chapter 3, “Starting the User Dictionary Manager,” on page 263 explains
how to start the product
v Chapter 4, “Work with dictionaries,” on page 265 describes the tasks you
need to know about when working with dictionaries.
v Chapter 5, “Working with entries,” on page 273 describes the tasks you
need to know about when working with dictionary entries.
v Chapter 6, “Assigning attributes to words,” on page 277 describes the
attributes that you can assign to words and explains how to do so
v “Glossary” on page 295 defines the terms used in User Dictionary Manager
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1994, 2014
ix
Typographic conventions
This book uses the following typographic conventions:
boldface
Identifies an item in a WebSphere Translation Server window. The
item could be a keyword, an action, a field label, or a pushbutton.
Whenever one of the steps in a procedure includes a word in
boldface, look for an item in the window that is labeled with that
word.
boldface italics
Are used for emphasis. Take extra care wherever you see bold italics!
italics
Identify one of the following:
v New terms that describe WebSphere Translation Server components
or concepts. A term printed in italics is usually followed by its
definition.
v Parameters for which you supply the actual names or values.
v References to other books.
monospace
Text that you type in an AIX window. Because AIX is case sensitive,
make sure you type the uppercase and lowercase characters exactly as
shown.
Accessibility
Accessibility features help a user who has a physical disability, such as
restricted mobility or limited vision, to use software products successfully.
These are the major accessibility features in WebSphere Translation Server:
v You can use screen-reader software and a digital speech synthesizer to hear
the WebSphere Translation Server online infocenter.
v You can operate many features using the keyboard instead of the mouse.
Making comments on this information
If you especially like or dislike anything about this information, feel free to
send us your comments.
You can comment on what you regard as specific errors or omissions, and on
the accuracy, organization, subject matter, or completeness of this book. Please
limit your comments to the information only and the way in which the
information is presented. Speak to your IBM representative if you have
suggestions about the product itself.
x
User's Guide
When you send us comments, you grant to IBM a nonexclusive right to use or
distribute the information in any way it believes appropriate without
incurring any obligation to you.
You can get your comments to us quickly by sending an e-mail to
[email protected]. Alternatively, you can mail your comments to:
User TechnologiesIBM
United Kingdom Laboratories,
Mail Point 095, Hursley Park,
Winchester, Hampshire, SO21 2JN, United Kingdom
Please ensure that you include the book title, order number, and edition date.
About this information
xi
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User's Guide
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
User Dictionary Manager (UDM) is a dictionary creation utility that allows
you to create domain-specific dictionaries for use with the IBM WebSphere
Translation Server. The IBM WebSphere Translation Server provides powerful,
real-time translation of text, HTML, LAL and XML pages.
The existing dictionaries of the WebSphere Translation Server may not address
words or senses of words specific to your application. The User Dictionary
Manager helps you compose supplementary dictionaries that contain words
and phrases specific to your application.
How do I use User Dictionary Manager?
1. Learn the linguistics terminology
Read through the linguistic notes and glossary to familiarize yourself with
linguistic terms and concepts. We highly recommend reading through this
section before using User Dictionary Manager.
2. Enter your words
Create an entry, enter the source word, and enter the target word or
words. Then enter semantic and contextual information that will help the
translation engine choose the appropriate target word.
3. Build a user dictionary
Once you have entered your words, save the dictionary in a format that
the WebSphere Translation Server will recognize and load.
4. Load the user dictionary onto the WebSphere Translation Server
Once you have built a domain-specific dictionary, attach the dictionary to
the WebSphere Translation Server. The WebSphere Translation Server will
then use these dictionaries to translate domain-specific words.
IBM WebSphere User Dictionary Manager (UDM)
Readme sections
v
v
Product overview
Prerequisites
v
v
IBM WebSphere InfoCenter
Copyright and trademarks
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1994, 2014
1
Product overview
The UDM is a client Java application program for Microsoft Windows
systems. This application enables users to create, update, and manage User
Dictionary Files (UDF) for the WebSphere Translation Server. UDFs are
customized extensions or modifications of the lexicons found in the IBM
WebSphere Translation Server Language Engines. One or more UDFs may be
added to a specific IBM WebSphere Translation Server Language Engine.
The following IBM WebSphere Translation Server Language Engines are
currently available to work with the UDM application:
v
v
v
v
English
English
English
English
to
to
to
to
or
or
or
or
from
from
from
from
French
Italian
German
Spanish
v English to or from Brazilian Portuguese
The UDM only operates in INTEGRATED mode.
INTEGRATED mode permits realtime test translations of user constructed
entries. Therefore, integrated mode requires the desired IBM WebSphere
Translation Server Language Engine to be installed. The IBM WebSphere
Translation Server Language Engines may be installed at the time UDM is
installed or at a later time.
* Note: Install language engines to operate the UDM in integrated mode.
Prerequisites
Platforms - User Dictionary Manager runs only on Windows NT , Windows
2003, and Windows XP.
WebSphere Translation Server - User Dictionary Manager creates files
exclusively for use with the IBM WebSphere Translation Server, but the
WebSphere Translation server is not required to run the User Dictionary
Manager. You can use the dictionaries created by User Dictionary Manager
with the WebSphere Translation Server on any platform supported by
WebSphere Translation Server.
License agreements - Please read the license on the delivery media and the
disclaimers prior to using any of the IBM Machine Translation contents.
2
User's Guide
IBM WebSphere InfoCenter
The IBM WebSphere Infocenter HTML documentation is accessible as part of
the UDM application through the HELP menu or from the Windows startup
menu in the UDM folder.
Copyright and trademarks
© Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2003-2014. All
rights reserved.
IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of
International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions
worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or
other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at
Copyright and trademark information at http://www.ibm.com/legal/
copytrade.shtml.
WebSphere is a trademark or registered trademark of International Business
Machines Corporation, Inc. in the United States, other countries or both.
Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks of Oracle
and/or its affiliates.
Windows and NT are trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. in the United States, other countries or both.
Components
The components of User Dictionary Manager are as follows:
v User dictionaries
v Dictionary entries
v User Dictionary Source
v User Dictionary File
User dictionaries
A dictionary, also known as a lexicon, is a set of entries, or source-target word
pairs and their associated semantic and syntactic information. Once the
dictionary is built to a User Dictionary File (UDF) format and loaded into the
WebSphere Translation Server, it enhances the translation engine's ability to
translate text.
Each WebSphere Translation Server language engine has a core dictionary.
Linguists use the User Dictionary Manager to create customer-specific
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
3
dictionaries that are merged with core dictionaries when the user loads them
as UDFs onto the WebSphere Translation Server.
Related information
v
v
v
Dictionary entries
User Dictionary Source files
User Dictionary File files
Dictionary entries
Each dictionary is composed of entries. Each row in the main window is an
entry. Each entry is a source-target word pair with associated semantic and
syntactic information. The source language is the language from which one is
translating. The target language is the language to which one is translating.
In a word pair, the source word can be paired with more than one target. The
associated semantic and syntactic information helps the translation engine to
analyze the source's context to determine which target is the most appropriate
translation. Multiple entries for the same source word are referred to as senses.
Related information
v
v
v
Dictionaries
User Dictionary Source files
User Dictionary File files
User Dictionary Source
A User Dictionary Source (UDS) file is the "working" dictionary file, the file
that the user opens and reopens within the User Dictionary Manager to add
entries to the dictionary. When the user has finished adding entries to the
dictionary, the user creates a User Dictionary File (UDF) from the UDS. UDF
is the file format which the WebSphere Translation Server recognizes and
loads.
If the user wishes to add more entries to the dictionary, the user must reopen
the UDS in the User Dictionary Manager, add the new entries or modify
existing ones, and then generate a new UDF to reload onto the WebSphere
Translation Server.
Note: Do not attempt to modify the UDF. Any modification of the UDF may
render it unloadable by the WebSphere Translation Server. Use the User
Dictionary Manager to make all modifications to the UDS, instead. Then use
the modified UDS to create a new UDF.
Related information
v
v
v
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User's Guide
Dictionaries
Dictionary entries
User Dictionary File files
User Dictionary File
A User Dictionary File (UDF) is the dictionary file that gets loaded onto the
WebSphere Translation Server. The user adds entries to and modifies entries in
the User Dictionary Source (UDS). Then the user builds the UDF from the
UDS using the User Dictionary Manager. UDF is the file format that the
translation server recognizes and loads.
Note: Do not attempt to modify the UDF. Any modification of the UDF may
render it unloadable by the WebSphere Translation Server. Use the User
Dictionary Manager to make all modifications to the UDS, instead. Then use
the modified UDS to create a new UDF.
Related information
v
v
Dictionaries
Dictionary entries
v
User Dictionary Source files
User Dictionary Manager Graphical User Interface
Interaction with the User Dictionary Manager is through the graphical user
interface (GUI). The graphical user interface consists of various panels, which
are described below.
v Main view
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
Create New Dictionary
Dictionary view
Add Entry
Modify Entry
Import
Export
Word Lookup
v Semantic classification
v Subject area
v
v
v
v
v
Grammatical context
Context semantics
Inflection
Preferences
Duplicate Entries
v Test Dictionary
v Lexical Analysis
v Test Options
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
5
v Subject Areas test option
v User Dictionary Sequence
Related information
v Main view
v Create New Dictionary
v Dictionary view
v Add Entry
v Modify Entry
v Import
v
v
v
v
v
Export
Word Lookup
Semantic classification
Subject area
Grammatical context
v Context semantics
v Inflection
v
v
v
v
v
v
Preferences
Duplicate Entries
Test Dictionary
Lexical Analysis
Test Options
Subject Areas test option
v User Dictionary Sequence
Main view
This is the view that comes up before you create or open a dictionary file. It is
blank except for the menu bar and the UDM logo graphic in the center of the
window. Any dictionaries from a previous session will automatically be
opened and displayed in the dictionary view. This option can be turned off in
the Preferences panel.
From this window you can open an existing dictionary file, create a new
dictionary file, set your preferences, or browse through help about the UDM.
Note: This view may not appear the first time you start UDM. Instead, the
Create dictionary view may appear, prompting you to create a new dictionary.
Once you have created a dictionary, the Dictionary view appears, displaying
the new, empty dictionary. This automatically brings up the Add New Entry
panel on top of the dictionary view.
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User's Guide
Related information
v
v
v
Create a new dictionary file.
Open an existing dictionary file.
Preferences panel
New Dictionary
The New Dictionary panel allows you to select the source and target
languages for your new dictionary.
v The source language is the language from which you are translating.
v The target language is the language to which you are translating.
To specify the source and target languages, select them from the drop-down
lists available on the New Dictionary panel.
Dictionary View
Once you have created a dictionary, the User Dictionary Manager displays it
in a tabular view that allows you to some of the information for each entry. To
see all information about an entry, you must go to Add/Modify. You can
control what columns are displayed using the Preferences menu from the
toolbar.
The table view will gray out and put "---" in any table cells that are not
applicable to the entry's part of speech.
* Note: If the Dictionary View is unresponsive, check to see if there are any
Lexical Analysis dialogs or Test Translation sub-dialogs open. If any of the
Lexical Analysis dialogs or Test Translation sub-dialogs are open, the
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
7
Dictionary View will not respond. Finish modifying the dialog and close it
before attempting to use the Dictionary View.
From the dictionary table, you can:
v Add an entry.
v Modify an entry using the Modify Entry panel.
v Modify entry fields directly in the table. (See the list of field columns below
for details.)
v Copy an entry.
v Delete an entry.
v Sort the dictionary view.
v Search the dictionary.
By default, the dictionary table displays these columns:
v Build Status This column contains an icon indicating whether this term will
be included in a dictionary build. This icon is not directly editable in the
table. Double click to bring up a Modify Entry panel.
v Status Since Last Saved This column indicates that this term has been
added, imported, or modified since the last time the dictionary was saved.
This icon is not directly editable in the table. Double click to bring up a
Modify Entry panel.
v Source This column contains the word or phrase in the source language.
Changing the source may impact context (found verbs only), semantics
(found verbs only), subject area (found verbs only), inflections and gender.
Double click to edit the text field.
8
User's Guide
v Target This column contains the word or phrase in the target language.
Changing the target may impact target gender and target inflection. Double
click to edit the text field.
v POS This column indicates the part of speech of the source word. Double
click to select an alternative part of speech from the drop-down list.
Changing the part of speech may impact context (found verbs only),
semantics (found verbs only), subject area (found verbs only), inflections
and gender.
v Context This column indicates the word, phrase, or clause that can or must
follow the source word. Double click to bring up a Context dialog.
v Position This column indicates the position of the target. Double click to
select an alternative position from the drop-down list.
v Source or target Gender This column indicates the gender of the source or
target word. Double click to select an alternative gender from the
drop-down list.
v Source or target InflectionThis column indicates the inflection of the source
or target word in applicable languages. The following part of speech and
language combinations open an Inflection dialog:
– German to English Noun
– German to English Proper Noun
– English to Spanish Noun
– English to Spanish Proper Noun
– English to Spanish Adjective
– English to Spanish Verb
All other language and part of speech combinations open a drop-down list,
if inflection is applicable for that part of speech.
v Subject Area This column indicates the subject area that applies to the
translation of this word. Setting the subject area tells the engine to only use
the specified definition if that subject area is specified. If that subject area is
not specified, the entry will not be used. Double click to select an
alternative subject area from the drop-down list (This is the only field you
can open by double clicking). You can modify the Subject Area drop-down
list from the Preferences panel.
* Warning * : Words that have Subject Area specified are translated only
when that Subject Area is specified in the URL. Specify a Subject Area only
if you want the translation to apply ONLY in the specified Subject Area.
You can control which of these columns are displayed using the Appearance
tab on the Preferences panel. You can resize columns by clicking on the border
of the column header and dragging it to the desired size, or reorder the
columns by clicking on the column header and dragging the column to the
new location.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
9
When you place your cursor on fields within the table, the complete contents
of that field are displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the window.
You can edit the information in the table by double-clicking on the field you
want to edit. For fields that cannot be edited directly, double-clicking will
open the applicable panel to modify that information.
Sorting the view of the dictionary
You can sort using the value in any column in the Dictionary Main view. To
sort the dictionary, click on the column heading of the column on which you
want to sort. Clicking on the column heading toggles through three sort
options:
v Ascending order, from A to Z
v Descending order, from Z to A
v Unsorted, returns to the original order prior to sorting
Multiple selection
You can select multiple entries from the dictionary view in order to delete
them. Select the entries to copy by clicking on them while holding the Shift or
Control key, or select a range of entries by clicking and dragging.
Related information
v Add Entry
v Modify Entry
v
v
v
v
Copy Entry
Delete Entry
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Add Entry
The Add Entry panel allows you to add an entry to your dictionary.
Edit this panel by
v Selecting Table > Add Entry, or
v Clicking the Add button in the User Dictionary Manager window
10
User's Guide
This panel is divided into source and target areas.
v Source area The source area contains information about the word to be
translated.
v Target area The target area contains information about the word you want
the source word to translate to.
When you are through adding entries, click the OK button to add the entry to
the dictionary, or Cancel to discard information currently displayed in the
panel. Either selection closes the Add Entry panel and returns you to the
Dictionary Main view.
If you wish to continue adding entries without closing the Add Entry panel,
click the Add New Entry button. This saves the current entry and then let
you add information for another entry.
Related information
v
v
Modify entry
Source area
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
11
v
v
v
Target area
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Source area
The Source area occupies the top half of the Add Entry or Modify Entry
panel. It contains two tabs: one for required parameters and one for optional
parameters.
Required fields contain the minimum information that must be specified for
the entry. Optional fields should only be used when needing to narrow down
the applicability of the current entry. The more options that are applied to an
entry, the more specific the context of the word; therefore, the word is used in
fewer translations.
Required
The Required tab contains the following fields:
v Word The word or phrase you are translating. Special rules apply to
translating phrases.
v Other Senses This button displays a read-only version of the Dictionary
Main View containing all other entries with the same source head word.
v Part of Speech Identifies the part of speech of the source word.
v Gender The gender of the word to be translated. Select a gender from the
drop-down list.
v Inflection The inflection of the source word in applicable languages. For all
languages, select an alternative inflection from the drop-down list. German
and Spanish also have an additional drop down list, depending on the part
of speech.
Optional
The Optional tab contains the following fields:
v Semantics Displays a drop-down list containing a subset of the semantic
categories that describe the use of the source word. To select a term from
the complete list of semantic categories, select the More... option from this
list to open the Semantics panel. You can select what items from the
complete semantic categories list are displayed in this list from the
semantics tab on the Preferences panel.
v Subject Areas A list of subject area checkboxes for which the source word
applies. This is important in distinguishing multiple senses of a common
word. For example, the common usage of the English word boot applies to a
12
User's Guide
piece of footwear. When applied to the subject area computers, however, boot
becomes the action of starting a computer. Hit the Plus ("+") button for
more subject area options.
v Context Contains a drop-down list of the grammatical context in which this
word should occur. When you select an item from the list, you will be
taken to the Context panel to further define the context. You can modify the
context by clicking on the Modify button to the right of this field. Found
verbs have a subset of context choices where the user cannot change
semantics or remove subject areas completely.
v Exceptions (for verbs and adjectives only) Exceptions are parts of speech
that do not follow the default rules. For example, most adjectives in English
occur before the noun, but there are some which actually occur after the
noun. Examples are: ablaze, close by, aboard, and ago. The Exception button
opens a dialog box. This dialog contains options that depend on the part of
speech selected. For more information on exceptions for specific parts of
speech for specific languages, refer to the Linguistic Notes section.
v Modified Noun/Sem. Type (for adjectives only) Displays a drop-down list
containing a subset of the semantic categories that describe the use of the
noun modified by the adjective. You can also select a specific noun to be
modified.
v Function (for adjectives only) Displays a drop-down list where you choose
what type of adjective the word is: Attributive or Predicative. A blank entry
indicates the adjective is both.
v Subject (for verbs only) Subject is where you specify the subject slot of verb
contexts. A dialog box opens.
Related information
v Add Entry panel
v Modify Entry panel
Translating phrases:
User Dictionary Manager uses some special rules when translating phrases. A
phrase is defined as text with embedded space. UDM uses certain characters
to convey information about the phrase; therefore, those characters have
restricted use.
The character "=" is used to indicate the head word of a source or target noun
phrase.
Non-English target phrases use the character ":" to mark inflecting adjectives.
The "+" character is reserved for German to indicate the inflecting portion of
the head word.
The following rules apply to special characters:
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
13
Noun Phrases
v = at the beginning of a word denotes the word as a head word. If you do
not explicitly mark a head word, UDM will insert it automatically at the
start of the first or last word depending on the language. The default head
word for English and German phrases is the last word. French, Italian,
Portuguese and Spanish phrases have the first word as the default head
word.
v : at the beginning of a word indicates that the word is an adjective that
inflects. Any inflecting adjectives in a non-English phrase can have this
indicator.
v + is used within a German compound noun to mark the beginning of the
inflecting portion of the noun. Only the head word in a phrase can have
this indicator. If the head word indicator is omitted, it is assumed that the
word with "+" is the head word.
v If the characters ":" or "=" occur within or at the end of a word, they are
treated as legal characters of the word, rather than as inflection markers.
For example, the ":" characters in these words are considered part of the
word: cc:Mail, bcc:. Whereas the ":" in the phrase =saldo :pendiente indicates
an inflecting adjective.
Phrases that do not conform to the rules will be converted automatically to
ones that do.
v There can be only one head word in a noun phrase. The first word that
starts with "=" is considered the head word, and any following words with
a leading "=" will have that character discarded.
For example, =word1 =word2 =word3 converts to =word1 word2 word3.
:word1 word2 converts to =word1 word2 for those languages which have the
first word as the default head.
v Only one special character can start a word. Any subsequent starting
special characters for a word are discarded.
For example, word1 =:=::word2 will be converted to word1 =word2.
word1 =w:=::ord2 stays unchanged because the characters within the word
are considered to be part of the word.
v Since a German word with an embedded "+" indicates the head word, only
one word with an embedded "+" is allowed. Any subsequent occurrences
are discarded. If the head word indicator is omitted then the word with the
special "+" is automatically marked as the head word.
For example, word1+part1 word2 converts to =word1+part1 word2.
word1+part1 =word2+part2 converts to =word1+part1 word2part2.
14
User's Guide
Adverb phrases
v "=" is the only valid inflection marker. "=" at the beginning of a word
denotes the word as a head word. If you do not explicitly mark a head
word, UDM will insert it automatically at the start of the last word.
Adjective phrases
v "=" is the only valid inflection marker. "=" at the beginning of a word
denotes the word as a head word. If you do not explicitly mark a head
word, UDM will insert it automatically at the start of the last word.
Verb phrases
v Multi-words are not allowed for source verbs. They are allowed for all
targets.
v For German verbs, the source word cannot have spaces. However, the ":"
inflection marker can denote the end of the separable prefix for the source
and/or target word.
v For the target word, spaces are allowed. A word(s) that proceeds the last
space is considered an optional prefix. Only the headword (which is always
the last word) can have inflection markers. The rules for the markers are:
– a leading "=" denotes the headword. The headword for the target is
always the last word.
– ":" follows the separable prefix. Only the headword can have the ":"
marker.
– "+" follows the inseparable prefix. Only the headword for the target can
have the "+:" marker.
Target area
The Target area occupies the bottom half of the Add Entry or Modify Entry
panels. Depending on the part of speech selected in the Subject area, the
Target area contains one or two tabs: one for required parameters and/or one
for optional parameters.
Required
The Required tab contains the following fields:
v Word The word you want the source word to translate to. Special rules
apply to translating phrases.
v Gender The gender of the translated word. Select a gender from the
drop-down list.
v Inflection The inflection of the target word in applicable languages.
Depending on the language and the part of speech, you will choose
inflection from a brief list or a longer drop-down list.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
15
Combining forms (for German only) This option lets the user specify how
the target word will be combined. Select a combination option from the
drop-down list, or type in a form of your own. See the combining forms
section of the linguistic notes for more information about combining nouns
in German.
v Position (for adjectives only) The user selects whether the adjective is
placed before or after the word it modifies.
v
Optional
The Optional tab contains the following fields, depending on the part of
speech:
v
v
v
v
v
v
Reflexive (for verbs only) This option lets the user specify whether the
verb is reflexive, and if so, what type.
Exceptions Exceptions are parts of speech that do not follow the default
rules. For example, most adjectives in English occur before the noun, but
there are some which actually occur after the noun. Examples are: ablaze,
close by, aboard, and ago. The Exception button opens a dialog box. This
dialog contains options that depend on the part of speech selected. For
more information on exceptions for specific parts of speech for specific
languages, refer to the Linguistic Notes section.
Type of Additional Word(s) (for verbs only) Allows the user to choose a
specific context for the chosen word. This option should only be used if
multiple uses of the same source word appear in the user or source
dictionary.
Additional Word(s) (for verbs only) A field where the user enters a word
or words for the verbal clause.
Additional Words Gender (German only) Enter the gender of the word or
words for the verbal clause.
Additional Words Inflection (German only) Enter the inflection of the
word or words for the verbal clause.
Related information
v
v
Add Entry panel
Modify Entry panel
Modify Entry
The Modify Entry panel allows you to modify an entry in your dictionary or
to add a new sense for an entry already in the dictionary.
To edit this panel, select from the following options:
v select Table > Modify Entry
v click the Modify button at the bottom of the main screen
16
User's Guide
v double click on an existing entry in the Dictionary view. This method only
works on fields that are not directly editable in the table.
This panel is divided into source and target areas.
v Source area The source area contains information about the word you are
translating from.
v Target area The target area contains information about the word that you
are translating to.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
17
When you are through modifying entries, click the OK button to save the
information, or the Cancel button to discard information currently displayed
in the panel. Either selection will close the Modify Entry panel and return you
to the Dictionary Main view.
Clicking the Previous or Next buttons will save the current entry as displayed
before moving to the previous or next entry.
If you wish to add a new entry without closing the Modify Entry panel, click
the Add New Entry button. This saves the information currently on the
Modify Entry panel and then lets you enter information for a new entry. You
can also scroll through the terms in the dictionary using the Previous button
and the Next button, modifying and saving term information as you go.
Related information
v
v
v
Add entry
Source area
Target area
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Semantics
The Semantics panel allows you to select a
semantic
classification for the term you are translating.
To open this panel, select the More... option at the bottom of the Semantics
drop-down list on the Add Entry or the Modify Entry dialog boxes.
18
User's Guide
You can expand the semantics tree by selecting the number of levels to
expand from the drop-down list. Select a semantic classification by clicking on
it.
When you have selected the appropriate semantic classification, click OK to
close the panel.
Related information
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
19
Subject Areas
The Subject Areas panel allows you to select a
subject area
for the source word. You should select a subject area if a word needs to have
different translations for different subject areas. If you always want a word to
translate to a specific definition, you should not use Subject Areas.
To open this dialog box, select the Plus ("+") button for the Subject Areas on
the Add Entry or Modify Entry dialog boxes.
You can expand the subject areas tree by clicking on the icon to the left of an
entry.
When you have selected the appropriate subject areas, click the OK button to
close the panel.
* Warning * : Words that have Subject Area specified are translated only when
that Subject Area is specified in the meta information of the URL. Specify a
Subject Area only if you want the translation to apply ONLY in the specified
Subject Area.
20
User's Guide
* Note: To create ** User Defined ** Subject Areas, open the Preferences
Panel and select the Subject Areas tab.
Related information
v
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
How to add user-defined Subject Areas in the Preferences panel.
Context
The Context panel allows you to provide information regarding the context in
which the word you are translating should appear. This information helps
provide a more accurate translation of the word.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
21
In the Context panel for verbs, you should enter all the contexts that are
possible for that particular verb, independently of a particular translation. For
a particular translation, you then choose which of the context options is filled.
"Found verbs" are commonly-used verbs in the particular language. UDM
does not allow entries with these found verbs.
To edit this panel, select a context option from the Context drop down menu
on the Add Entry or Modify Entry dialog boxes, or double click on the
Context field in the Dictionary View table.
The sections available on the Context panel will vary depending on the
context option selected. Possible sections are:
v Prepositional Phrase
v Infinitive
v Question words/clause
v That Clause
v Identifier
v Genitive
v Direct Object
v Indirect Object
22
User's Guide
v
v
Complement
Predicate
Prepositional Phrase
The Prepositional Phrase section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the
specified prepositional phrase is required in association with the word.
v Source preposition A drop-down list of possible source prepositions. If
German is the source language, select a case for the preposition from the
case drop-down list. If no choice for a case is available, the translation
engine doesn't need one.
v Target preposition A drop-down list of possible target prepositions. If
German is the target language, select a case for the preposition from the
case drop-down list. Default is the default translation of the preposition;
Delete means the preposition is not present in the target language.
v Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the object of the preposition must be a physical
object. If you had selected the "is not" option, the object of the preposition
must not be a physical object.
v Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
v Presence A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the translated
word should be used, given the context. Selecting "Filled" indicates that the
context must occur for the translation to be valid. Selecting "Not Filled"
indicates that the context must not occur for the translation to be valid.
Think of the context as a potential. "Filled or Not" means that it doesn't
matter for the translation whether this context is there or not.
Infinitive
The Infinitive section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether an
infinitive is required in association with the word.
v
Preposition A preposition drop-down list with an option for none.
Question words/clause
The Question section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether a
question word is required in association with the word.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
23
v
Preposition A preposition drop-down list with an option for none.
That Clause
The That Clause field, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether a That
clause is required in association with the word.
v Preposition A preposition drop-down list with an option for none.
Identifier
The Identifier section, if available, contains this field:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether an
identifier is required in association with the word.
Genitive
(for German only)
The Genitive section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether a
genitive is required in association with the word.
v Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the genitive noun must be a physical object. If
you had selected the "is not" option, the genitive noun must not be a
physical object.
v Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
Direct object
The Direct object section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether direct
object is required in association with the word.
Options A drop-down list of possible direct-object options.
Source preposition A drop-down list of possible source prepositions. If
German is the source language, select a case for the preposition from the
case drop-down list.
v Target preposition A drop-down list of possible target prepositions. If
German is the target language, select a case for the preposition from the
v
v
24
User's Guide
case drop-down list. Default is the default translation of the preposition;
Delete means the preposition is not present in the target language.
v Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the direct object must be a physical object. If you
select the "is not" option, the direct object must not be a physical object.
v Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
v Presence (Verbs only) A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the
translated word should be used, given the context. Selecting "Filled"
indicates that the context must occur for the translation to be valid.
Selecting "Not Filled" indicates that the context must not occur for the
translation to be valid. Think of the context as a potential. "Filled or Not"
means that it doesn't matter for the translation whether this context is there
or not.
Indirect object
The Indirect object section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether an
indirect object is required in association with the word.
v Options A drop-down list of possible indirect-object options.
Source preposition A drop-down list of possible source prepositions. If
German is the source language, select a case for the preposition from the
case drop-down list.
v Target preposition A drop-down list of possible target prepositions. If
German is the target language, select a case for the preposition from the
case drop-down list. Default is the default translation of the preposition;
Delete means the preposition is not present in the target language.
v Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the indirect object must be a physical object. If
you select the "is not" option, the indirect object must not be a physical
object.
v
Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
v Presence A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the translated
word should be used, given the context. Selecting "Filled" indicates that the
context must occur for the translation to be valid. Selecting "Not Filled"
v
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
25
indicates that the context must not occur for the translation to be valid.
Think of the context as a potential. "Filled or Not" means that it doesn't
matter for the translation whether this context is there or not.
Complement
The Complement section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether
complement is required in association with the word.
v Options A drop-down list of possible complement options.
v Particle A field to enter the particle word for the complement.
v Source preposition A drop-down list of possible source prepositions.
v Target preposition A drop-down list of possible target prepositions. Select
a case for the preposition from the case drop-down list. Default is the
default translation of the preposition; Delete means the preposition is not
present in the target language.
v Case There are four possible cases to choose from for the complement if
the option is a noun. Select if the case of the preposition is accusative or
nominative.
v Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the complement must be a physical object. If you
had selected the "is not" option, the complement must not be a physical
object.
v Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
v Presence A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the translated
word should be used, given the context. Selecting "Filled" indicates that the
context must occur for the translation to be valid. Selecting "Not Filled"
indicates that the context must not occur for the translation to be valid.
Think of the context as a potential. "Filled or Not" means that it doesn't
matter for the translation whether this context is there or not.
Predicate
( for Italian only)
The Predicate section, if available, contains these fields:
v
26
User's Guide
Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether
complement is required in association with the word.
v
Options A drop-down list of possible predicate options. The predicate
context only allows adjective or noun as options. Thus, prepositions are
irrelevant here.
Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the object of the preposition must be a physical
object. If you had selected the "is not" option, the object of the preposition
must not be a physical object.
v Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
v
v
Presence A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the translated
word should be used, given the context. Selecting "Filled" indicates that the
context must occur for the translation to be valid. Selecting "Not Filled"
indicates that the context must not occur for the translation to be valid.
Think of the context as a potential. "Filled or Not" means that it doesn't
matter for the translation whether this context is there or not.
Related information
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Context Semantics
The Context Semantics panel allows you to add semantic information
regarding the
context
in which the word you are translating should appear. This information helps
provide a more accurate translation of the word.
To edit this panel, first bring up the Context panel as discussed in the
"Grammatical Context" section. Hit the Plus ("+") button in any of the sections
that contains a Semantics field.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
27
The sections available on the Context Semantics panel are:
v Active This field lists the semantic categories currently chosen to describe
the context of the source word. Used in conjunction with the is/is not
buttons on the Context panel, they describe the context in which the word
to be translated appears.
v Specific Word This field allows you to enter a specific word for use with
the semantics field on the Context panel. Before the specific word will be
used by UDM, you must add it to the Active field.
Semantic Categories This field contains the complete list of semantic
categories recognized by UDM. You can add semantic categories from this
field to the Active field.
v Preferred Semantics This is a list of your preferred semantic categories as
determined on the Semantics tab in the Preferences panel. You can add
semantic categories from this field to the Active field.
v
Related information
v
v
28
User's Guide
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Inflections
The Inflections panel helps you specify the inflection of a translated word. To
edit this panel, double click on the Inflections entry in the Dictionary View
table. The inflections panel will only appear for German and Spanish.
Otherwise the inflection field is a drop down menu. There will always be an
inflection choice unless you have a Spanish verb that does not end in "ar,"
"er," or "ir."
The Inflections panel contains the following fields:
Word
The translated word.
Gender
The gender of the translated word. Used only for nouns and proper
nouns.
Select A Word That Inflects Like Your Word
Lists possible inflections for the translated word. This list is generated
by the UDM translation engine. If you are unable to find the correct
inflection in this list, ensure that the Gender field is correct (if your
part of speech is a noun or proper noun), as UDM sorts possible
inflections by gender.
Inflects Like
Displays an example of the inflection you have selected.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
29
Comment
Displays any relevant information about the inflection you have
chosen.
Combining Form
Allows you to specify what form of the translated word should be
used when it is combined with other words. This section is only
available when translating into German.
Related information
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Preferences
This panel allows you to modify the display and operational settings used by
User Dictionary Manager.
To edit this panel, select Preferences from the Preferences drop down menu at
the top of the main screen (Dictionary view).
30
User's Guide
It contains the following tabs, each with their own fields:
Directories tab
The directories tab contains these fields:
User Dictionary Directory Displays the default path that User Dictionary
Manager uses to store and retrieve the dictionaries that you create. You can
also set these values manually when opening or saving a file.
v System Dictionary Directory Displays the path that User Dictionary
Manager uses to search for the system dictionaries it uses to perform
translations. This setting defaults to the current directory.
v
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
31
Appearance
The Appearance tab contains these sections:
v View This section contains a set of check boxes that correspond to the
columns of the table displayed in the Dictionary Main view. By checking or
unchecking these boxes, you can determine what columns will be displayed
in the table.
Tool Tip This section contains check boxes that turn the Table function and
the Dialog function on and off. When the Table function is active, you can
view the complete contents of a cell in the table by placing your cursor
over that cell. Whether the Table is on or off, you can view the complete
contents of a cell in the table by placing your cursor over it and reading the
contents from the status bar at the bottom of the Dictionary Main view.
When the Dialog function is turned off, pop up "hints" no longer appear
when you place your cursor over a selection option.
v Table This section contains a set of check boxes that control how the table
in the Dictionary Main view is displayed. You can use these check boxes to
turn the vertical and horizontal grids on and off, and to enable or disable
horizontal scrolling.
v Font Size Adjustment This section contains a slider that adjusts the size of
displayed text for the entire application up or down. To adjust font size,
click on the slider and drag it up or down the scale. This setting will not
take effect until the next time UDM is started.
v
Functionality
This tab allows you to control the level of detail used by UDM for adding
entries, and to enable or disable the "confirm on delete" and "prefill from
previous" features. It contains the following sections:
v Add The section contains a set of radio buttons that allow you to select
basic or advanced functionality when adding terms. If you select basic
functionality, clicking the Add button in the Dictionary Main view will
simply add a blank entry to the table, allowing you to add information
directly to the table instead of using the Add Entries panel.
This section also contains a check box that enables and disables the Prefill
from previous feature. If you check this box, each time you add a new
entry, the Add entry panel will prefill all items (except context, source
word, and target word) with the values from the previous entry.
v General This section contains check boxs that enable and disable:
– Confirm on Delete feature If you deselect this feature, you will not
receive a status message when you delete an item.
– Show Build Status feature Select whether or not to show statistics after
each build.
32
User's Guide
– Load Last File on Startup feature If selected, this function loads the last
UDS file when UDM starts.
– "No engine" Message feature This message appears when the engine
cannot be located. If the engine cannot be located, Save and Build
functions are disabled.
– Minutes Between Automated Backups A drop down menu that allows
you to select the number of minutes between backups, from zero to 30.
Subject Areas
This tab allows you to customize your Subject Areas list to include the areas
you use most frequently or to add your own subject areas. This tab
determines the lists shown in the table and on the Add/Modify dialog
drop-down lists.
From this tab you can:
v Add defined subject areas to the Active list
v Remove unused subject areas from the Active list
v Create user defined subject areas
v Order the subject areas in the Active list
Adding subject areas
To add subject areas to the list:
v Select one or more subject areas from the Subject Areas field.
v Click the <- symbol to the left of the field to add them to the Active field.
Regardless of the subject areas in the
Active
field, you can access all subject areas from the
Add Entry
panel by selecting
More...
from the Subject Areas field on that panel.
Removing subject areas
To remove subject areas from the list:
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
33
v Select one or more subject areas from the Active field. User-defined subject
areas are at the top of the list.
v Click the X icon beneath the field.
When you remove terms from the Active list, they are not deleted from the
Subject Areas
list.
Creating user-defined subject areas
To create user-defined subject areas:
v Click the + symbol beneath the Subject Areas list to open the Add subject
area dialog box.
v Enter the name of your subject area in the dialog box. Make sure that the
name does not exist already and contains no spaces.
Note that the matching logic for subject areas is case sensitive. UDM,
WebSphere Translation Server and the language engines are all case
sensitive.
v Click OK in the Add subject area dialog box.
After you have created a user defined subject area, you can add it to the
active list the same way you added terms from the Subject Areas list.
You can also remove user defined subject areas the same way that you
removed subject areas from the active list, but when you remove them from
the Subject Areas list, they are deleted completely, and you must re-create
them in order to use them again.
Ordering active subject areas
You may want to arrange the active subject areas so that the most frequently
used subject areas are at the top of the list. To do this:
v Select the subject area you want to move from the Active field.
v Use the up and down arrows beneath the field to move the entry up or
down the list.
Semantics
This tab allows you to customize the list of semantic categories displayed on
the
Add Entry
34
User's Guide
panel. Since semantics is based on parts of speech, each part of speech has its
own tab. This tab determines the lists shown in the table and on the
Add/Modify dialog drop-down lists. From these tabs you can:
v Add semantic categories to the Active list.
v Remove semantic categories from the Active list.
v Order the semantic categories in the Active list.
Adding semantic categories
To add semantic categories to the active list:
v Select one or more categories from the Semantic Categories list.
v Move them to the Active list by clicking on the <- symbol to the left of the
Semantic Categories list.
Removing semantic categories
To remove semantic categories from the Active list:
v Select the subject areas to remove from the Active list.
v Click the X icon below the Active list.
Ordering the Active list
To order the categories in the Active list, select the category you want to
move, then click the up or down arrows below the Active list.
Related information
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Duplicate and Similar Entries
This panel displays a list of all duplicate entries in your dictionary. When the
dictionary is built, duplicate entries will be ignored.
Entries are considered duplicates if the information that guides the transfer
from the source word to the target word is ambiguous. Similar entries share
only the same source word and the same part of speech—all other attributes
do not need to match
Duplicate and similar entries have the same number, indicated in the second
column from the left.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
35
You can delete or modify duplicate entries from the displayed table.
To delete a duplicate entry:
v Select the entry.
v Click on Delete to delete the entry. Or to delete all duplicate entries, click
the Delete All button. The Delete All button will remove all duplicate
entries, except one, leaving it as the original.
To modify a duplicate entry:
– Double click on the entry to open the Modify Entry panel.
or
– Select the entry by clicking on it and then click the Modify button to
open the Modify Entry panel.
You can update the table to reflect your changes by clicking the Refresh
button.
Test Translation
The Test panel allows you to test the translations in your dictionary before
installing it for use with the WebSphere Translation Server.
* Note: If the Test panel is unresponsive, check to see if there are any
Dictionary View dialogs open. If any of the Dictionary View dialogs are open,
the Test panel will not respond. Finish modifying the dialog and close it
before attempting to use the Test panel.
36
User's Guide
The Test panel contains the following fields:
Text To Translate
Enter the text to use as a source for the test translation here.
Load File
Click here to load a file to use as a source for the test translation.
Clear
Clears the source text field.
Dictionaries
Specifies the dictionaries to use in the test translation. This field is
modified through the Test Options dialog. Click Options to open this
dialog.
Subject Areas
Specifies the subject areas to use in the test translation. This field is
modified through the Test Options dialog. Click Options to open this
dialog.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
37
Translated Text
Contains the translated text after the test is complete.
Save to File
Allows you to save the resulting translation to a text file.
Related information
v
v
Subject areas test option
User Dictionary File
Lexical analysis
Lexical analysis provides
v analysis of words
v analysis of parts of speech
v information on whether words are found or not found in the core and user
dictionaries
v a statistical count of the frequency of the words found in the source files
UDM uses this function to produce a list of candidate words for user
dictionary creation. UDM uses the output of this function to display word
lists to the dictionary user for selection. .
Word from the source files are tagged as found or not found in the context of
the parts of speech and the user dictionaries provided. Words with known
parts of speech, but not parts of speech that UDM handles are not shown to
the user. Both found and not found words may be imported directly into
UDM.
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User's Guide
Directories/Files to Analyze
Click Add to browse for directories and/or files to analyze. The files should
either be text or HTML. Check the Include Subdirectories box to analyze files
within subdirectories.
Options
The Options button opens a Test Options dialog box.
Analysis Results
Found
indicates whether or not the word was found in the source dictionary
Src
the source word or phrase
POS
the part of speech
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
39
Frequency
indicates how often the source word appears in the analyzed text
Import
Click the box in this column for each source word you want to import into
the current dictionary. Click the Import button at the bottom of the window to
import the selected words.
You can also save the results of your analysis as a *.lexan file. .lexan files can
be opened by clicking Load Analysis. The Check Not Found button allows
you to select all words in the analysis that were not found in the context of
the parts of speech and the user dictionaries provided. The Clear Checks
button clears all the checkboxes under the Import column.
Related information
v
v
Test Options
Linguistic glossary
v
Linguistic notes
Test Options
Test Options is a dialog that can be opened from the Lexical Analysis, Word
Lookup and Test Translation dialogs. For all dialogs, click Options to modify
the following parameters:
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User's Guide
Format
Select the file type of the files you wish to analyze
Style
Style refers to the mode of address used, for example, formal versus informal
speech.
Check boxes (squares) indicate styles that are independent of other styles.
Radio buttons (circles) indicate mutually exclusive style choices--you cannot
have more than one radio button marked.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
41
Capson
By setting Capson to ON, the lexical analysis tool assumes all capitalized
words are proper nouns.
Metacontent
Metacontent inserts a line of code into the meta tags of a file during
translation.
Lexstorage
Lexstorage refers to where the lexicons are stored. File saves the lexicons to a
file. The Memory option refers to the files in memory and runs faster.
Options - Dictionaries
Browse and select the dictionaries you want to use for the analysis
Options - Subject Areas
Browse and select the subject areas you want to use for the analysis
Related information
v
v
Lexical Analysis
Test Translation
Subject Areas test option
When testing a translation, you can select multiple subject areas to use by
clicking the Subject Areas button on the Test Options panel to open the
Subject Areas panel.
42
User's Guide
The Subject Areas panel contains the following fields:
Use Subject Areas
A check box indicating that you want to use the selected subject areas.
Active Contains the subject areas you have selected to use for this test.
Subject Areas
Contains the complete list of available subject areas. Add subject areas
from this field to the Active field by selecting them and clicking the
Left Arrow symbol to the left of this field.
Preferred Subject Areas
The list of preferred subject areas, determined by the Subject Areas tab
on the Preferences panel. Add subject areas from this field to the
active field by selecting them and clicking the up arrow to the right of
this field, or by double-clicking on the subject area you want to add.
When you have selected your subject areas, click OK to return to the Test
Translation or Lexical Analysis panel.
Related information
v
v
Test translation
Lexical Analysis
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
43
v
How to add user-defined Subject Areas in the Preferences panel
User Dictionary Sequence
The User Dictionary Sequence panel is located off of the
Test Options
panel. User Dictionary Sequence displays the user dictionary files that are
used to test a translation, in the order in which they will be used. Move the
dictionary with the most specific terminology to the top. The order should be
from most specific to most generic.
When testing a translation, User Dictionary Manager searches each of the
dictionaries listed in the Active field, in the order they appear.
You can also change the dictionaries that are used. The Inactive field displays
UDM dictionary files that have been removed from the Active field.
v Ordering user dictionaries
v
v
Adding user dictionaries
Removing user dictionaries
Ordering user dictionaries
To re-order the user dictionaries in the
Active
44
User's Guide
field:
v Select the dictionary you want to move.
v Move the dictionary up or down using the controls below the Active field.
Adding user dictionaries
To add user dictionaries to the
Active
list:
v Select the dictionaries you want to add from the Inactive list, or click + to
add dictionaries that are not displayed in the Inactive list.
v Click the <- icon to move them to the Active list.
Removing user dictionaries
To remove user dictionaries from the
Active
list:
v Select the dictionaries you want to remove from the Active list.
v Click the -> icon to move them to the Inactive list.
To remove dictionaries from either list:
v Select the dictionaries you want to remove from either list.
v Click the X icon to remove the dictionary from the list.
Related information
v
v
User Dictionary Files
How to test translate a dictionary
Keyboard shortcuts
This page lists some of the common useful keystroke-actions (shortcuts) for
UDM. The term "component" refers to the individual sub-elements that
populate a window, such as buttons, text input areas, checkboxes, and so on.
v General Window/Dialog shortcut keys
v
v
v
v
v
The main table
Drop down list components
Lists components
Lists components with checkboxes
Tree components
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
45
v
v
v
Single line text entry components
Multi-line text entry components
Tabbed components
General Window/Dialog shortcut keys
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Alt+Char
Accelerator key, if defined, activates the
associated component (underlined
character in a component)
Tab
Move to next component
Shift+Tab
Move to previous component
Spacebar
Activate component that has focus
Enter
Activate default button if defined (button
has a darker border than others)
Spacebar
Toggle to check/uncheck state for
components that have on/off behavior
Alt+F4
Close current window or dialog
Esc
Close simple error and informational
message dialogs
Alt+Shift+=
Activate the "+" button
Alt+Left, Alt+Right, Alt+Up, Alt+Down
Activate the left, right, up, and down
arrow buttons
Alt+Delete
Activate the "X" button
The main table
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User's Guide
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Tab
Move forward to next cell and activate it
if editable (wraps within table)
Shift+Tab
Move backward to previous cell and
activate it if editable (wraps within table)
F2
Edit current cell (behaves like double
clicking on a cell)
Esc
Reset cell content to value prior to editing
Ctrl+Tab
Navigate out of the table forward
Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Navigate out of the table backward
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Right, Left
Move to next/previous cell
Up, Down
Move up/down one row
PgUp, PgDn
Move up/down a screen
Home
Move to first cell in row
End
Move to last cell in row
Ctrl+Home
Move to first cell in table
Ctrl+End
Move to last cell in table
Enter
Stop editing of current cell. if not editing
then move down a cell (wraps)
Drop down list components (button with a down arrow)
For example: Part of Speech (POS) selection cells in the main table
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Down, Spacebar
Open drop down list when list is not
showing
Alt+Up
Close drop down list
Esc
Close drop down list. In a table cell and
context selection in the add or modify
dialog, esc will also undo the selection.
Up, Down
Move up/down within the list items
Enter, Spacebar
Select the highlighted item and close list
First letter of Item
Jump to list item and highlight it
Lists components
For example: the active list in the subject areas tab in the preferences dialog
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Up, Down
Move up/down within the list items
PgUp, PgDn
Move up/down a screen
Ctrl+Home
Move to beginning of list
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
47
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Ctrl+End
Move to end of list
Ctrl+A, Ctrl+/
Select all entries
Ctrl+\
Unselect all entries
Spacebar
Make a selection
Shift+Spacebar
Range select
Shift+Up
Extend selection up
Shift+Down
Extend selection down
Shift+Home
Extend selection to top
Shift+End
Extend selection to end
Shift+PgUp
Extend selection up
Shift+PgDn
Extend selection down
Lists components with checkboxes
For example: the subject areas list in the add or modify dialog
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Up, Down
Move up/down within the list items
PgUp, PgDn
Move up/down a screen
Home
Move to beginning of list
End
Move to end of list
Ctrl+A, Ctrl+/
Select all entries
Ctrl+\
Unselect all entries
Spacebar
Make a selection
First letter of item
Jump to item and highlight the item
Tree components
For example: semantic categories
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User's Guide
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Spacebar
Toggle select/unselect
Tab
Navigate out of tree forward
Shift+Tab
Navigate out of tree backward
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Right, Left
Expand/collapse entry
Enter
Toggle expand/collapse entry
Up, Down
Move up/down one entry
Home, End
Move to first/last entry
PgUp, PgDn
Move up/down a screen
Ctrl+A, Ctrl+/
Select all
Ctrl+\
Deselect all
Shift+Up, Shift+Down
Extend selection up/down
Single line text entry components
For example: source and target word fields
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Right, Left
Move to next/previous character
Ctrl+Right, Ctrl+Left
Move to next/previous word
Home/End
Move to start/end of field
Enter
Submit entry
Ctrl+A
Select all characters
Shift+Left, Shift+Right
Extend selection left/right
Shift+Home, Shift+End
Extend selection to start/end
Ctrl+Shift+Left, Ctrl+Shift+Right
Extend selection to previous/next word
Ctrl+C
Copy selection to clipboard
Ctrl+X
Cut selection to clipboard
Ctrl+V
Paste from clipboard
Multi-line text entry components
For example: the test translation entry area
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Ctrl+Tab
Navigate forward out of text area
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
49
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Navigate backward out of text area
Ctrl+C
Copy selection
Ctrl+X
Cut selection
Ctrl+V
Paste selected text
Ctrl+A
Select all
Home, End
Move to start/end of line
Ctrl+Left/Right
Move to prev/next word
Ctrl+Home/End
Move to start/end of text area
Shift+PgUp, Shift+PgDn
Extend selection page up/down
Shift+Up, Shift+Down
Extend selection up/down
Shift+Left, Shift+Right
Extend selection left/right.
Shift+Home, Shift+End
Extend selection to start/end of line.
Tabbed components
For example: the preferences dialog
Keyboard shortcut
Function
Left, Right
Move to tab left/right.
Ctrl+Down, Ctrl+Up
Move from page to tab/tab to page.
Linguistic Notes for the User Dictionary Manager
Linguistic notes for noun entries
v Translation from English to French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian
Portuguese
v Translation from Brazilian Portuguese to English
v Translation from French to English
v Translation from German to English
v Translation from Italian to English
v Translation from Spanish to English
Linguistic notes for adverb entries
v Translation from English to French, German, Italian, and Spanish, and
Brazilian Portuguese
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User's Guide
v
v
v
v
Translation
Translation
Translation
Translation
from
from
from
from
Brazilian Portuguese to English
French to English
German to English
Italian to English
v
Translation from Spanish to English
Linguistic notes for adjective entries
v Translation from English to French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian
Portuguese
v Translation from Brazilian Portuguese to English
v Translation from German to English
v Translation from Italian to English
v
Translation from Spanish to English
Linguistic notes for verb entries
v Translation from English to French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian
Portuguese
v
v
v
v
Translation
Translation
Translation
Translation
from
from
from
from
Brazilian Portuguese to English
German to English
Italian to English
Spanish to English
English
Summary of linguistic notes for translating from English
Read the linguistic notes for translating the following figures of speech from
English:
v Nouns
v Verbs
v Adjectives
v Adverbs
Linguistic notes for English noun entries
Source definitions
Enter your English word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign
(=) immediately before the head, with no space. for example
= Agency for International Development; = court of appeal
Your entry is either a common noun or a proper noun (or proper name).
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
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Examples of common nouns:
baboon; cable connector; =court of appeal; =museum of art; gabled roof
Common nouns are defined as Noun in UDM.
Examples of proper nouns:
Morristown; Bill Clinton; Thomas J. Watson Research Center; =Agency for
International Development; AS/400ToolboxInstaller; =Multiterm for Windows
Proper nouns are defined as Proper Noun in UDM.
Entries are case sensitive!
You must type entry names in the same case that you typed the entry
definition. If you define an entry in mixed case, the next time you type the
entry name, you must match the case mixing exactly. For this reason, it is
easiest to use all lower case letters to define an entry. If you define an entry in
all lower case, it can be matched with any case. See the examples listed below.
class b share -> always matches regardless of input case class B share -> only
matches input with the exact same case Class B share -> only matches input
with the exact same case Class B Share -> only matches input with the exact
same case
Gender and inflection
In English, only very few nouns are associated with a gender. John; Mary;
Michael Johnson; Magic Johnson; Mia Hamm; U.S.S. Constitution. Inflection for
English nouns is also simple. Most nouns can occur in the singular and the
plural, and their inflection is regular. You need to specify irregularities. If your
word is singular only, checkers/data/media, plural only, earnings/clothes/pants, or
singular and plural with the same form, fish/aircraft/gallows/deer mark it as
such.
Subject area
If the English entry is an ordinary noun or noun phrase and has a special
meaning and/or transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you
can add that subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a
subject area is optional. Words can mean different things depending on the
subject area that they are used in. For instance, an appendix is "a separate part
at the end of a book or magazine which gives additional information." It is
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User's Guide
translated into German as Anhang, and as anexo into Spanish. In medical
discourse, however, an appendix is "a small tube-shaped part which is joined
to the intestines on the right side of the body." If a particular document deals
with medicine, you can choose the subject area medicine, in which case the
word will be translated into German as Blinddarm, and into Spanish as
apéndice. Words can also require different transfers in the target language,
depending on the subject area, even if the concept is the same or similar. For
example accessibility is translated as Zugänglichkeit in German unless you
choose subject area computers, in which case it will be translated as
Zugriffsmöglichkeit. The word boot is translated into Spanish as bota unless you
choose subject area computers, in which case it would be translated as
arranque. The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no specified
subject area). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to
choose from when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines .
Under economy , you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor ; under
business , you will find advertising, human resources, management,
marketing, public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is
subdivided into AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic co mmerce, hardware
, and so on. Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive,
broadcasting, construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category
technical comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general
technical meanings of otherwise ordinary nouns, such as cat, nut, and so on.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples:
In an English source text, the word hood can refer to the bonnet of a car; in
American English, it can refer to a neighborhood. In a British English
document, boot can refer to a kind of shoe or to the trunk of a car.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation, for example Tschüss instead of Auf Wiedersehen for English good
bye.
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
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Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning, or
class of entities, that your word belongs to. A cat, for instance, is a feline; a
screwdriver is a tool; an IBM Aptiva is a PC; a keyboard can be described as
part of a computer; a mood may be seen as a psychological condition or state;
murder is a crime; a teacher is a professional; a boy is a human individual;
and so on.
You will find a list of semantic types. If you scroll all the way down, you will
find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier to choose the semantic
type that applies to your word. If it is a human being, you will find it under
physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human -> human individual
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
Here are some examples of the impact on translation:
The labrador ate his food.
If labrador is defined in the dictionary as a dog or as a mammal or an animal,
the translation of eat will be fressen in German. If the word is not defined or
not defined as a type of animal, the translation will be essen.
appealing to a court is different from appealing to a layperson.
Thus, you want to make sure that the nouns that could be the object of the
word appeal are correctly coded as either institutions or human individuals in
order to make full use of the distinction coded in the dictionary. For Spanish:
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User's Guide
If the object of the verb naturalize is defined as a type of plant or animal, it
will be translated as aclimatar, otherwise as naturalizar.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
nouns are defined.
Following are some examples of words with their semantic types in UDM,
including their place in the semantic hierarchy. If you are not sure which
semantic type to assign to a noun, it is better to assign one of the broad
categories than not assigning anything.
scragginess = appearance (-> property -> abstraction)
acre = area unit (-> unit of measurement -> measure -> abstraction )
triathlon = sports (-> activity -> action)
invitation = speech act (-> action)
jewel = adornment (-> artifact -> physical object)
begonia = flower (-> plant -> animate being -> natural object -> physical object)
baccara = game (-> social event -> event)
data = information (-> aggregation -> group)
company = group of people (-> group)
head = bodypart (-> part)
engine = machine part (-> part)
noise = sound (-> physical phenomenon -> natural phenomenon ->
phenomenon)
palace = building (-> place)
Royal Marsden Hospital = hospital (-> place of business -> place)
5th Avenue = street (-> path -> place)
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55
sound reason = motive (-> cognition -> psychological feature)
admiration = feeling (-> psychological feature)
Buddhism = religion (-> philosophy/ideology -> cognition -> psychological
feature)
chance = possibility (-> state/status/condition)
chickenpox = disease (-> physiological state/condition -> state)
contusion = injury (-> imperfection -> state/condition)
abstracting, abuse, access logging, yelping are deverbal nouns ;
agent, spark are examples of agency .
Context
Nouns without context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic context. For English nouns, the context can be certain objects that
normally follow it. Let's take the noun school, for instance. If it used in the
sense of the building and institution of learning, then it does not have a
context. You go to school, period.
Nouns with one prepositional phrase
If you attend a school of dentistry, your entry school has a very distinct
complement: an object introduced by the preposition of . As context for your
word, you will choose one prepositional phrase. You are then asked to
identify the preposition. In this case, it is of . You may then proceed to define
the semantic characteristics of the prepositional object.
a school of dentistry is very different from a school of fish or a school of thought. It
is very similar, however, to a school of law and a school of engineering. You
could list all the types of schools in this sense, but it is easier to choose a
semantic type that covers dentistry, law, engineering, and similar types: they
are disciplines. Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition,
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User's Guide
you will see two choices: Is (the default) and Is Not . The latter means that
the object can be of any semantic type except the one that you choose to
exclude (human beings , for instance).
A different type of school is the school of herrings.
It is a group and can be used for any type of fish that swim in groups. Thus,
you could mark the object of the preposition as belonging to the semantic
type fish . It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
Other examples of nouns usually complemented by one prepositional phrase
are:
an increase in temperature/price; an emphasis on accuracy; a benchmark for;
a bend in; a bestowal on; and so on.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. For a school of
thought, for instance, you can specify not a semantic class of words but one
particular word, thought. You can have more than one specific word, if that is
necessary. Often there is no need to specify anything for the object of the
preposition. This is true if the word is usually complemented by a particular
prepositional phrase and the same meaning and transfer apply regardless of
the object.
Nouns with infinitive complements
Some nouns are followed by an infinitive clause, without which they are
incomplete:
the drive/ambition/challenge to do things right;
In these cases, you choose the infinitive clause as context. You don't need to
specify anything further.
Nouns with a prepositional phrase and an infinitive complement
Some nouns are complemented by both a prepositional phrase and an
infinitive:
the appeal to the authorities to return the child; the agreement among the rich nations
to forgive the debt; the advice of the consultant to improve the imagery;
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase,
infinitive complement).
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
57
Nouns with two prepositional phrases
Some nouns take two prepositional phrases as complements:
the trip from Berlin to London; the bickering with the siblings about the food; the
cooperation with colleagues on this project;
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with three prepositional phrases
Some nouns take three prepositional phrases as complements:
the shipment of product from China to the U.S.; the decrease in temperature from 100
degrees to 80 degrees;
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with a that-clause complement
Some nouns take a that-clause complement:
the announcement that the road was closed; the acknowledgement that they made a
mistake; the amazement that something like that could happen; the understanding
that they return the boy;
Nothing needs to be specified for a that-clause.
Note: Not to be confused with a relative clause like, The announcement that was
made yesterday.
Nouns with a prepositional phrase and a that-clause complement
Some nouns are complemented by a prepositional phrase and a that-clause
complement:
the arrangement with the manufacturer that the bug be fixed; the charge against the
company that it used predatory means;
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with an interrogative complement
Some nouns take a question complement:
The uncertainty whether he will arrive on time.
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User's Guide
Nothing needs to be specified for a question complement.
Nouns with an identifier complement
Some nouns take an identifier: Chapter 6; Lake Erie; Column One; Aisle 32;
Apartment A-6; Team Jamaica.
Nothing needs to be specified for an identifier.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional or
obligatory. For the above-mentioned examples school of fish and school of
dentistry, you want to indicate that the prepositional phrase is obligatory. In
the other cases, it is optional.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
French
Simple French Noun
If your target is French, you will see that the system will set its gender from a
list of French nouns. You can change the gender if the default that is chosen is
incorrect. You can also specify special inflections, such as singular only, plural
only, and singular and plural with the same form. You can also mark words
specifically as uninflected, for instance, Afrikander.
Target phrase
If your transfer is a phrase, you might have to take additional steps. You
should mark the head word of the phrase with an equal sign. However, if the
head is the first word and the user does not specify a head word, UDM will
mark it automatically. For example, arc-en-ciel or =arc-en-ciel , but couvre- =lit .
If the phrase consists of an adjective and a noun, you will have to mark the
adjective because it has its own inflection. For example, configuration matérielle
should be written as configuration :matérielle . The colon indicates that a part of
the phrase that is not its head has its own inflection to enable the generation
of the plural, configurations matérielles. If a part of a phrase does not inflect,
you should not mark it. For example, banc de sable may not need to be marked
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
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because de sable does not inflect and the head of the phrase is the first word in
the phrase.
German
Simple German noun
If your target is German, you will see that the system will try to match your
entry against a list of German nouns as you type it in. If a word is found, the
system will display the inflection pattern and the grammatical gender for this
found word. If this inflection pattern is not correct, then choose one of the
inflection patterns listed below the suggested word. If the word is not
feminine, change the gender in the Gender box. Again, you will see a list of
nouns with that gender. They represent the possible inflection patterns for the
gender that you have chosen. Be certain to highlight the choice that applies to
your word.
You can specify a different combining form for all cases mentioned (see
below).
In general, the form of your target entry is identical to nominative singular.
There are some exceptions. One are those nouns that inflect like adjectives:
Beamter, Vorsitzende, Ganzes, and so on. You will see that they are found in the
list of German nouns in a form with the inflection chopped off: Beamt,
Vorsitzend, Ganz. That's how you should enter them so that they receive the
correct inflection in translation. The other exceptions are words that exist only
in the plural or that you want to occur only in the plural as translation of
particular English source words.
Combining forms
The combining form of a noun is the form a noun takes when it is not the last
element in a compound. The noun Kind, for example, can be Kindes- as in
Kindesmutter; it can be Kinder- as in Kindergarten; or it can be Kinds- as in
Kindskopf. For any entry, you have to decide on one and only one combining
form. Your options are the following:
No change (for example Kontakt: Kontakt- as in Kontaktperson)
added /s/ (for example Frühling: Frühlings- as in Frühlingsrolle)
plural (for example Kind: Kinder- as in Kindergarten)
Other (here, you type the whole word in its combining form. for example
Nagen: Nage- as in Nagetier.)
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German compound nouns
If your entry is a compound, such as Menschenmenge or Kofferraum, the whole
compound may be found in the list of German words provided. If that is not
the case, you can indicate the head of the compound by typing a + sign right
before it, for example Menschen+menge or Koffer+raum . Then you proceed
like you do for a simple noun.
Target phrase
If your transfer is a phrase, you might have to take additional steps. If the
phrase consists of an adjective and a noun, you will have to mark the
adjective because it has its own inflection. For example das Weiße Haus should
be written as :Weißes =Haus . The colon indicates that a part of the phrase
that is not its head has its own inflection.
For example: des Weißen Hauses; das Weiße Haus. The equal sign indicates the
head of the whole phrase. This is not necessary as long as the head is the last
part of the target phrase. Unless otherwise indicated, the system assumes that
the last word in the phrase is the head. If it is not, like in Index der
Verbraucherpreise, you absolutely have to mark the head of the phrase: =Index
der Verbraucherpreise. The head of a phrase is the part that inflects according
to number and case, for example des Indexes der Verbraucherpreise. The part der
Verbraucherpreise never changes. It may be good practice to mark the head
always, even if it is not necessary.
Some more examples:
gemeinsame Zugriffspfadbenutzung
---> :gemeinsame Zugriffspfad+benutzung
APPN lokaler Standorteintrag
---> APPN :lokaler Standort+eintrag
Advanced 36er Maschine
---> Advanced 36er Maschine
Zugriff auf Hilfsoptionen
---> =Zugriff auf Hilfsoptionen
automatisches Erstellen von Problemeinträgen
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---> :autmatisches =Erstellen von Problemeinträgen
Italian
Simple Italian Noun
If your target is Italian, you will see that the system will set its gender from a
list of Italian nouns. You can change the gender if the default that is chosen is
incorrect. You can also specify special inflections, such as singular only, plural
only, and singular and plural with the same form. You can also mark words
specifically as uninflected, for instance, ampere.
Target phrase
If your transfer is a phrase, you might have to take additional steps. If the
phrase consists of an adjective and a noun, you will have to mark the
adjective because it has its own inflection. For example agenda elettronica
should be written as agenda :elettronico or =agenda :elettronico. The colon
indicates that a part of the phrase that is not its head has its own inflection.
For example: l'agenda elettronica; le agende elettroniche. Mark the head word of
the phrase if it is not the first word. The equal sign indicates the head of the
whole phrase. For example, :tacito =consenso. If a part of a phrase does not
inflect, you don't need to mark it. For example, aumento di capitale does not
need to be marked because di capitale does not inflect and the head of the
phrase is the first word in the phrase.
Brazilian Portuguese
Simple Brazilian Portuguese Noun
If your target is Portuguese, you will see that the system will set its gender
from a list of Portuguese nouns. You can change the gender if the default that
is chosen is incorrect. You can also specify special inflections, such as singular
only, plural only, and singular and plural with the same form. You can also
mark words specifically as uninflected, for instance, fenix.
Target phrase
If your transfer is a phrase, you might have to take additional steps. If the
phrase consists of an adjective and a noun, you will have to mark the
adjective because it has its own inflection. For example agenda eletrônica
should be written as agenda :eletrônico or =agenda :eletrônico. The colon
indicates that a part of the phrase that is not its head has its own inflection.
For example: a agenda eletrônica; as agendas eletrônicas. Mark the head word of
the phrase if it is not the first word. The equal sign indicates the head of the
whole phrase. For example, :tácito =aliança. If a part of a phrase does not
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User's Guide
inflect, you don't need to mark it. For example, letra de câmbio does not need
to be marked because de câmbio does not inflect and the head of the phrase is
the first word in the phrase.
Spanish
Simple Spanish noun
If your target is Spanish, you will see that the system will try to match your
entry against a list of Spanish nouns as you type it in. If a word is found, the
system will display the inflection pattern and the grammatical gender for this
found word. If this inflection pattern is not correct, then choose one of the
inflection patterns listed below the suggested word. If the word is not
masculine, change the gender in the Gender box. Again, you will see a list of
nouns with that gender. They represent the possible inflection patterns for the
gender that you have chosen. Be certain to highlight the choice that applies to
your word.
Target phrase
If your transfer is a phrase, you might have to take additional steps. If the
phrase consists of an adjective and a noun, you will have to mark the
adjective because it has its own inflection. For example carta blanca should be
written as carta :blanca or =carta :blanca. The colon indicates that a part of the
phrase that is not its head has its own inflection. For example: la carta blanca;
las cartas blancas. Unless otherwise indicated, the system assumes that the first
word in the phrase is the head. Mark the head word of the phrase if it is not
the first word. The equal sign indicates the head of the whole phrase. For
example, :décimo =aniversario. If a part of a phrase does not inflect, UDM will
mark the first word the head. For example: número de cuenta; de cuenta does
not inflect and the head of the phrase is the first word in the phrase.
Linguistic notes for English verb entries
Linguistic notes for English verb entries
Source definitions
Type in your verb. The UDM will search the lexicon and present you with one
or more senses if it finds it. In this case, you can change the transfer(s) for a
particular subject area or context(s). If the verb is not yet in the lexicon, you
can define the context(s) and give transfers.
Restricted Verbs
There are some verbs in the lexicon that the user cannot change. These are be,
can, dare, do, have, may, must, need, ought, shall, will.
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Found Verbs
Imagine the verb as the core of an utterance. It can stand by itself, like in
Quit!, and it can be surrounded by satellites, like in Quit smoking!, I quit
smoking; These satellites -- such as subject, object, prepositional phrase,
infinitive, particle, indirect object -- can be viewed as place holders, or
containers, which can be filled with different words and phrases. We call all
these place holders slots. There may be constraints on these slots. It may be
that they have to be filled, then they are obligatory. If they don't have to be
filled, they are optional. A subject in English is empty if in an imperative
sentence, like in Be careful! Then there may be constraints on them as to what
they can be filled with. The subject slot can be filled with nouns or with
infinitive clauses, like in To err is human.
Let's assume you type the verb abbreviate. The verb is probably already in the
lexicon. This is indicated by "(Found)" in the "Add Entry" panel. The UDM
will return the following definition: the verb requires an obligatory object and
can govern an optional prepositional phrase with to. You now have several
possibilities. You can define a particular object and/or subject, which
motivates a special transfer of the verb. You can also give a special transfer
depending on whether the optional prepositional phrase is present or not. See
the following examples:
"AVG" abbreviates "Augustus", the Roman term for "emperor". (subject =
expression and object = expression)
Internet Protocol Version 6 is abbreviated to IPv6. (overt subject = underlying
object = expression, to-prepositional phrase present)
The English troops abbreviated the word Genever. (subject = human, object =
language unit) Rawlinson abbreviated the belted plaid, cutting off all material above
the waist. (subject = human, object = clothes) Author decries abbreviated
childhood.(object = time period)
A more complex example is the following. Let's assume the verb you have
chosen is cable. The verb is in the lexicon, so the UDM will return the
following:
Optional object -- which can be a noun or a finite clause -- and an optional
indirect object. Here are some examples:
Churchill had cabled [him] [that he will give no approval]. (indirect object + object
= that-clause) Romboidal cabled [him] [the birth of a daughter]. (indirect object +
object = noun) I cabled him from Paris. (indirect object only) He had cabled that
they are safe. (object = that-clause only) Israel's Washington embassy cabled a
warning. (object = noun only)
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Here is an even more complex example. Let's assume the verb you have
chosen is acknowledge. The verb is in the lexicon, and the UDM will return
something like the following:
First sense: optional object -- which can be a noun, an ing-form, a finite
clause, or an interrogative clause -- and an optional indirect object -- which is
a prepositional phrase with to.
Second sense: obligatory object (noun only) and an obligatory complement -which can be a passive participle, an infinitive clause, a noun, a prepositional
phrase with as, or an adjective.
Here are some examples of the first sense: NASA chief acknowledges management
mistakes (object = noun only) He acknowledged [to a Senate panel] [that NASA is
understaffed]. (indirect object with to and object = that-clause) He acknowledged
that NASA had some severe problems. (object = that-clause only)
Here are some examples of the second sense: There is no room for a justice of an
intermediate Court of Appeal to vote contrary to what he acknowledges to be the law.
(object = noun and complement = infinitive clause) President Bush chooses to
stand helpless before a problem that even he acknowledges to exist. (object = noun
and complement = infinitive clause) The United Church of Christ acknowledges
[as its sole head] [Jesus Christ]. (complement = prepositional phrase with as and
object = noun)
Incidentally, the order the context elements is irrelevant. The prepositional
phrase can precede the object, or the object can precede the prepositional
phrase. It is not relevant to how you define or fill the slots.
Subject Area
If the English entry is an ordinary verb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. For instance, link-edit means something special in the domain
of computer software. abrade in the context of civil engineering has a fixed
meaning. bite has a special meaning and transfer in technical domains.
The default in the translation engine is general usage, i.e. no specified subject
area. You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
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disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on.
The subject area computers is subdivided into AS400, ASPs, data processing,
electronic commerce, hardware, and so on. Industry is subdivided into
agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting, construction, engineering,
forestry, and so on. The category technical comprises several subcategories,
but is also useful for general technical meanings of otherwise ordinary verbs,
such as bite.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples:
In an English source text, to table a motion means the opposite in American
English of what it means in British English.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation, for example German feuern instead of entlassen for English fire.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Semantic types for verbs are quite different from noun or
adjective semantic types. They are more syntactically oriented.
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Here is the list:
The first batch has to do with what kind of agents, objects and goals the verb
can have or has preferably, or does NOT have. These types are crucial in
order to distinguish subject and object in cases of ambiguity.
Preferred agent:
human as agent (for example speak) animal as agent (for example bark, heehaw)
animate agent (for example abandon) self-acting agent (for example create)
Preferred goal:
human as goal (for example answer, apprise)
Preferred object:
human as object (for example accost)
Excluded agent:
not human as agent (for example flicker)
Excluded object:
not human as object (for example harvest)
The second batch has to do with aspect. Aspect is important for the
translation, with respect to tense and progressive, for instance:
imperfective (a process or an action that is not complete) (for example exist,
experience) iterative/frequentative (for example buzz, flutter, filibuster, jitter)
intensive (for example sob, gambol, guffaw, hurtle, overeat) diminutive (for
example prattle. This is not a productive phenomenon in English) and
perfective (a complete process or action) (for example die, burst, elope)
inchoative (beginning) (for example flare up, break out) egressive (end, result)
(for example fade, tear off, ruin) mutative (change of state, transition) (for
example mature, break, rust) causative (factitive: effecting a new state) (for
example break, bend, open)
Finally, there is a mixed bag of various types:
consumption (for example eat) psychological feature (for example suffer)
feeling (for example emote, fume) verb of saying (for example say, announce,
allege, reply) intransitive (for example amble) state/status (for example appear.
With respect to location, these verbs do not normally allow direction or
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change) stative (for example err, famish, flounder, fuzz) Even though assigning a
semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional, there are good reasons to
do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific type, choose a higher
semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand in direct relation to
semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific your semantic type
identification, the better the translation will be.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context.
Part of what follows only applies to verbs that are not already in the lexicon.
There is a crucial basic distinction between the contexts for verbs and the
contexts for all other parts of speech. The difference is that the other parts of
speech have only one type of slot, possibly more than one of that type,
whereas verbs have several types: subject, direct object, indirect object,
complements.
These types can each have several options (just like the contexts for nouns
and adjectives).
Subject: noun or noun phrase, interrogative clause, infinitive clause, finite
clause Object: noun or noun phrase, interrogative clause, infinitive clause,
finite clause, prepositional phrase, gerund (ing-clause or phrase) Indirect
object: noun or noun phrase, prepositional phrase with certain prepositions
(mainly to, for, with). Complement: particle, prepositional phrase, adjective,
noun or noun phrase, infinitive clause, finite clause, for-to clause, gerund,
locative adverb.
Since there are so many possible context slots for verbs, we will here list them
separately, and not in combination.
Note: When we talk about "object", we refer to the "patient" or "theme" of the
verb. Thus, in a passive sentence, where there is no syntactic object, the
"object" in the UDM sense is still there. It appears as the subject of the passive
sentence. The original subject, or "agent", may or may not appear in the form
of a by-phrase. for example
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The messages aren't being acknowledged by either the scheduler or the dialers. (the
messages = underlying object in the UDM sense. either the scheduler or the
dialers = underlying subject in the UDM sense.) corresponds more or less in
meaning to the active sentence:
Neither the scheduler nor the dialers acknowledge the messages.
Sometimes the object is slightly hidden, like in a relative clause: President Bush
chooses to stand helpless before a problem that even he acknowledges to exist. The
direct object here is the relative pronoun that, which stands for problem. It
inherits the semantic features of its antecedent problem.
Subject
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your subject option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words.
Examples: eat If the subject slot is filled with a word of the type animal, such
as cat or dog, you want fressen as your transfer in German.
dribble If the subject slot is filled with a word of the type human young, such
as baby or infant, you want baver as your transfer in French. If the subject slot
is filled with a word of the type liquid, such as water, you want s'écouler as
your transfer in French.
The empty pronoun "it" Example: It turned out that entering the field was easy.
Interrogative clause Example: How successfully we can launch the missiles depends
on the weather. What he saw surprised him.
Infinitive clause Example: To see those refugees in the camps upsets me.
Finite clause Example: That no woman had ever considered dating him surprised
him.
Gerund (ing-clause or phrase) Example: Topping creates hazards. Scrolling the
document alarmed me greatly.
Direct object
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your object option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words.
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Example:
abandon If the object slot is filled with a word of the type animal or young
human beings, you want aussetzen as your transfer in German. If the object
slot is filled with a word of the type human, you want verlassen as your
transfer. With other types of nouns, you want aufgeben. If the object slot is
filled with a word of the type action, you want se désister as your transfer in
French. If the object slot is filled with a verb, you want renoncer as your
transfer. With other types of objects, you want abandonner.
Interrogative clause Example: Astronomiers know what to look for.
Infinitive clause Example: She wanted to scream.
Finite clause Example: He knew (that) there was no way out.
Prepositional phrase Example: The participants have agreed on the basics of a
framework treaty.
Gerund Example: They may have contemplated writing letters.
Adjective Example: Woman played dead to avoid being shot.
Passive participle Example:
The empty pronoun "it" Example: He hates it that people die of hunger in a world
where food is plentiful.
Indirect object
Noun or noun phrase
Example:
A local college gives people something to sing about. It imbues slide shows with style.
Prepositional phrase Example: Have you hinted to your spouse or SO what you
would like for Christmas? They would have clarified the contradiction for the reader.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
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v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question (including a case
for German target). For instance, the preposition at in He smiles at the child
will be in French à as in Il sourit à l'enfant.
v do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation. For instance, the
preposition to in He gives it to the child will be the default French preposition
à as in Il le donne à l'enfant.
v indicate a deletion of the preposition. That means that an English
prepositional phrase would be rendered as an object in translation. For
instance, the preposition to in He listens to the child will be deleted in French
as in Il écoute l'enfant.
Complement
Particle Example: For the next hour, we all inched along, through flooded crossroads.
She held her ground on the goal line and cleared the ball away. His father always
tucked him in at night.
Prepositional phrase Example: He invited her to the youth meeting of the church.
Interrogative clause Example: Could someone remind me what this error means,
please?
Infinitive clause Example: Remind me to tell you about the night I looked into the
heart of an artichoke.
Defining a possible infinitive clause that is part of the pattern of a verb is very
important in order to get a good translation. The reason is that in English, an
adverbial infinitive clause looks just like a complement infinitive clause, but
other languages distinguish between the two.
Consider the difference in meaning between the following:
Remind me to do it. Hurry to do it. = Hurry in order to do it.
Finite clause Example: He trusted her that she wouldn't show it to anyone.
Prepositional phrase Example: They bought Carnegie's steel company and
combined it with their holdings in the Federal Steel Company.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
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v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question (including a case
for German target). For instance, the preposition with in He combines it with
his existing property will be translated by the French preposition à rather
than the default avec as in Il le combine à sa propriété existante.
v do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation. For instance, the
preposition from in He absconded from there will be translated by the default
French preposition de as in Il s'est enfui de là.
v indicate a deletion of the preposition. That means that an English
prepositional phrase would be rendered as an object in translation. For
instance, the preposition by in He abides by the rules of the game will be
deleted in French as in Il respecte les règles du jeu.
Adjective Example: Cut him loose. Earthquake counts remained stable.
Passive participle Example: Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and
afflicted.
Gerund Example: I remember him throwing stones at her window. It is hard to
foresee it ever being used as a propellant fuel.
Semantic type of noun/prepositional object or specific noun(s)
For all cases where a noun is involved, you may proceed to define the
semantic characteristics of the prepositional object, if that is necessary for the
definition of the verb. Regarding the semantic type, you will see two choices:
Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of any
semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings, for
instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to cover
as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the noun/object of the preposition. This is true if the verb is
usually complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same
meaning and transfer apply regardless of its object.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all slots, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the default
setting) or obligatory, that is you have to decide whether the slots have to be
filled or not to result in grammatical English. For the verb abandon, you want
to indicate that the object is obligatory. A sentence such as *She abandoned is
incorrect English. In many cases, the slots are optional. You can say She
smokes, so an object for the verb smoke is not obligatory. The verb accord, on
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the other hand, has two obligatory slots: obligatory object and obligatory
indirect object: Their geographical location accorded them direct access to the
caravans. As opposed to ungrammatical *Their geographical location accorded
direct access to the caravans or ungrammatical *Their geographical location accorded
them.
Procedure
If you want to specify more than one transfer or context for your verb, one
way to save time is to click on "Copy" and then "Modify" at the bottom of the
main panel where your first verb entry is highlighted. That way, your entries
are there and all you need to do is modify what needs to be changed.
If you define a particular transfer for your verb that pertains to a particular
context, don't forget to add a more general transfer for all other cases.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. There are two things that determine your transfer:
(a) status of verb slots (filled, not filled = empty, do not care whether filled or
not) and possibly semantic type(s) and/or specific words that fill the
mentioned slots. The subject slot is a special case insofar as it is never
optional or not filled in English. These issues have been discussed above; and
(b) whether the verb in question functions as an attributive present or passive
participle. (This pertains to German target only.)
The way the UDM works for verbs, you enter a verb with its potential
contexts, then specify one or more of them for one particular translation. You
repeat this for different parts of the contexts and different transfers. It is
useful to also add a more general translation for no further specification of the
identical general context.
French
Reflexive verbs
Under the heading "Optional", you can mark "Reflexive" if your transfer is a
reflexive verb. The English verb
abstain
will be translated by the French reflexive verb
s'abstenir
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. Note that you type only
abstenir
. The reflexive will be added automatically when you check "Reflexive".
Additional word(s)
There are many cases where the French verb needs a word or phrase to
complement it.
Examples:
Adjective The English verb acidify will be translated by the French verb devenir
and the adjective acide.
Participle The English verb attitudinize will be translated by the French verb
devenir and the participle affectéi>.
Other The English verb address with a human object like in He addresses the
children will be translated by the French verb addresser. The object will become
an indirect object and, to complete the verb sense, the additional words la
parole will be added as in Il adresse la parole aux enfants. Another example is the
English verb attest with a human subject like in The judge attests will be
translated by the French verb prêter. The additional words serment will be
added as in Le juge prête serment.
How to enter the above types of additional words or phrases Just type the
words in the input box to the right of "Type of Additional Word(s)".
German
Slot fillers
Here you mark the status of the verb slots and the semantic type(s) and/or
specific words that fill the slots.
Attributive Function
Examples of attributive present participle: working people working machines
boarding education breaking news
Examples of attributive passive participle: delayed flight displeased people
disputed territory heightened security concerns
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If the transfer of an attributive participle is a German adjective, mark it as
such.
Note: if you enter a transfer for the participle form of a new verb, don't forget
to enter a transfer for all other cases.
Forms and particuliarities of the target
German verbs can have separable prefixes, inseparable prefixes, or words or
phrases that behave like separable prefixes, or a combination of all three, with
not more than one of each.
Examples:
aussetzen (= separable prefix aus. Test: Sie setzte es aus) absetzen, aufsetzen,
einsetzen verlassen (= inseparable prefix ver. Test: * Sie ließ es ver) beschleunigen,
entlassen, in Betrieb nehmen (= phrase that behaves like a separable prefix. Test:
Sie setzte es in Betrieb) weh tun, bekannt machen, Sommerschlaf halten anerkennen
(= separable prefix and inseparable prefix. Test: Sie erkannten es an) zum Vorteil
gereichen (=phrase that behaves like a separable prefix and inseparable prefix.
Test: Es gereichte ihnen zum Vorteil)
Mark separable prefixes with a colon, for example aus : setzen or aus:setzen;
Mark inseparable prefixes with a plus-sign, for example ver + lassen or
ver+lassen.
Reflexive verbs
Under the heading "Optional", you can mark "Reflexive" if your transfer is a
reflexive verb. You also have to indicate whether the reflexive pronoun is
accusative or dative.
sich abmelden = ab : melden + accusative reflexive. Test: Ich meldete mich ab.
Not: * Ich meldete mir ab. sich bewusst werden = bewusst :+ werden + dative
reflexive. Test: Ich wurde mir bewusst, dass es ernst wird. Not: * Ich wurde mich
bewusst, dass es ernst wird.
Additional word(s)
There are many cases where the German verb needs a word or phrase to
complement it, which do not behave like prefixes.
Examples:
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Adjective verantwortlich sein, knusprig braten, stubenrein machen, überdrüssig sein,
and so on.
Adverb simultan ausstrahlen, in die Höhe schießen, gierig aufschnappen, and so on.
While there is often no clear distinction between a word or a phrase that
behaves like a prefix and one that does not, like in the above-mentioned
examples, there are other cases, where the distinction is crucial. The first one
is the empty pronoun "es".
Empty pronoun "es"
es versuchen, es ertragen, es mit gleicher Münze heimzahlen, es erreichen,
and so on.
The others are nouns or noun phrases that function as objects. These need
additional information on gender, inflection, and number as well as on
absence or presence and type of determiner because they function as subjects
in passive sentences. That is, they are not fixed strings but true noun phrases
that occupy different positions in the sentence and show different cases and
forms. This information is also necessary for negated sentences.
Noun singular, no article
Examples: Beihilfe leisten; Trübsal blasen. Sie leisteten ihm Beihilfe; Sie leisteten ihm
keine Beihilfe; Beihilfe wurde rasch geleistet. Sie bliesen Trübsal.
Noun singular, indefinite article
Examples: eine Fehlgeburt haben; einen ungünstigen Zeitpunkt wählen. Sie hatte
eine Fehlgeburt; Sie hatte keine Fehlgeburt. Sie wählten einen ungünstigen Zeitpunkt.
Noun singular, definite article
Examples: den Preis erhöhen; den Vorsitz führen. Sie erhöhten den Preis; Der Preis
wurde erhöht. Ich führte den Vorsitz bei der Sitzung; Den Vorsitz führte ich; Der
Vorsitz wurde von mir geführt.
Noun plural, no article
Examples: Namen fallen lassen; Stellen abbauen. Sie ließen Namen fallen; Sie ließen
keine Namen fallen. Sie bauten Stellen ab.
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Noun plural, definite article
Examples: die Zügel anziehen; die Steuern senken. Sie zogen die Zügel an. Sie
senkten die Steuern.
How to enter the above types of additional words or phrases
Choose the appropriate option under "Type of additional word(s)" and then
indicate the correct gender and morphological pattern for that noun.
Exceptions
You are also asked to indicate whether the German perfect tenses should be
formed with the auxiliary "sein". "haben" is the default, "sein" the exception.
Er hat gearbeitet but Er ist gewandert.
German distinguishes between two passives: normally with werden, sometimes
with sein. The default is the werden-passive. If you want the sein-passive for
certain contexts, you can indicate that under "Exceptions", "Takes
'sein'-Passive" in the target panel. For instance, She is convinced., should be
translated as Sie ist überzeugt and not Sie wird überzeugt.
Often, an English passive construction is translated as an active in German,
for example English It is based on a novel by Jane Austen to German Es basiert
auf einem Roman von Jane Austen. You can indicate this passive-to-active
conversion under "Exceptions", "Change to Active Voice".
Finally, if the head of your target verb is one of a small list of verbs that vary
for strong or weak conjugation, such as wenden (wandte vs wendete), senden,
schaffen (schuf vs schaffte), gleiten, hängen (hing vs hängte), schrecken, löschen,
schallen, quellen, bewegen, wiegen, schleifen, (be)gleiten, (be)reiten, weben, hauen,
saugen, To indicate that a verb has weak conjugation, select "Weak
Conjugation" under "Exceptions." Otherwise, the default selection is strong
conjugation.
Italian
Reflexive verbs
Under the heading "Optional", you can mark "Reflexive" if your transfer is a
reflexive or pronominal verb. In this case the translation will be the active
form. For instance, if you want to translate the English verb
beef
into the Italian
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77
lamentarsi
, you should type
lamentare
as translation and set the reflexive field on.
Additional word(s)
There are many cases where the Italian verb needs a word or phrase to
complement it.
Adjective
This option tells the system that the adjective has to agree with the subject.
Examples:
essere pieno, avanzare impettito, venire visualizzato
, and so on.
Complement Adjective
This option tells the system that the adjective has to agree with the direct
object complement.
dichiarare illegale, rendere resistente
, and so on.
Other
mettere da parte, avere fiducia, togliere gli olmeggi, spendere molto
, and so on.
Brazilian Portuguese
Reflexive verbs
Under the heading "Optional", you can mark "Reflexive" if your transfer is a
reflexive or pronominal verb. In this case the translation will be the active
form. For instance, if you want to translate the English verb
manifest
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into the Portuguese
manifestarse
, you should type
manifestar
as translation and set the reflexive field on.
Additional word(s)
There are many cases where the Portuguese verb needs a word or phrase to
complement it.
Examples:
Adjective
This option tells the system that the adjective has to agree with the subject.
estar presente, ser produtivo, ser visualizado
, and so on.
Complement Adjective
This option tells the system that the adjective has to agree with the direct
object complement.
tornar impermeável, obter emprestado
, and so on.
Other
reduzir à barra, colidir violentamente, assumir o cargo, dar golpes
, and so on.
Spanish
Forms and particularities of the target
Spanish verbs can present these forms in the target:
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Reflexive verbs
Under the heading "Optional", you can mark "Reflexive" if your transfer is a
reflexive verb. caerse, abstenerse, adaptarse, and so on.
But note that in the space for the verb transfer you enter the verb without the
reflexive clitic. Under "Required", you have to either approve or choose an
alternative for the option "Select a Word that conjugates like your Word". for
example for caerse, you would enter caer, approve that it conjugates like
"Presente indicativo: caigo, cae, and so on.". Then you click on "Optional" and
choose "Reflexive".
Additional word(s)
There are many cases where the Spanish verb needs a word or phrase to
complement it. Some examples are: the English verb astound can be translated
in Spanish as dejar asombrado. You enter the verb dejar, and, under
"Required", you have to either approve or choose and alternative for the
option "Select a Word that conjugates like your Word". Then you click on
"Type of additional word(s)" and choose the appropriate option, in this case
adjective. The alternatives are: adjective, participle or other. Others are nouns
or noun phrases that function as objects.
Linguistic notes for English adjective entries
Linguistic notes for English adjective entries
Source definitions
Enter your English word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign
(=) immediately before the head, no space. e.g.
=close together; =face down
If you want to enter more than one adjective, you can go to "Preferences",
"Functionality", and check "Prefill from previous entry". This will prefill the
part of speech in the "Add Entry" panel.
Special Features
Exceptions
v Never Functions as Attribute
v Never Functions as Predicate
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v Never Functions as Complement
Adjectives can function as attributes or as predicates or adjective
complements. In the sentence The violent criminal was sedated, the adjective
violent is used attributively. In the sentence The criminals were violent, the same
adjective is used predicatively. In They became quite violent, it is used as an
adjective complement.
Some adjectives can never occur in an attributive function, and this should be
indicated in the lexicon. For instance, the adjective about can be used as a
predicate in He was about to commit murder, but never as an attribute: *He was
an about criminal ("Never functios as attribute") nor as an adjective
complement: *He became about to commit murder ("Never functions as
complement"). A similar situation applies to the adjective bent. He was bent on
getting out of jail is acceptable English, as is He became bent on getting out of jail,
but * The bent criminal is not ("Never functions as attribute"). The sentence The
man bent on getting out of jail does not indicate that bent can be used as an
attribute since we're dealing with an abbreviated relative clause: The man who
was bent on getting out of jail, i.e. with another predicate function of the
adjective. A last example is the adjective chicken, which is also "Never
functions as attribute". He is chicken is good colloquial English, but chicken soup
with barley does not refer to a timid soup.
An adjective that can only function as an attribute, i.e. never as a predicate, is
the adjective bottom ("Never functions as predicate"). i.e. You can never say
*The house is very bottom. An adjective that can never function as an adjective
compelement is the adjective back ("Never functions as complement"). i.e. you
can never say *The house became quite back.
You find these functional restrictions under "Optional", "Exceptions".
Position
Most English adjectives precede the noun that they modify, for instance, He is
an excellent physicist and not *He is a physicist excellent. There are exceptions,
however, mostly phrasal adjectives, e.g. close by, under consideration.
The house close by is expensive. The plan under consideration will solve the problem.
Such adjectives should be marked as postmodifier, i.e. following the head they
modify.
Comparison
v Compares using more/most
v Compares like fast/faster/fastest
v Does not compare
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v Comparative
v Superlative
Most English adjective can form a comparative and a superlative, for instance:
She is intelligent.
She is more intelligent than her sister.
She is the most intelligent of all the girls in the class.
If this is the case, nothing needs to be indicated because this is the assumed
default ("Compares using more/most").
Some adjectives, however, cannot have these forms, and should be marked as
such ("Does not compare"). e.g. for everybody to see.
In some cases, you may enter the comparative or superlative forms
themselves, if necessary. They should then be marked as such (comparative or
superlative). e.g. = better off ("Comparative") or least ("Superlative").
Most English adjectives form their comparative and superlative with a
preceding more and most respectively. There are some exceptions, those
adjectives that form their comparative and superlative with an er and est at
the end of the word, e.g. fast, faster, fastest. They should be marked with
("Compares like fast/faster/fastest").
Subject area
If the English entry is an ordinary adjective and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. For instance, bold means something special in the domain of
typography. bright in the context of computer hardware or software has a
fixed meaning. built-in has a special meaning and transfer in computer
software.
Relevance for translation French:
key-controlled would be translated as activé par touche in the computer domain,
but as contrôlé par clé in all other contexts.
German:
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key-controlled would be translated as mit Tasten bedienbar in the computer
domain, but as durch Schlüssel gesichert in all other contexts.
The default in the translation engine is general usage, i.e. no specified subject
area. You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, etc.
The subject area computers is subdivided into AS400, ASPs, data processing,
electronic commerce, hardware, etc. Industry is subdivided into agriculture,
airlines, automotive, broadcasting, construction, engineering, forestry, etc. The
category technical comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for
general technical meanings of otherwise ordinary adjectives, such as
breakaway.
You will find all the lower categories if you click on the blue cross to the right
of the top-level categories.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
etc. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples:
In an English source text, the word mad means angry in American English, but
something like insane in British English.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation. Relevance for translation: French salut instead of Aurevoir and
German Tschüss instead of Auf Wiedersehen for English good bye.
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Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Adjectives are classified the same way as nouns (see
Linguistic Notes for noun entries). Albanian, for instance, refers to people and
to a language; Buddhist refers to a religion or philosophy; Eastern is a
direction; abashed refers to a feeling; abhorrent denotes a negative value,
advantageous a positive value; auburn is a color; etc.
You will find a list of semantic types. If you scroll all the way down, you will
find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier to choose the semantic
type that applies to your word. If it is a human being, you will find it under
physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human -> human individual
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
adjectives are defined.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
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User's Guide
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context. It is important that you think of all the
possibilities that the adjective offers. List every context option that can ever
occur with your adjective. The more complete your definition is, the better the
syntactic analysis. Think of the options as the potential of an adjective. Go
beyond the example that you may have in front of you. The MT engine works
best with fewer, but more complex, adjective definitions. Several limited
definitions for the same adjective makes the analysis harder and may result in
bad translation. Sometimes it helps if you could look the adjective up in a
dictionary. The examples and descriptions that the dictionary gives can be
helpful guides. One way to save time is to click on "Copy" and then "Modify"
at the bottom of the main panel where your adjective entry is highlighted.
That way, your entries are there and all you need to do is modify what needs
to be changed. If you wish to deselect an attribute that comes from a
pull-down list, be sure to scroll to the top of the list and select the blank entry.
Nouns that the Adjective modifies
For an adjective, the most important context is the noun that it modifies.
Sample sentences would be the following:
The result is lamentable.
I regretted the lamentable result.
In both sentences, the adjective lamentable modifies the noun result. You can
indicate the semantic type of the noun that is modified by the adjective or a
particular noun under "Modified Noun/Semantic Type" under "Optional". If
you choose this option, be sure you copy the same adjective and give a
translation that is valid for all other cases. Under "Required", you can specify
whether your adjective transfer is valid only if it functions as a predicate (like
in The result is lamentable. ) or only if it functions as an attribute (like in I
regretted the lamentable result. or whether the transfer is valid for both
functions.
Relevance for translation:
French The adjective adopted, for instance, would be translated as adoptif if it
modifies a noun which is marked human, else as d'adoption. The adjective
advisory, for instance, would be translated as de conseil if it modifies the noun
service, else as consultatif. The adjective aglow would be translated as rayonnant
if the noun it modifies has the semantic type human or the noun is the word
face, else as illuminé.
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German: The adjective knock-down, for instance, would be translated as
umwerfend if it modifies a deverbal noun, as gesenkt if it modifies the noun
price, else as zerlegbar. The adjective lamentable would be translated as
erbärmlich if it modifies the noun result, as jämmerlich if it modifies the noun
decision, otherwise as beklagenswert.
Adjectives with one prepositional phrase
The adjective better off can govern a prepositional phrase with with, e.g. They
will be better off with a less expensive house.
Other examples of adjectives usually complemented by one prepositional
phrase are:
bound for, brief about, capable of, captive to, due to.
Relevance for translation:
French If the context slot is filled, like in adamant about, for instance, you may
want the translation catégorique (sur), else inflexible. Or if the context slot is
filled for additional to, you may want to translate it as en supplément (à) instead
of as supplémentaire if the slot of the prepositional phrase is not filled.
German If the context slot is filled, like in bound for, for instance, you may
want the translation unterwegs (nach). Or if the context slot is filled for careful
with, you may want to translate it as vorsichtig (mit) instead of as sorgfältig if
the slot of the prepositional phrase is not filled.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is necessary for the definition of the adjective.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
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User's Guide
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question (including a case
for German target).For French target, for instance, the preposition to in
agreeable to is envers as in aimable envers.
v do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation;
v indicate a deletion of the preposition with a particular case (genitive or
dative for German target). For French target, for instance, the preposition to
in akin to is à as in apparenté à.
Adjectives with infinitive complements
Some adjectives are followed by an infinitive clause, without which they are
incomplete:
She was about to make a terrible mistake.
He was due to arrive in the morning.
It was easy to complete the task.
Relevance for translation:
French: You probably want to translate eligible + Infinitive as admissible,
whereas you may want the translation éligible if the context of eligible is the
prepositional phrase with the preposition as as opposed to eligible translated
as droit à when the preposition is for.
German: You probably want to translate due + Infinitive as verpflichtet,
whereas you may want the translation verursacht if the context of due is a
prepositional phrase as opposed to due to translated as verursacht durch and
due by itself translated as fällig if no context is present.
In these cases, you choose the infinitive clause as context. You don't need to
specify anything further.
Adjectives with a that-clause complement
Some adjectives take a that-clause complement:
She was certain that she would get the job.
It is likely that she will win a second term.
Nothing needs to be specified for a that-clause.
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Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. For the above-mentioned example She was about
to make a terrible mistake, you want to indicate that the infinitive is obligatory.
In most other cases, the complements are optional. If you want a particular
transfer, however, if the context slot has indeed to be filled for your transfer to
be appropriate, mark it as obligatory.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase. There are two
things that determine your transfer: (a) status of the adjective context (filled;
not filled = empty; do not care whether filled or not) and possibly semantic
type(s) and/or specific words that fill the mentioned context(s) and (b)
whether the adjective in question functions only as an attribute or predicate
on the one hand or whether the translation you are about to give is
independent of the function.
French
Inflection
The default position for French target adjectives is Postmodifier. The English
adjective
east
may be translated as
d' est
in French. It comes after the noun that it modifies and it does not inflect.
Indicate "Does not inflect" under "Inflection".
Function
The adjective
good-tempered
would be translated as
bon caractère
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User's Guide
if in predicative function, but as the prepositional phrase
de bon caractère
if it is in attributive function. Indicate again that it does not inflect.
German
Slot fillers
Here you mark the status of the adjective context and the semantic type(s)
and/or specific words that fill the context options.
Function
Normally, the translation will be the same whether the adjective is in
attributive or in predicative or complement function. In some cases, however,
particularly in German target, there is a crucial difference in translation if the
adjective occurs in attributive function:
easy-to-learn would be leicht zu lernend in attributive function, but leicht zu
lernen as predicate or complement.
abrasive will be translated as the combining form Scheuer- if in attributive
function, as ätzend if in predicative function. You will find these definitions
under "Optional" and then "Functions".
Otherwise, there is nothing special to be noted about German target adjectives
except the following two issues: position of the adjective and inflection.
Position
The English attributive adjective early-morning is translated as früh morgens in
German. While the English adjective precedes the noun it modifies, it comes
after the noun in German. This difference needs to be indicated in the UDM
by changing the position from premodifier to postmodifier.
The English attributive adjective on order is translated as in Auftrag gegeben in
German. While the English adjective follows the noun it modifies, it comes
before the noun in German. This difference needs to be indicated in the UDM
by changing the position from Default to Premodifier. The default for the
German target is the same position as the English source. If they are both
postmodifiers, you don't need to do anything. If they are both premodifiers,
you don't need to do anything. But if they differ in their position with respect
to the noun they modify, you need to indicate this under "Position".
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Inflection
The English adjective eastbound may be translated as in Richtung Osten in
German. It comes after the noun that it modifies and it does not inflect.
The adjective educational would be translated as bildend if in predicative or
complement function, but as a combining form if it is in attributive function.
In that case, you should give the transfer with a hyphen and indicate that it
does not inflect, e.g. Bildungs-.
Some German adjectives have a strong way of forming the comparative and
superlative (arm, stark, hoch, etc.)
Mark those as "irregular".
Exceptions
Phrasal adjectives cannot form comparatives and superlatives with the "er"
and "est" endings. Mark those for an "eher/am ehesten" comparison.
Italian
Function
Normally, the translation will be the same whether the adjective is in
attributive or in predicative or complement position. In some cases, however,
there is a crucial difference in translation if the adjective occurs in attributive
function: effective would be effettivo in attributive function, but efficace as
predicate or complement. Otherwise, there is nothing special to be noted
about Italian target adjectives except the following two issues: position of the
adjective and inflection.
Position
While the English attributive adjective usually precedes the noun it modifies,
it comes after the noun in Italian and the system follows this simple rule. If
you want the Italian adjective to precede the noun you should indicate it in
the UDM by changing the position from postmodifier to premodifier. The
English adjective
additional
modifying
information
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User's Guide
, for instance, is translated into
ulteriore
which should precede the noun to obtain
ulteriori informazioni
.
Inflection
Since the UDM automatically recognizes the inflection class of Italian
adectives, it is necessary to make a selection only if the adjective cannot
inflect. For instance, the English adjective off duty is translated into the
uninflected Italian adjective fuori servizio.
Brazilian Portuguese
Function
Normally, the translation will be the same whether the adjective is in
attributive or in predicative or complement position. In some cases, however,
there is a crucial difference in translation if the adjective occurs in attributive
function: effective would be efetivo in attributive function, but eficiente as
predicate or complement. Otherwise, there is nothing special to be noted
about Portuguese target adjectives except the following two issues: position of
the adjective and inflection.
Position
While the English attributive adjective usually precedes the noun it modifies,
it comes after the noun in Portuguese and the system follows this simple rule.
If you want the Portuguese adjective to precede the noun you should indicate
it in the UDM by changing the position from postmodifier to premodifier. The
English adjective
dear
for instance is translated into
caro
that should precede the noun.
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Inflection
Since the UDM automatically recognizes the inflection class of Portuguese
adjectives, it is necessary to make a selection only if the adjective cannot
inflect. For instance, the English adjective
deluxe
is translated into the uninflected Portuguese adjective
de luxo
.
Spanish
Function
Normally, the translation will be the same whether the adjective is in
attributive or in predicative or complement function. If there is a difference in
translation, you can choose that under "Optional" under "Function". There you
can specify whether your transfer is good for attributive or predicative
function only. If your transfer applies only to one particular noun or to nouns
of one or more semantic types, you should specify that under "Modified
Noun/Semantic Type".
Inflection
In the target panel, you can select a word that inflects like your Spanish
translation. You will find that the program highlights the best choice, which
you can always replace with a different one by clicking on it.
Feature exceptions
For Spanish transfer of adjectives, we need to take into account if the adjective
gets translated with the verb
ser
or
estar
, default being with
ser
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. Adjectives like
vivo
or
enfadado
go with
estar
:
El perro todavía está vivo
or
No me gusta que estés enfadado
. The user needs to mark those as "Used with estar".
Position
It is hardly true to say that the adjective 'normally' follows the noun in
Spanish. Adjective position is much more flexible than in English: they usually
go in front of or after the noun with no difference in meaning. Some
adjectives like
presunto, supuesto, último
go in front of the noun, and this needs to be marked as "Premodifier" in the
UDM.
Linguistic notes for English adverb entries
Source definitions
Enter your English word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign
(=) immediately before the head, no space. for example =close together; =once in
a while
If you want to enter more than one adjective, you can go to "Preferences",
"Functionality", and check "Prefill from previous entry". This will prefill the
part of speech in the "Add Entry" panel.
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Special features
Comparison
v Compares using more/most
v Compares like fast/faster/fastest
v Does not compare
v Comparative
v Superlative
Many English adverbs can form a comparative and a superlative, for instance:
He dresses fashionably. He dresses more fashionably than his brothers. He
dresses the most fashionably of all the boys in the class.
If this is the case, nothing needs to be indicated because this is the assumed
default ("Compares using more/most"). Some adverbs, however, cannot have
these forms, and should be marked as such ("Does not compare"). for example
once in a while. In some cases, you may enter the comparative or superlative
forms themselves, if necessary. They should then be marked as such
(comparative or superlative). for example faster ("Comparative") or least
("Superlative").
Most English adverbs form their comparative and superlative with a
preceding more and most respectively. There are some exceptions, those
adverbs that form their comparative and superlative with an er and est at the
end of the word, for example early, earlier, earliest. They should be marked
with "Compares like fast/faster/fastest".
Restrictions
There is a list of English adverbs in the base lexicon that cannot be changed
by the user because of their complex syntactic coding and their significance to
the MT engine. These adverbs are the following:
a little bit, a lot, a while, about the same, above, abroad, ago, all, all around,
all but, almost, alone, also, altogether, any, apiece, around, as, at least, at most,
back, before, behind, below, best, better, between, both, by no means, clear,
close to, due, e.g., each, eg, eg., either, enough, even, exactly, far, fine, for
example, from abroad, great, hello, hi, home, how, how much, however, i.e.,
ie., independently, just, just as, late, later, many thanks, maybe, more or less,
much, much less, much more, near, needs, neither, never, no, nor, not, not
only, not quite, not very, only, precisely, quite, relatively, right, selfishly, so,
still, subject, thanks, thanks a lot, thanks very much, that, the same, thereat,
therefor, therefore, therefrom, therein, thereof, thereof, thereon, thereto,
thereunder, thereunto, thereupon, therewith, tho, though, together, too,
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underneath, very, virtually, well, when, whence, whenever, where,
whereabout, whereby, wherein, whereof, whereon, wherethrough, whereto,
whereunto, whereupon, wherever, wherever else, wherewith, wherewithal,
whither, whithersoever, why, yes.
Subject area
If the English entry is an ordinary adverb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. For instance, incorrectly may be translated into German as
unsachgemäß in all technical domains, but as falsch in all other areas. It may be
translated into French as incorrectement in all technical domains, but as
faussement in all other areas. Redundantly may be translated into German as
redundant in the sciences, but as überflüssig in other domains. Passively may be
translated as French au passive in linguistics, but as passivement in other
domains.
The default in the translation engine is general usage, i.e. no specified subject
area. You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, industry, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, etc. The subject area computers is subdivided into AS400,
ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, etc. Industry is
subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting, construction,
engineering, forestry, etc. The category technical comprises several
subcategories, but is also useful for general technical meanings of otherwise
ordinary adverbs.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
etc. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples: In an English source
text, the word sappily is synonymous with stupid in American English, but
juicy in British English.
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Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation. For instance, French Salut instead of Aurevoir and German Tschüss
instead of Auf Wiedersehen for English good bye.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. You can choose from the following semantic types for your
adverb.
v sentential (for example on the contrary)
v period of time (for example all day)
v point in time (for example all of a sudden)
v time in general (for example at one time or another)
v past (for example in recent weeks)
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v
v
v
v
v
v
v
future (for example in the future)
imperfective (for example never)
direction (for example anti-clockwise, East)
place (for example at home)
expression (for example bye)
frequency (for example every now and again)
negation (for example not already)
v
v
v
v
v
positive value (for example beautifully)
negative value (for example sickeningly)
psychological condition or feeling (for example dejectedly)
criminal (for example feloniously)
quantity (for example a lot)
v manner (for example a cappella)
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context. The way the UDM is set up, it assumes one
adjective entry per transfer. This is different from the way the UDM is set up
for verbs. Think of each entry as an instance of the usage of that adjective, not
the potential of the source word. If you define a particular transfer for your
adverb that pertains to a particular context, don't forget to add a more general
transfer for all other cases. One way to save time is to click on "Copy" and
then "Modify" at the bottom of the main panel where your first adverb entry
is highlighted. That way, your entries are there and all you need to do is
modify what needs to be changed.
Adverbs with one prepositional phrase
The adverb back can govern a prepositional phrase with to, for example They
wanted to go back to Texas. Other examples of adverbs usually complemented
by one prepositional phrase are: due to, east of, independently of, thanks to.
Relevance for translation:
French: If the context slot is filled, like in east of, for instance, you may want
the translation à l 'est (de), otherwise vers l' est.
German: If the context slot is filled, like in east of, for instance, you may want
the translation östlich (von), otherwise nach Osten.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is necessary for the definition of the adjective.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word.
You can have more than one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is
no need to specify anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the
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word is usually complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the
same meaning and transfer apply regardless of the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question (including a case
for German target). A French example: Something went wrong with the gears
where the translation for the adverb wrong (with) is Quelque chose va mal
dans l'embrayage.
v do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation. Like in east of
where of gets the default translation de in à l'est (de).
v indicate a deletion of the preposition (and genitive or dative for German
target)
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. For the above-mentioned example due to, you
want to indicate that the prepositional phrase is obligatory. In most other
cases, the complement is optional. If you want a particular transfer, however,
if the context slot is indeed filled, you mark it as obligatory.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
French
Type in your target adverb and add an = sign if it is a phrase whose last
word is not the head.
German
Type in your target adverb and add an = sign if it is a phrase whose last
word is not the head.
Inflection
Some adverbs, particularly phrasal adverbs cannot form comparatives and
superlatives with the "er" and "est" endings. Mark those for an "eher/am
ehesten" comparison (under "Exceptions").
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German target adverbs need information with regard to their alternate
adjectival form.This is for the translation of English gerund phrases or clauses.
Let's assume your English sentence is I have information on carefully reading a
book. You want to translate it as Ich habe Informationen über das sorgfältige Lesen
des Buches. The MT engine needs to change the English adverb carefully into a
German adjective because its head, the English gerund, is transformed into a
nominalized infinitive or some other form of deverbal noun in the German
translation.
Therefore you need to indicate whether the transfer you give for the English
adverb is valid for a German adjective under the heading "Alternative
Adjective". In most cases this applies since German adjectives and adverbs are
mostly identical, like in the above case of sorgfältig. This is the default ("Target
can be Adjective"). Sometimes, though, the adjective will look different from
the adverb, like in English as needed to German adverb nach Bedarf and
German adjective notwendig. You will need to type in the adjective form
("Specific Adjective"). In a few cases, there is no (easy) way of translating the
English adverb into a German adjective, like in English as before to German
wie zuvor. In that case you indicate that there is no adjective form ("No
Adjectival Form"). The engine then will not transform the gerund into a noun.
Italian
Position
Since the position of adverbs in the sentence varies greatly between English
and Italian, you should indicate where in the sentence the Italian target
adverb tends to occur. Mostly, there is no predetermined or preferred position
for an adverb. It will be positioned somewhere in the sentence, depending on
what other constituents occur in the sentence. This case is the default in the
UDM: "Anywhere." There are, however, some adverbs that have a preferred
position. They can occur always/mostly before the verb ("Move before verb")
or after the verb ("Move after verb"). Example:
This somehow answers your question --> Questo risponde in qualche modo alla tua
domanda.
Brazilian Portuguese
Position
Since the position of adverbs in the sentence varies greatly between English
and Portuguese, you should indicate where in the sentence the Portuguese
target adverb tends to occur. Mostly, there is no predetermined or preferred
position for an adverb. It will be positioned somewhere in the sentence,
depending on what other constituents occur in the sentence. This case is the
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default in the UDM: "Anywhere." There are, however, some adverbs that have
a preferred position. They can occur always/mostly before the verb ("Move
before verb") or after the verb ("Move after verb").
Spanish
One aspect to be considered in the transfer is if the adverb gets translated
with the verb ser or estar, default being with ser.
Adverbs like cerca or dentro or adverbial phrases like en el interior go with
estar: La casa está muy cerca or Estuvimos en el interior de la cueva.
The user needs to mark those as "Used with estar". The other aspect to be
considered is if the adverb is negative. A negative sentence in Spanish
requires that all the constituents of the sentence be negativized: the English
sentence "He says nothing" gets translated in Spanish as "Él no dice nada". We
can't say "*Él dice nada". These types of adverbs need to be marked as
"Negative adverb"
Translating Brazilian Portuguese to English
Summary of linguistic notes for translating from Brazilian Portuguese
Read the linguistic notes for translating the following figures of speech from
Brazilian Portuguese:
v Nouns
v Verbs
v Adjectives
v Adverbs
Linguistic notes for Brazilian Portuguese noun entries
Source definition
Enter your Portuguese word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not th e first word, please set an equal
sign (=) immediately before the head, no space. If the entry contains an
adjective that should agree with the head, please set a colon sign immediately
before the adjective.
Conselho; conselho de administração; ciber =espaço; acordo :sindical
Your entry is either a common noun or a proper noun (or proper name).
Examples of common nouns:
paz; fruto do mar
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Common nouns are defined as Noun in UDM.
Examples of proper nouns:
Julio; Luxemburgo; Cabo de Boa Esperança
Proper nouns are defined as Proper Noun in UDM.
Entries are case sensitive!
You must type entry names in the same case that you typed the entry
definition. If you define an entry in mixed case, the next time you type the
entry name, you must match the case mixing exactly. For this reason, it is
easiest to use all lower case letters to define an entry. If you define an entry in
all lower case, it can be matched with any case. See the examples listed below.
class b share -> always matches regardless of input case class B share -> only
matches input with the exact same case Class B share -> only matches input
with the exact same case Class B Share -> only matches input with the exact
same case
Gender and Inflection
In Portuguese nouns are marked for gender masculine or feminine. homem;
livro; tristeza. Most nouns can occur in the singular and the plural, and their
inflection is regular. You need to specify exceptions. If your word is singular
only, necessário/ontem, plural only, afazeres/brócolis, or singular and plural with
the same form, choramingas/diz-que-diz-que/flox mark it as such. In this case
you also need to specify the gender.
Subject area
If the Portuguese entry is an ordinary noun or noun phrase and has a special
meaning and/or transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you
can add that subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a
subject area is optional. Words can mean different things depending on the
subject area that they are used in. For instance, a funda is "a small stick in the
shape of a Y used by children to throw stones". It is translated into English as
catapult. In medical discourse, however, a funda is "device worn to reduce a
hernia by pressure." If a particular document deals with medicine, you can
choose the subject area medicine, in which case the word will be translated
into English as truss. Carregamento is translated as loading unless you choose
'computers' as subject area , in which case it will be translated as upload. The
default in the translation engine is general usage,(no specific subject area is
used). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
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You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines .
Under economy , you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor ; under
business , you will find advertising, human resources, management,
marketing, public relations, etc. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware , etc. Industry is
subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting, construction,
engineering, forestry , etc. The category technical comprises several
subcategories, but is also useful for general technical meanings.
Regional variety
The regional variety category includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
etc. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning, or
class of entities, that your word belongs to. A cat, for instance, is a feline; a
screwdriver is a tool; an IBM Aptiva is a PC; a keyboard can be described as
part of a computer; a mood may be seen as a psychological condition or state;
murder is a crime; a teacher is a professional; a boy is a human individual;
etc.
You will find a list of semantic types. If you scroll all the way down, you will
find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier to choose the semantic
type that applies to your word. If it is a human being, you will find it under
physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human -> human individual
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Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
An example of the impact on translation:
If the verb causticar is correctly defined in the dictionary, its translation will be
annoy in English if the complement is human. Otherwise, the translation will
be cauterize.
Thus, you want to make sure that the nouns that could be the object of the
word causticar are correctly coded as human individuals in order to make full
use of the distinction coded in the dictionary.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
nouns are defined.
Following are some examples of words with their semantic types in UDM,
including their place in the semantic hierarchy. If you are not sure which
semantic type to assign to a noun, it is better to assign one of the broad
categories than not assign anything.
futebol = sports(-> activity -> action)
hibisco = plant (-> animate being -> natural object -> physical object)
dado = information (-> aggregation -> group)
cabe a = bodypart (-> part)
palacete = building (-> place)
lealdade = feeling (-> psychological feature)
Context
Nouns without context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
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machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic context. For Portuguese nouns, the context can be certain objects that
normally follow it and link it to other words.
Nouns with one prepositional phrase
For instance, let's take the noun encontro. It can be used in the sense of
encontro de futebol or encontro dos dois amigos and you may want to change the
related translation ( match or meating)
As context for your word, you will choose one prepositional phrase. You are
then asked to identify the preposition. In this case, it is de You may then
proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the prepositional object.
You could list all the types encontro in this sense, but it is easier to choose a
semantic type that covers sports, such as futebol, pugilismo, etc: Regarding the
semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two choices: Is (the
default) and Is Not . The latter means that the object can be of any semantic
type except the one that you choose to exclude (for instance, human beings ).
Other examples of nouns usually complemented by one prepositional phrase
are:
contato com; reação a
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition you may do so.
You may also specify that the preposition be deleted upon translation. Note
that this option used for the source preposition "de" will trigger an nnoun
transformation. For example, if you specify a deletion of the preposition "de"
for di󀷰metro+de, the translation of di󀷰metro de rotação will be rotation axis.
In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question;
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v
v
do not specify anything, (assume default translation;)
indicate a deletion of the preposition.
Nouns with two prepositional phrases
Some nouns take two prepositional phrases as complements:
A prova de culpabilidade contra Julio
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with three prepositional phrases
Some nouns take three prepositional phrases as complements:
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with a that-clause complement
Some nouns take a that-clause complement:
a notícia que Lucas tivesse vencido; o medo de não conseguir;
Nothing needs to be specified for a that-clause.
Note: Not to be confused with a relative clause like, o pacote que chegou ontem
Nouns with a prepositional phrase and a that-clause complement
Some nouns are complemented by a prepositional phrase and a that-clause
complement:
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with a question complement
Some nouns take a question complement:
a incerteza de quando partir; a pergunta se tivesse comido
Nothing needs to be specified for a question complement.
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Nouns with an identifier complement
Some nouns take an identifier:
Ilustração 6-b; Página 32.
Nothing needs to be specified for an identifier.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory.
Target Definition
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
English
Simple English Noun
In English, only very few nouns are associated with a gender. John; Mary;
Michael Johnson; Magic Johnson; Mia Hamm; U.S.S. Constitution. Inflection for
English nouns is also simple. Most nouns can occur in the singular and the
plural, and their inflection is regular. You need to specify exceptions. If your
word is singular only, checkers/data/media, plural only, earnings/clothes/pants, or
singular and plural with the same form, fish/aircraft/gallows/deer mark it as
such.
Target phrase
If the target translation consists of more than one word and the head of the
phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign (=) immediately before
the head, no space. for example
= shop of imported goods
Deletion of Definite Articles
Some English nouns do not normally occur with definite articles, eg.,
nature/science/society. Therefore, the article that a word might have in
Portuguese, has to be deleted in the English translation.
a coletividade é responsàvel de manter a paz Society is responsible for keeping peace.
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If you are defining such a word, you must check the Delete Definite Article
box.
Linguistic notes for Brazilian Portuguese verb entries
Linguistic notes for Brazilian Portuguese verb entries
Source definitions
Type in your verb.
If it is a reflexive verb, do not mention the reflexive here. You will be
prompted for it in the context. Under "Direct object" for the accusative
reflexive, under "Indirect object" for the dative reflexive. For instance, you
should type suicidar and not suicidar-se.
The UDM will search the lexicon and present you with one or more senses if
it finds it. In this case, you can change any transfers for particular subject
areas or contexts. If the verb is not yet in the lexicon, you can define the
context or contexts and give transfers.
Verbs
Restricted Verbs
There are some verbs in the lexicon that the user cannot change. These are ser,
estar, ter, haver, poder, saber, dever.
Verb definitions
Imagine the verb as the core of an utterance. It can stand by itself, like in
Vamos!, and it can be surrounded by satellites, like in Maria sempre vai fazer
compras, João lê muitos livros. These satellites -- such as subject, object,
prepositional phrase, infinitive, particle, indirect object -- can be viewed as
place holders, or containers, which can be filled with different words and
phrases. We call all these place holders slots. There may be constraints on
these slots. It may be that they have to be filled, then they are obligatory. If
they don't have to be filled, they are optional. A subject in Portuguese is often
understood and the related slot will be empty like in A mo o meu namorado.
Then there may be constraints on them as to what they can be filled with.
Let's assume you type the verb achar. The verb is already in the lexicon. The
UDM will return the following definition: the verb can govern an object
which can be a noun or a that clause and a complement, which can be an
adjective or a noun. You now have several possibilities. You can define a
particular object and/or subject, which motivates a special transfer of the
verb. You can also give a special transfer depending on whether the
complement is present or not. See the following examples:
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Maria acha João muito inteligente. (subject = human, object = human,
complement = adjective) Acho que não seja bom responder (object = that clause)
Another example is the verb namorar. The verb is in the lexicon, so the UDM
will return the following:
First sense: Obligatory reflexive object and an optional complement, which
can be a prepositional phrase with de. Namourei-me da Maria. Second sense:
Optional object which can be only a noun. Namoro o João há muitos anos.
Incidentally, the order of the context elements is irrelevant. The prepositional
phrase can precede the object, or the object can precede the prepositional
phrase. It is not relevant to how you define or fill the slots. If one or more
senses of a verb is returned from the lexicon, you cannot change anything in
the definition. You can, however, add as many transfers as you like, based on
descriptions of how the verb slots are filled.
New verbs
If your verb is not found in the lexicons, you will be presented with several
menus and panels with regard to required and optional information.
Subject Area
The default in the translation engine is general usage, i.e. no specified subject
area. You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
If the Portuguese entry is an ordinary verb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. For instance, compilar means something special in the
domain of computers and would be translated as compile.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, etc. The subject area computers is subdivided into AS400,
ASPs, data processing, electronic co mmerce, hardware, etc. Industry is
subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting, construction,
engineering, forestry, etc. The category technical comprises several
subcategories, but is also useful for general technical meanings of otherwise
ordinary verbs..
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Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
etc. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Semantic types for verbs are quite different from noun or
adjective semantic types. They are more syntactically oriented.
Here is the list:
The first batch has to do with what kind of agents, objects and goals the verb
can have or has preferably, or does NOT have. These types are crucial in
order to distinguish subject and object in cases of ambiguity. :
human as agent (for example casar, suicidar) human as goal (for example
aconselhar, telefonar) human as object (for example afligir, casar) not human as
agent (for example frutificar, supurar) not human as object (for example afiar,
podar)
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
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in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context.
Part of what follows only applies to verbs that are not already in the lexicon.
There is a crucial basic distinction between the contexts for verbs and the
contexts for all other parts of speech. The difference is that the other parts of
speech have only one type of slot, possibly more than one of that type,
whereas verbs have several types: subject, direct object, indirect object,
complements.
These types can each have several options (just like the contexts for nouns
and adjectives):
v Subject: noun or noun phrase, interrogative clause, infinitive clause, finite
clause.
v Object: noun or noun phrase, accusative reflexive pronoun, prepositional
phrase with "a, interrogative clause, infinitive clause, finite clause.
v Indirect object: dative pronoun, reflexive pronoun, prepositional phrase
with "a" or "para" prepositions.
v Complement: prepositional phrase, adjective, noun or noun phrase,
infinitive clause, finite clause, locative adverb, gerund, passive participle,
interrogative phrase.
It is important that you think of all the possibilities that a verb offers. List
every slot and every slot option that can ever occur with your verb. The more
complete your definition is, the better the syntactic analysis. Think of the
options as the potential of a verb. Go beyond the example that you may have
in front of you. The MT engine works best with fewer, but more complex,
verb definitions. Several limited definitions for the same verb makes the
analysis harder and may result in bad translation. Sometimes it helps if you
could look the verb up in a dictionary. The examples and descriptions that the
dictionary gives can be helpful guides.
Since there are so many possible context slots for verbs, we will here list them
separately, and not in combination.
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Note: When we talk about "object", we refer to the "patient" or "theme" of the
verb. Thus, in a passive sentence, where there is no syntactic object, the
"object" in the UDM sense is still there. It appears as the subject of the passive
sentence. Sometimes the object is slightly hidden, like in a relative clause.
Subject
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your subject option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words for target
purposes.
Example: crescer If the subject slot is filled with a word of the type human
being, you want grow up your transfer in English, else grow.
Finite clause/that-clause
Examples: Parece-me bom que Maria venha jantar connosco esta noite.
Interrogative clause
Examples:
Cómo se llamaba siempre fue un secreto para mí.
Infinitive clause
Examples:
Pasear descalzo por la playa resulta muy relajante.
Direct object
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your object option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words for target
purposes.
Example: acomodar If the object slot is filled with a word of the type human
being, you want accomodate, else arrange.
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Accusative reflexive pronoun
This option should only be selected in order to specify a specific verb sense (
namorar-se de, suicidar-se) and not to cover a reflexive usage of a noun object (
lavar-se).
Interrogative clause with preposition
Example:
Escribe sobre cómo lograron sobrevivir.
Interrogative clause
Examples: Perguntei-lhe quais preferes. Queria perguntar-te onde comprar os bilhetes
do espectáculo.
Infinitive clause
Example: Prefiro ler romances.
Preposition+Infinitive clause
Example: O menino principia a falar.
Finite clause+that clause
Example: Penso que seja verdade. Penso seja verdade.
That-clause
Examples: Ela lamenta que nós não podemos ir. Nós lamentamos não poder ir. Ele
lamenta não podermos ir.
Indirect object
Dative pronoun
Examples:
Ofereci-lhe um livro.
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Dative Reflexive pronoun
Examples:
Lembro-me que João era muito simpatico.
Prepositional phrase
Examples:
Ofereci um livro a João.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
v do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation
v indicate a deletion of the preposition
Complement
Prepositional phrase
Examples:
João partiu para Bahia segunda-feira.
Consegui liberar-me da caspa.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
v do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation
v indicate a deletion of the preposition
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Preposition + infinitive
Example:
Aconselhei a Maria a cortar o cabelo.
Infinitive clause
Vejo muitas raparigas dançar sozinhas.
Finite clause
Examples:
Surpreendo-me que o João seja desaparecido da cidade.
Adjective
Examples:
Acho o João inteligente. Acho o João muito engordado.
Noun
Examples:
Acho João uma pessoa inteligente.
Semantic type of noun/prepositional object or specific nouns
For all cases where a noun is involved, you may proceed to define the
semantic characteristics of the prepositional object, if that is necessary for the
definition of the verb. Regarding the semantic type, you will see two choices:
Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of any
semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings, for
instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to cover
as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the noun/object of the preposition. This is true if the verb is
usually complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same
meaning and transfer apply regardless of its object.
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Optional and obligatory context specification
For all slots, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the default
setting) or obligatory, that is, you have to decide whether the slots have to be
filled or not in order to result in grammatical Portuguese. For the verb
suicidar-se, you want to indicate that the reflexive object is obligatory. In
many cases, the slots are optional. You can say Estou a ler um livro, but also
Estou a ler so an object for the verb ler is not obligatory. For verbs that
already exist in the lexicon, you will be able to identify obligatory and
optional slots. You cannot change the "optional/obligatory" status of the slots.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification.
English
Forms and particularities of the target
Additional word(s)
There are many cases where the English verb needs a word or phrase to
complement it. You can add these under "Additional Word(s)".
Examples: cut back, clear away, come up, set in, calm down, etc. be closely related,
be absent, etc. remain valid, become visible, grow dark, make nervous, get worked up,
keep secret, etc. be the victim, be part, be a member, be fun, etc. search thoroughly,
book fully, work hard, vary widely, etc. search thoroughly, book fully, work hard, vary
widely, etc. work like slaves, come to an agreement, come to terms, take into account,
etc. take care, pay attention, hold office, have a good time, etc. make work, make
realize, declare to be, lead to believe, cease to exist, etc.
Exceptions
It is often necessary to delete the Portuguese reflexive complements that in
English are not translated (suicidar-se->suicide). In these cases, select the
exception Delete.
Exceptions
Sometimes it could be useful to change the Portuguese reflexive complement
into an English possessive pronoun ( esganiçar-se->strain one's voice). In these
cases, select the exception Change iobj/rflx to possessive .
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Linguistic notes for Brazilian Portuguese adjective entries
Linguistic notes for Brazilian Portuguese adjective entries
Source definitions
Enter your Portuguese word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign
(=) immediately before the head, no space, for example:
=
dedutível dos impostos
Special Features
Morphosyntactic Features ("Exceptions")
Never functions as attribute, never functions as predicate or never
functions as complement
Adjectives can function as attributes or as predicates or complements of
linking verbs. In the sentence Minha mãe é uma mulher inteligente the adjective
inteligente is used attributively. In the sentence Esta mulher é muito inteligente,
the same adjective is used predicatively. In the sentence Acho esta mulher muito
inteligente, the same adjective is used as a complement. Some adjectives can
never occur in a predicative function, and this should be indicated in the
lexicon.
Inflection
Some Portuguese adjectives do not inflect, and this fact has to be marked in
the UDM. Adjectives that do not inflect are usually multi-expressions such as
em aumento, as well as pró-forma, terra-a-terra, etc. Most adjectives that are
borrowed from English do not inflect, such as fuzzy, hardware, and so on.
Subject area
If the Portuguese entry is an ordinary adjective and has a special meaning
and/or transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add
that subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject
area is optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject
area that they are used in. For instance, agudo is translated as sharp in the
music domain instead of acute.
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The default in the translation engine is general usage, i.e. no specified subject
area. You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, etc. The subject area computers is subdivided into AS400,
ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, and so on. Industry is
subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting, construction,
engineering, forestry, and so on.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of Spanish and English that are
all equally standard: U.S. American English, British, Irish, South African,
Australian, and Canadian English, South American Spanish, etc. The default
in the translation engine for English is U.S. American, the default for Spanish
is Spanish from Spain. Alternatively, you can choose British English or South
American Spanish.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation, for example: chachi is only an adjective in colloquial language.
Mark it as such in order to avoid unnecessary ambiguities. chachi will
translate as great only in the context of chat.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
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Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Adjectives are classified the same way as nouns (see
Linguistic Notes for noun entries). albanés and albano, for instance, refers to a
language and to people:
budista
refers to a religion or philosophy;
odioso
refers to a feeling;
amarillento
is a color; etc.
ou will find a list of semantic types in the UDM interface. If you scroll all the
way down, you will find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier to
choose the semantic type that applies to your word. If it is a human being,
you will find it under
physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human -> human individual
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
adjectives are defined.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
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syntactic and semantic context. It is important that you think of all the
possibilities that the adjective offers. List every context option that can ever
occur with your adjective. The more complete your definition is, the better the
syntactic analysis. Think of the options as the potential of an adjective. Go
beyond the example that you may have in front of you. The MT engine works
best with fewer, but more complex, adjective definitions. Several limited
definitions for the same adjective makes the analysis harder and may result in
bad translation. Sometimes it helps if you could look the adjective up in a
dictionary. The examples and descriptions that the dictionary gives can be
helpful guides.
Nouns that the Adjective modifies
For an adjective, the most important context is the noun that it modifies.
Sample sentences would be the following:
Este verão li um bom livro. Este livro parece-me muito bom. In both sentences, the
adjective bom modifies the noun livro.
The adjective direito, for instance, would be translated as correct if it modifies
a noun of the semantic type human individual, as right otherwise.
Adjectives with one prepositional phrase
The adjective anterior can govern a prepositional phrase with a, for example:
Referiro-me aos feitos anteriores ao desastre.
Other examples of adjectives usually complemented by one prepositional
phrase are:
conforme com, passível de, superior a.
If the context slot is filled for
originário de
you may want to translate it as
coming from
instead of
as
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119
originary
if the slot of the prepositional phrase is not filled.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is necessary for the definition of the adjective.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible. You can be even more specific with respect to the
context. You can specify not only a semantic class of words but one particular
word. You can have more than one specific word, if that is necessary. Often
there is no need to specify anything for the object of the preposition. This is
true if the word is usually complemented by a particular prepositional phrase
and the same meaning and transfer apply regardless of the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question (including a case
for English target)
v Do not specify anything (assume default translation)
Adjectives with an infinitive complement
Some adjectives are followed by an infinitive clause introduced by a prep.
Capaz de receber 2000 pessoas.
In these case you choose the infinitive clause as context specifying the related
preposition.
Adjectives with a that-clause complement
Some adjectives take a that-clause complement Estamos certos que chegarão
amanhã à noite.
You don't need to specify anything further.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory.
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Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
There are two things that determine your transfer:
1. Status of the adjective context (filled; not filled = empty; do not care
whether filled or not) and possibly semantic type(s) and/or specific words
that fill the mentioned context(s)
2. Whether the adjective in question functions only as an attribute or
predicate on the one hand or whether the translation you are about to give
is independent of the function.
and
English
Transfer depending on whether the adjective occurs only in attributive or only
in predicative/complement function.
Normally, the translation will be the same whether the adjective is in
attributive or in predicative or complement position, as seen above.
Apart from that, there is nothing special to be noted about English target
adjectives except the position.
Position
While the Portuguese attributive adjective usually follows the noun it
modifies, it usually precedes the noun in English and the system follows this
simple rule. If you want the English adjective follows the noun you should
indicate it in the UDM by changing the position from premodifier to
postmodifier. This is useful especially when you translate a Portuguese
adjective into an English prepositional group.
Linguistic notes for Brazilian Portuguese adverb entries
Linguistic notes for Brazilian Portuguese adverb entries
Source definitions
Enter your Portuguese word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign
(=) immediately before the head, no space, for example:
a =custo fixo, =dentro em breve.
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Special Features
Restrictions
There is a list of Portuguese adverbs in the base lexicon that cannot be
changed by the user because of their complex syntactic coding and their
significance to the MT engine. These adverbs are the following:
antes, assim, como, depois, já, mais, menos, muito, nem, não, onde, pouco, próprio,
quando, quanto, também, tampouco, tanto, tão, via.
Subject area
If the Portuguese entry is an ordinary adverb and has a special meaning
and/or transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add
that subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject
area is optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject
area that they are used in. The default in the translation engine is general
usage, i.e. no specified subject area. You have access to a comprehensive list of
subject areas to choose from when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, industry, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, etc. The subject area computers is subdivided into AS400,
ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, etc. Industry is
subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting, construction,
engineering, forestry, etc. The category technical comprises several
subcategories, but is also useful for general technical meanings of otherwise
ordinary adverbs.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of Spanish and English that are
all equally standard: U.S. American English, British, Irish, South African,
Australian, and Canadian English, South American Spanish, etc. The default
in the translation engine for English is U.S. American, the default for Spanish
is Spanish from Spain. Alternatively, you can choose British English or South
American Spanish.
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Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context.
Adverbs with one prepositional phrase
The adverb junto can govern a prepositional phrase with the preposition de or
a, for example: Junto de mim.
Other examples of adjectives usually complemented by one prepositional
phrase are: invés de, até a, debaixo de.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is nessary for the definition of the adjective.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
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any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
v do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. In most cases, the complement of an adverb is
optional.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
English
Since the position of adverbs in the sentence varies between Portuguese and
English, you should indicate where in the sentence the English target adverb
tends to occur. Mostly, there is no predetermined or preferred position for an
adverb. It will be positioned somewhere in the sentence, depending on what
other constituents occur in the sentence. This case is the default in the UDM:
"Anywhere." There are, however, some adverbs that can occur always/mostly
after the verb ("Move after verb"). Examples: embora --> away; logo --> soon;
diante --> before. sequer --> at least.
Exceptions
Sometimes a Portuguese adverb needs to be changed into an English
adjective. For example, the sentence tenho fome should be translated as I'm
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hungry. In these cases you will need to translate the Portuguese adverb with
the corresponding adjective form and then select the exception "Change to
adjective".
Translating French to English
Summary of linguistic notes for translating from French to English
Read the linguistic notes for translating the following figures of speech from
French:
v Nouns
v Verbs
v Adjectives
v Adverbs
Linguistic notes for French noun entries
Source definition
Enter your French word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not th e first word, please set an equal
sign (=) immediately before the head, no space. If the entry contains an
adjective that should agree with the head, please set a colon sign immediately
before the adjective.
haute =mer; petit =pain au lait; =accent :tra, nant; :premier =ministre
Your entry is either a common noun or a proper noun (or proper name).
Examples of common nouns:
enfant; petit =pain au lait; rasoir; singe; théâtre à thèse
Common nouns are defined as Noun in UDM.
Examples of proper nouns:
Paris; Bill Clinton; Centre Pompidou; Côte d'Ivoire; Centre de Recherches
Scientifiques
Proper nouns are defined as Proper Noun in UDM.
Entries are case sensitive!
You must type entry names in the same case that you typed the entry
definition. If you define an entry in mixed case, the next time you type the
entry name, you must match the case mixing exactly. For this reason, it is
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easiest to use all lower case letters to define an entry. If you define an entry in
all lower case, it can be matched with any case. See the examples listed below.
class b share -> always matches regardless of input case class B share -> only
matches input with the exact same case Class B share -> only matches input
with the exact same case Class B Share -> only matches input with the exact
same case
Gender and inflection
In French, nouns are marked for gender masculine or feminine. Jean; homme;
ambassadeur; comte; tueur; Marie; ambassadrice; comtesse; tueuse. Inflection for
French nouns is also simple. Most nouns can occur in the singular and the
plural, and their inflection is regular. You need to specify exceptions. If your
word is singular only, B n -->lux/grabuge/morve, plural only, yeux/ciseaux
ongles/Nations-Unies, or singular and plural with the same form, dadais/succ
s/creux/courroux mark it as such.
Subject area
If the French entry is an ordinary noun or noun phrase and has a special
meaning and/or transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you
can add that subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a
subject area is optional. Words can mean different things depending on the
subject area that they are used in. For instance, the English word appendix is "a
separate part at the end of a book or magazine which gives additional
information." It is translated into German as Anhang, and as anexo into
Spanish. In medical discourse, however, an appendix is "a small tube-shaped
part which is joined to the intestines on the right side of the body." If a
particular document deals with medicine, you can choose the subject area
medicine, in which case the word will be translated into German as Blinddarm,
and into Spanish as apéndice. Words can also require different transfers in the
target language, depending on the subject area, even if the concept is the
same or similar. For example écran is translated as screen in English unless you
choose subject area computers, in which case it will be translated as monitor.
The word expédition is translated into English as shipping unless you choose
subject area science, in which case it would be translated as expedition. The
default in the translation engine is general usage, i.e. no specified subject area.
You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from when
submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
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business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, etc. The subject area computers is subdivided into AS400,
ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, etc. Industry is
subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting, construction,
engineering, forestry, etc. The category technical comprises several
subcategories, but is also useful for general technical meanings of otherwise
ordinary nouns, such as cat, nut, etc.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
etc. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples:
In an English source text, the word hood can refer to the bonnet of a car; in
American English, it can refer to a neighborhood. In a British English
document, boot can refer to a kind of shoe or to the trunk of a car.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning, or
class of entities, that your word belongs to. A cat, for instance, is a feline; a
screwdriver is a tool; an IBM Aptiva is a PC; a keyboard can be described as
part of a computer; a mood may be seen as a psychological condition or state;
murder is a crime; a teacher is a professional; a boy is a human individual;
etc.
You will find a list of semantic types. If you scroll all the way down, you will
find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier to choose the semantic
type that applies to your word. If it is a human being, you will find it under
physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human -> human individual
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Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
Here are some examples of the impact on translation:
Le fermier abreuve les chevaux.
If cheval is defined in the dictionary as a horse or an animal, the translation of
abreuver will be water in English. If the word is not defined or not defined as a
type of animal, the translation will be quench one's thirst.
S'accompagner d'une guitare is different from s'accompagner d'un petit vin rouge.
Thus, you want to make sure that the nouns that could be the complement of
the verb s'accompagner are correctly coded as either instruments or food items
in order to make full use of the distinction coded in the dictionary.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
nouns are defined.
Following are some examples of words with their semantic types in UDM,
including their place in the semantic hierarchy. If you are not sure which
semantic type to assign to a noun, it is better to assign one of the broad
categories than not assigning anything.
maigreur = appearance (-> property -> abstraction)
hectare = area unit (-> unit of measurement -> measure -> abstraction )
cyclisme = sports(-> activity -> action)
invitation = speech act (-> action)
joyau = adornment (-> artifact -> physical object)
begonia = flower (-> plant -> animate being -> natural object -> physical
object)
baccara = game (-> social event -> event)
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donn e = information (-> aggregation -> group)
compagnie = group of people (-> group)
tête = bodypart (-> part)
moteur = machine part (-> part)
bruit = sound (-> physical phenomenon -> natural phenomenon ->
phenomenon)
palais = building (-> place)
Hôpital Royal Marsden = hospital (-> place of business -> place)
Avenue Molière= street (-> path -> place)
raison décisive = motive (-> cognition -> psychological feature)
admiration = feeling (-> psychological feature)
Islam = religion (-> philosophy/ideology -> cognition -> psychological feature)
chance = possibility (-> state/status/condition)
scarlatine = disease (-> physiological state/condition -> state)
contusion = injury (-> imperfection -> state/condition)
abus, aboiement are deverbal nouns;
agent = agency.
Context
Nouns without context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic context. For French nouns, the context can be certain objects that
normally follow it. Let's take the noun école, for instance. If it is used in the
sense of the building and institution of learning, then it does not have a
context. Vous allez l'école, period.
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Nouns with one prepositional phrase
If you attend a école de secrétariat, your entry école has a very distinct
complement: an object introduced by the preposition de . As context for your
word, you will choose one prepositional phrase. You are then asked to
identify the preposition. In this case, it is de . You may then proceed to define
the semantic characteristics of the prepositional object.
a école de secrétariat is very different from a école du soir or a école de pens e. It is
very similar, however, to a école de danse and a école de dessin. You could list all
the types of schools in this sense, but it is easier to choose a semantic type
that covers secrétariat, danse, dessin, and similar types: they are disciplines.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance).
Other examples of nouns usually complemented by one prepositional phrase
are:
un grain de café/de fantaisie; un paiement par chèque/d'avance; des provisions au
compte/de nourriture; and so on.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. For an école de
pensée, for instance, you can specify not a semantic class of words but one
particular word, pensée. You can have more than one specific word, if that is
necessary. Often there is no need to specify anything for the object of the
preposition. This is true if the word is usually complemented by a particular
prepositional phrase and the same meaning and transfer apply regardless of
the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition you may do so.
You may also specify that the preposition be deleted upon translation. In
general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question;
v Do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation;
v Indicate a deletion of the preposition.
Nouns with infinitive complements
Some nouns are followed by an infinitive clause, without which they are
incomplete:
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des efforts pour manger; l' ambition de réussir;
In these cases, you choose the infinitive clause as context. You don't need to
specify anything further.
Nouns with a prepositional phrase and an infinitive complement
Some nouns are complemented by both a prepositional phrase and an
infinitive:
l'appel à la police pour le retour de l'enfant; l'accord des nations industrialisées
d'oublier la dette; l'avis du spécialiste d'améliorer l'image.
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase,
infinitive complement).
Nouns with two prepositional phrases
Some nouns take two prepositional phrases as complements:
le voyage de Berlin à Paris; la dispute des amis au sujet de la nourriture; la
collaboration des amis sur le projet.
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with three prepositional phrases
Some nouns take three prepositional phrases as complements:
l'envoi des médicaments des Etats-Unis à la Chine; la chute de température de 40
degrés à 30 degrés.
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with a that-clause complement
Some nouns take a that-clause complement:
l'aveu qu'il avait fait une erreur; la décision qu'il partirait tôt; l'avis que la route
était bloquée.
Nothing needs to be specified for a that-clause.
Note: Not to be confused with a relative clause like, le danseur que je vois
danser.
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Nouns with a prepositional phrase and a that-clause complement
Some nouns are complemented by a prepositional phrase and a that-clause
complement:
l'accord avec le constructeur que les problèmes soient fixés; les accusations contre la
compagnie que celle-ci utilise des moyens criminels.
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with a question complement
Some nouns take a question complement:
L'incertitude qu'il puisse faire cela à temps.
Nothing needs to be specified for a question complement.
Nouns with an identifier complement
Some nouns take an identifier:
Chapitre 6; Colonne 1; Aile 32; Appartement A-6.
Nothing needs to be specified for an identifier.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. For the above-mentioned example école de danse,
you want to indicate that the prepositional phrase is obligatory. In the other
cases, it is optional.
Target Definition
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
English
Simple English Noun
In English, only very few nouns are associated with a gender. John; Mary;
Michael Johnson; Magic Johnson; Mia Hamm; U.S.S. Constitution. Inflection for
English nouns is also simple. Most nouns can occur in the singular and the
plural, and their inflection is regular. You need to specify exceptions. If your
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word is singular only, checkers/data/media, plural only, earnings/clothes/pants, or
singular and plural with the same form, fish/aircraft/gallows/deer mark it as
such.
Target phrase
If the target translation consists of more than one word and the head of the
phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign (=) immediately before
the head, no space. For example
= Agency for International Development; = court of appeal
Deletion of Definite Articles
Some English nouns do not normally occur with definite articles, eg.,
nature/science/society. Therefore, the article that a word might have in French,
has to be deleted in the English translation.
La soci t est responsable de la paix. Society is responsible for keeping peace.
If you are defining such a word, you must check the Delete Definite Article
box.
Linguistic notes for French verb entries
Linguistic notes for French verb entries
Source definitions
Type in your verb.
Note: Do not enter a reflexive verb here with "se". You will choose the
syntactic context of the verb later in Context.
The UDM will search the lexicon and present you with one or more senses if
it finds it. In this case, you can change the transfer(s) for a particular subject
area or context(s). If the verb is not yet in the lexicon, you can define the
context(s) and give transfers.
Found Verbs
Restricted Verbs
There are some verbs in the lexicon that the user cannot change. These are
avoir, devoir, être, pouvoir, and so on.
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Verb definitions
Imagine the verb as the core of an utterance. It can stand by itself, like in
Mange!, and it can be surrounded by satellites, like in Mange la pomme!, Elle
mange la pomme. These satellites -- such as subject, object, prepositional phrase,
infinitive, particle, indirect object -- can be viewed as place holders, or
containers, which can be filled with different words and phrases. We call all
these place holders slots. There may be constraints on these slots. It may be
that they have to be filled, then they are obligatory. If they don't have to be
filled, they are optional. A subject in French is empty in an imperative
sentence, like in Mange! Then there may be constraints on them as to what
they can be filled with. The subject slot can be filled with nouns or with
infinitive or that-clauses, like in Arriver à temps est impossible (which translates
as To arrive on time is impossible), Qu'il puisse partir à temps est une idée
absurde (which translates as That he could leave on time is an absurd idea).
Let's assume you type the verb accuser. The verb is probably already in the
lexicon. The UDM will return the following definition: the verb takes an object
and can govern an optional complement, which can be a prepositional phrase
introduced with de or an infinitive clause. You now have several possibilities.
You can define a particular object and/or subject, which motivates a special
transfer of the verb. You can also give a special transfer depending on
whether the optional complement is present or not and whether it is the
prepositional phrase or the infinitive clause. See the following examples:
L'homme accuse [le voleur] [du vol de sa voiture]. (subject = human, object =
human, complement = prepositional phrase)
L'homme accuse [le voleur] [d'avoir voler la voiture]. (subject = human, object =
human, complement =
infinitive clause)
[Le voleur ] sera accusé par l'homme [d'avoir volé la voiture]. (overt subject =
underlying object = human, agent (par l'homme) = (human, complement =
infinitive clause)
Le voleur est accusé [du vol de la voiture]. (overt subject = underlying object =
human, agent not present, complement = noun phrase with the prep de)
[Le voleur] est accusé. (overt subject = underlying object = human, agent not
present, optional complement not present)
[J'] accuse. (subject = human, object = not present, optional complement not
present)
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Another example is the verb chuchoter. The verb is in the lexicon, so the UDM
will return the following:
Here are some examples:
L'enfant chuchote une chanson. (subject = human, object = noun)
L'enfant chuchote [une chanson] [dans l'oreille de son nounours]. (subject = human,
object = noun, complement = prepositional phrase)
L'enfant chuchote qu'il est sur le point de s'endormir. (subject = human, object =
finite clause)
[Qu'il est sur le point de s'endormir] est chuchoté [dans l'oreille de la maman].
(Overt subject = underlying object = that-clause, complement prepositional
phrase)
[La chanson] est chuchotée. (Overt subject = underlying object = non-human)
La maman chuchote [à l'enfant] [de s'endormir]. (Subject = human, indirect object
= human, object = infinitive clause)
L'enfant chuchote [dans l'oreille de son nounours] [qu'il est sur le point de
s'endormir]. (subject =human, object = finite clause, complement =
prepositional phrase)
L'enfant chuchote [à sa maman] [qu'il est sur le point de s'endormir]. (subject =
human, object = finite clause, indirect object = human)
And here is a last example. Let's assume the verb you have chosen is abîmer.
The verb is in the lexicon, and the UDM will return something like the
following:
First sense: obligatory non-human, bodypart noun object with an optional
human indirect object.
Il abîmera [le nez] [à son ennemi].
Second sense: obligatory non-human noun object.
Il abîme [le livre].
Third sense: obligatory human noun object.
Il abîme [l'homme].
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Fourth sense: an obligatory perishable goods subject, an obligatory accusative
reflexive, and a prepositional phrase.
[La viande] [s'] abîme dans la chaleur.
Incidentally, the order of the context elements is irrelevant. The prepositional
phrase can precede the object, or the object can precede the prepositional
phrase. It is not relevant to how you define or fill the slots.
If one or more senses of a verb is returned from the lexicon, you cannot
change anything in the definition. You can, however, add as many transfers as
you like, based on descriptions of how the verb slots are filled.
New verbs
If your verb is not found in the lexicons, you will be presented with several
menus and panels with regard to required and optional information.
Subject Area
The default in the translation engine is general usage, i.e. no specified subject
area. You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
If the French entry is an ordinary verb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. For instance, s'abstenir means something special in the
domain of politics and would be translated as to abstain. Délaisser in the legal
domain would be translated as to relinquish. Habiller in the technical domain
would be translated as assemble and not as dress.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, and so on.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category technical
comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical
meanings of otherwise ordinary verbs, such as habiller.
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Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples: French analyser
would be translated as analyse in British English, as analyze in American
English.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation, for example fire instead of lay off for French renvoyer or licencier.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Semantic types for verbs are quite different from noun or
adjective semantic types. They are more syntactically oriented.
Here is the list:
The first batch has to do with what kind of agents, objects and goals the verb
can have or has preferably, or does NOT have. These types are crucial in
order to distinguish subject and object in cases of ambiguity.
Preferred agent:
human as agent (for example se plaindre, sourciller)
animal as agent (for example aboyer, miauler)
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animate agent (for example penser, savoir)
self-acting agent (for example enfanter, exploiter)
Preferred goal:
human as goal (for example répondre, sourire)
Preferred object:
human as object (for example écouter, regarder)
Excluded agent:
not human as agent (for example supurer, s'infecter)
Excluded object:
not human as object (for example encourir, risquer)
The second batch has to do with aspect. Aspect can be important for the
translation, with respect to tense and progressive, for instance.
imperfective (a process or an action that is not complete) (for example
rencontrer, vivre)
iterative/frequentative (for example tousser, secouer)
intensive (for example mugir, beugler)
and
perfective (a complete process or action) (for example terminer, arriver)
inchoative (beginning) (for example commencer, démarrer)
egressive (end, result) (for example obtenir, achever)
mutative (change of state, transition) (for example changer, muter)
causative (factitive: effecting a new state) (for example faire, causer)
Finally, there is a mixed bag of various types:
consumption (for example manger, bouffer)
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psychological feature (for example souffrir, déprimer)
feeling (for example senter, aimer)
verb of saying (for example dire, discuter)
intransitive (for example agir, demeurer)
state/static/status (for example devenir, sembler).
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context.
Part of what follows only applies to verbs that are not already in the lexicon.
There is a crucial basic distinction between the contexts for verbs and the
contexts for all other parts of speech. The difference is that the other parts of
speech have only one type of slot, possibly more than one of that type,
whereas verbs have several types: subject, direct object, indirect object,
complements.
These types can each have several options (just like the contexts for nouns
and adjectives).
Subject: noun or noun phrase, interrogative clause, infinitive clause, finite
clause
Object: noun or noun phrase, accusative reflexive pronoun, interrogative
clause, infinitive clause, finite clause, prepositional phrase;
Indirect object: dative noun or noun phrase, dative reflexive pronoun,
prepositional phrase with certain prepositions (mainly à).
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Complement: prepositional phrase, adjective, noun or noun phrase, infinitive
clause, finite clause, locative adverb, passive participle.
It is important that you think of all the possibilities that a verb offers. List
every slot and every slot option that can ever occur with your verb. The more
complete your definition is, the better the syntactic analysis. Think of the
options as the potential of a verb. Go beyond the example that you may have
in front of you. The MT engine works best with fewer, but more complex,
verb definitions. Several limited definitions for the same verb makes the
analysis harder and may result in bad translation. Sometimes it helps if you
could look the verb up in a dictionary. The examples and descriptions that the
dictionary gives can be helpful guides.
Since there are so many possible context slots for verbs, we will here list them
separately, and not in combination.
Note: When we talk about "object", we refer to the "patient" or "theme" of the
verb. Thus, in a passive sentence, where there is no syntactic object, the
"object" in the UDM sense is still there. It appears as the subject of the passive
sentence. The original subject, or "agent", may or may not appear in the form
of a par-phrase. for example
Le livre a été publié par l'éditeur en question.
(le livre = underlying object in the UDM sense. L'éditeur en question =
underlying subject in the UDM sense.)
corresponds more or less in meaning to the active sentence:
L'éditeur en question a publié le livre.
Subject
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your subject option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words for target
purposes.
Example:
disloquer
If the subject slot is filled with a word of the type human or the specific word
manifestation or rassemblement, you want become disperse as your transfer
in English, else break up.
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Interrogative clause
Examples:
Quand il partira est une question à laquelle il est impossible de répondre.
Comment il arriva à ses fins angoissait son amie.
Bare infinitive clause
Examples:
Partir en vacances me convient.
Exiger qu'il vienne me semble impossible.
Finite clause/that-clause
Examples:
Qu'elle parte en vacances me convient.
Qu'il exige qu'il vienne maintenant me semble impossible.
Direct object
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your subject option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words for target
purposes.
Example:
annoncer
If the object slot is filled with a word of the type accident or event, you want
report as your transfer in English. If the object slot is filled with a word of the
type physical phenomenon, you want forecast as your transfer. With other
types of nouns, you want announce.
Accusative reflexive pronoun
Example:
Le temps s' announce moche.
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Interrogative clause
Examples:
Il annonce comment faire cela.
Il announce quand Pierre partira en vacances.
Bare Infinitive clause
Example:
Il veut manger.
Il écoute chanter l'enfant.
prep-Infinitive clause
Examples:
Il exige de partir maintenant.
Finite clause
Example:
Il se demande s'il viendra en vacances avec la famille.
That-clause
Examples:
Il demande qu'il parte.
Il comprend qu'il ne peut pas faire cela.
Quoted finite clause
Example:
"Arriver à en retard n'est pas pratique", conclut-il.
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Prepositional phrase
Example:
Il hérite de la maison.
Indirect object
Noun or noun phrase
Examples:
Il lui peigne les cheveux.
Il leur parle de ses soucis.
Dative reflexive pronoun
Example:
Il se lave les cheveux.
Ils se peignent les cheveux.
Prepositional phrase
Example:
Il lave les cheveux à l'enfant.
Il sourit à ses amis.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
1. A particular transfer for the preposition is needed. For instance, the French
preposition à in Il sourit à Anna will be translated in English as He smiles at
Anna.
2. Nothing needs to be specified, i.e. assume default translation, which is the
preposition to like in Il parle à son ami ( He talks to his friend).
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3. The preposition can be deleted. For instance, the French prepositional
phrase would be rendered as a direct object in translation.
Complement
Prepositional phrase
Examples:
Il est parti pour Rome.
Il est parti avec Anna pour Rome.
Il insiste sur ce point.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
v do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation
v indicate a deletion of the preposition.
Interrogative clause
Examples:
Est-ce que tu peux insister sur comment cela fonctionne?
Dis-lui quand cela fonctionnera sans aucun accroc!
Infinitive clause
Examples:
Rappelle-moi de te dire comment cela fonctionne.
Anna insiste pour partir avec lui.
Bare infinitive clause
Examples:
Il vient s'abriter sous l'auvent.
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Quoted finite clause
Example:
"Arriver en retard n'est pas pratique", insiste-t-il.
That-clause
Examples:
Les policers demandaient si je pouvais leur montrer la cachette.
Adjective
Examples:
Elle se voit rouge.
Elle les trouve intelligentes.
Passive participle
Examples:
Elle les voit finies.
Elle les trouve inachevées.
Locative adverb
Example:
Elle se trouve en France.
Noun
Examples:
Ils se voient astronautes.
Ils s'imaginent commandants de la force aérienne.
Semantic type of noun/prepositional object or specific noun(s)
For all cases where a noun is involved, you may proceed to define the
semantic characteristics of the prepositional object, if that is nessary for the
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definition of the verb. Regarding the semantic type, you will see two choices:
Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of any
semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings, for
instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to cover
as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the noun/object of the preposition. This is true if the verb is
usually complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same
meaning and transfer apply regardless of its object.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all slots, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the default
setting) or obligatory, that is, you have to decide whether the slots have to be
filled or not in order to result in grammatical French. For the verb demander,
you want to indicate that the object is obligatory. A sentence such as *Il lui
demande is incorrect French. In many cases, the slots are optional. You can say
Il mange, so an object for the verb manger is not obligatory. For verbs that
already exist in the lexicon, you will be able to identify obligatory and
optional slots.
You cannot change the "optional/obligatory" status of the slots.
Conjugation
When entering a new verb, you can indicate patterns about its conjugation.
See under "Optional", then "Exceptions"
Verb with subjunctive endings in -isse
To indicate that a verb in -ir makes its subjunctive forms with -isse endings.
For example, the verb accomplir ( to accomplish) has accomplisse for the
subjunctive present 1 and 3 singular as opposed to the verb accueillir ( to
welcome), which is accueille.
Verb with different indicative and subjunctive present forms
To indicate that a verb has separate forms for the indicative and the
subjunctive moods. For example, the verb admettre ( to admit) has admet in the
present indicative 3 singular and admette in the present subjunctive 3 singular.
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Verb with identical indicative present 3 and participle
To indicate that the past participle masculine form and the indicative present
form of a verb are identical. For instance, the form écrit of the verb écrire ( to
write) is ambiguous between the present indicative 3 singular and the past
participle.
Verb with different present and preterite singular forms
To indicate that the 1 and 2 person singular forms of a verb for the preterite
and the indicative present tenses are not identical. For example, the verb
conduire ( to drive) is conduisis in the preterite, but conduis for the indicative
present as opposed to many verbs like finir ( to end) whose form finis is
ambiguous between the preterite and the indicative present.
Verb with participle in -i
To indicate that a verb ending in -re does not have a past participle ending in
-t. For instance, sourire ( to smile) has a participle ending in -i like souri as
opposed to conduire ( to drive) whose participle ends in -t like conduit (driven).
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. The status of verb slots (filled, not filled = empty, do
not care whether filled or not) and possibly semantic type(s) and/or specific
words that fill the mentioned slots. The subject slot is a special case insofar as
it is never optional or not filled in French. These issues have been discussed
above.
English
Reflexive verbs
Under the heading "Optional", you can mark "Reflexive" if your transfer is a
reflexive verb.
The French verb déchoir will be translated by the English reflexive verb lower
oneself.
Additional word(s)
There are many cases where the English verb needs a word or phrase to
complement it.
Examples:
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Adjective
The French verb dégoûter can be translated by the English verb get and the
adjective sick.
Object Noun
The French verb se changer can be translated by the English verb change and
the noun phrase clothes.
Past Participle
The French verb emberlificoter can be translated by the English verb get and
the past participle tangled.
Particle
The particle in English is the most frequent additional part of a phrasal verb.
cut back, clear away, come up, set in, calm down, and so on.
The French verb enfermer can be translated by the English verb lock and the
particle up.
Past Participle
The French verb approver will be translated by the English verb approve and
the preposition of.
Adverb
The French verb s'obstiner will be translated by the English verb cling and the
past participle stubbornly.
How to enter the above types of additional words or phrases
Just type the words in the input box to the right of Type of Additional
Word(s).
Exceptions
Change Indirect Object to Possessive
Example:
Le dentiste lui arrache la dent. --> The dentist extracts his tooth.
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Change Reflexive to Possessive
Example:
Il se disloque la cheville --> He twists his ankle.
Linguistic notes for French adjective entries
Linguistic notes for French adjective entries
Source definitions
Enter your French word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign
(=) immediately before the head, no space, for example=afférent à la sécurité;
=bleu de froid
Special Features
Morphosyntactic Features ("Exceptions")
Adjectives can function as attributes or as predicates of linking verbs like être,
devenir, sembler. In the sentence Cette idée est acceptable, the adjective acceptable
is used predicatively. In the sentence C'est une idée acceptable, the same
adjective is used attributively. Some adjectives can never occur in an
attributive function, and this should be indicated in the lexicon. For instance,
the adjective au plus mal can be used with a predicate in Elle est au plus mal,
but not as an attribute: *La femme au plus mal est ici ("Never functions as
attribute"). On the other hand, some adjectives can never function as
predicates. You can say de camelote like in C'est un objet de camelote, but not
*C'est de camelote. A similar situation applies to the adjective auxiliaire. Ce sont
des outils auxiliaires is acceptable French, but * Les outils sont auxiliaires is not.
This should be indicated in the lexicon ("Never functions as predicate").
Two notes of caution:
1. Before you enter verbal participles like condensé, compris as adjectives,
decide whether they should be entered at all, i.e. whether, as adjectives,
these words have meanings, functions, and target outputs that cannot be
derived from the participial form of the corresponding verbs. If they do
not have such features, do not enter them as adjectives. Then, verbal
participles will have a better chance of a correct analysis in other contexts.
2. Note that adjectives that are prepositional in nature like au Nord-Est, du
Nord-Est must be entered without the contraction like à le Nord-Est, de le
Nord-Est, respectively.
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Inflection
Some French adjectives do not inflect, and this fact has to be marked in the
UDM as invariable. Adjectives that do not inflect are prepositional in nature
such as
à col roulé, à cornes courtes
. Many adjectives that are borrowed from English do not inflect, such as
do-it-yourself, cash-and-carry
, and so on. Others are
albinos, bcbg, couleur noisette, d'actualité
, and so on.
Subject area
If the French entry is an ordinary adjective and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. For instance, composite means something special in the
domain of architecture (and is translated as composite); otherwise, as
heterogeneous. The adjective courant in the context of human languages has a
fixed meaning and is translated as fluent, otherwise as common. Finally, the
adjective récurrent in the context of mathematics like in série récurrente has a
fixed meaning and is translated as recursion in recursion series; in the context
of medicine like in maladie récurrente, the adjective récurrent is translated as
recurrent in recurrent disease, otherwise, in other contexts, simply as
reappearing.
The default in the translation engine is general usage, i.e. no specified subject
area. You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, and so on.
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Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category technical
comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical
meanings of otherwise ordinary adjectives.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of French and English that are
all equally standard: U.S. American English, British, Irish, South African,
Australian, and Canadian English, Canadian and Swiss French, and so on.
The default in the translation engine for English is U.S. American, the default
for French is French French. Alternatively, you can choose British English or
Swiss French.
Example: If you want to translate fou as mad, remember that this is a
misleading translation for British English, where mad means something closer
to insane. Translate coloré as colourful for British English, otherwise as colorful.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation, for example merde as in c'est une idée merde is only an adjective
in colloquial language. Mark it as such in order to avoid unnecessary
ambiguities.
Merde will translate as stupid only in the context of chat.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Adjectives are classified the same way as nouns (see
Linguistic Notes for noun entries).
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albanais, for instance, refers to a language and to people; musulman refers to a
religion or philosophy; ouest is a direction; triste refers to a feeling; criminel
denotes a negative value, magnifique a positive value; brun is a color; and so
on.
You will find a list of semantic types in the UDM interface. If you scroll all
the way down, you will find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier
to choose the semantic type that applies to your word. If it is a human being,
you will find it under physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human
-> human individual
So, the French adjective relaxe when modifying a noun that has the type
human being will be translated as easy-going; if the semantic type is
communication and human language, it will be translated as informal. The
adjective cher, for instance, would be translated as dear if it modifies a noun of
the semantic type animate being, but otherwise as expensive.
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
adjectives are defined.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context. It is important that you think of all the
possibilities that the adjective offers. List every context option that can ever
occur with your adjective. The more complete your definition is, the better the
syntactic analysis. Think of the options as the potential of an adjective. Go
beyond the example that you may have in front of you. The MT engine works
best with fewer, but more complex, adjective definitions. Several limited
definitions for the same adjective makes the analysis harder and may result in
bad translation. Sometimes it helps if you could look the adjective up in a
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dictionary. The examples and descriptions that the dictionary gives can be
helpful guides.
Nouns that the Adjective modifies
For an adjective, the most important context is the noun that it modifies.
Sample sentences would be the following:
C'est un homme rude.
Ce fut une rude épreuve.
In both sentences, the adjective rude modifies the noun homme and épreuve,
respectively.
The adjective rude will be translated as great if it modifies épreuve like in great
ordeal, otherwise as rough. Another adjective is concentré would be translated
as condensed if it modifies the noun lait, otherwise as concentrated.
Adjectives with one prepositional phrase
The adjective accoutumé can govern a prepositional phrase with à, for example
La personne accoutumée à tes enfants est gentille. Other examples of adjectives
usually complemented by one prepositional phrase are: agile à, antagoniste à,
apparent pour, bon en.
If the context slot is filled, like in bon avec, for instance, you may want the
translation kind (to), instead of good if the slot of the prepositional phrase is
not filled. Or if the context slot is filled for bon en, you may want to translate
it as great (at) instead of good.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is necessary for the definition of the adjective.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
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But there are cases where defining the object of the preposition is necessary.
Consider the example susceptible à. Someone who is susceptible à diseases or
ideas is susceptible to them, not prone.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question; The preposition of
the French adjective apparent pour in C'est apparent pour Anna will be
translated to It is apparent to Anna
v do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation.
Adjectives with a prepositional complement
Some adjectives can be followed by a prepositional phrase. In French, these
prepositional phrases can be connected to the adjectives with a preposition
like à, de, en, par, and pour, and so on. For example, the adjective fort can take
a prepositional complement introduced by en like in Il est fort en maths (He is
good in maths). Another example is the adjective certain like in Il est certain de
son choix (He is sure about his choice). Note that the transfer preposition need
not be the default. Another preposition can be chosen.
Adjectives with an infinitive complement
Some adjectives can be followed by an infinitive clause. In French, these
infinitive clauses can either stand by themselves like in Elle est censé venir,
which will be translated as She is supposed to come, or be connected to the
adjectives with a preposition like
à, de, en, par, and pour. A specific preposition in front of the infinitive can be
specified. For example, the French adjective certain takes the preposition de
before the infinitive like in Il est certain de pouvoir partir. There is also the
variant Il est certain pouvoir partir without the preposition. Thus, the presence
of a preposition can be optional. This fact must be indicated in the UDM. On
the other hand, the adjective accoutumé à must have a preposition in front of
the infinitive. This fact must be indicated in the UDM as well.
Adjectives with a that-clause complement
Some adjectives take a that-clause complement like certain in Elle est certaine
qu'elle pourra venir or important like in Il est important qu'elle dorme bien.
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Optional and obligatory context specification
Remember that for all complements of the adjectives, you are asked to decide
whether they are optional (the default setting) or obligatory. If you want a
particular transfer, however, if the context slot has indeed to be filled for your
transfer to be appropriate, mark it as obligatory.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
There are two things that determine your transfer:
1. Status of the adjective context (filled; not filled = empty; do not care
whether filled or not) and possibly semantic type(s) and/or specific words
that fill the mentioned context(s)
2. Whether the adjective in question functions only as an attribute or
predicate on the one hand or whether the translation you are about to give
is independent of the function.
English
Function
Normally, the translation will be the same whether the adjective is in
attributive or in predicative position, as seen above. In some cases, however,
there is a crucial difference in translation if the adjective occurs in attributive
function: après la guerre will be translated as postwar if in attributive function,
as after the war if in predicative function. You will find these definitions under
"Optional" and then "Functions." Apart from that, there is nothing special to
be noted about English target adjectives except the position of the adjective.
Position
While most French adjectives follow the noun it modifies, it comes before the
noun in English. The French attributive adjective aux yeux fous in la femme aux
yeux fous is translated in English as wild-eyed in the wild-eyed woman. However,
some adjectives come after the noun, in particular if they are followed by a
prepositional phrase or clause. The French attributive adjective briard in les
fromages briards is translated in English as from Brie in the cheeses from Brie
and not *the from Brie cheeses.
The French attributive adjective compris in les jouets compris entre x et y is
translated in English as contained like in the toys contained between x and y and
not *the contained between x and y toys. A similar situation applies to the French
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adjective capable as in C'est une personne capable, which will be translated in
English as She is a capable person. However, if capable is followed by an
infinitive clause preceded by the preposition de, capable must follow the noun
it modifies like in C'est une personne capable de finir ce livre en une heure, the
English capable and its complement must follow the noun as in He is a person
capable of finishing this book in one hour. This difference needs to be indicated in
the UDM by changing the position from "Premodifier" to "Postmodifier."
Linguistic notes for French adverb entries
Linguistic notes for French adverb entries
Source definitions
Enter your word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one word and
the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign (=)
immediately before the head, no space, for example =à compte d'auteur; de
=façon suivante;
Special Features
v Inflection
v Does Compare
v Comparative
v Superlative
Most adverbs can compare like plus doucement or moins doucement. In some
cases, you may enter the comparative or superlative forms themselves, if
necessary. They should then be marked as such (comparative or superlative).
for example meilleur ("Comparative") like in il fait meilleur qu'hier or super
("Superlative") like in c'est le super chouette.
Most French adverbs that do not have comparative or superlative forms are
part of the base lexicon. for example demain, vraiment.
Restrictions
There is a list of French adverbs in the base lexicon that cannot be changed by
the user because of their complex syntactic coding and their significance to
the MT engine such as serving several special functions. Some such adverbs
are mieux, encore.
Subject area
If the French entry is an ordinary adverb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
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optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no
specified subject area). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject
areas to choose from when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, industry, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, and so on.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category technical
comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical
meanings of otherwise ordinary adverbs. Examples: emphatiquement can be
translated as with emphasis in linguistics, but as emphatically in general
discourse. Intérieurement can be translated as inland in geography, but as in the
inside in general discourse. .
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. There are also several varieties
of French that can be added to the dictionary.
Examples:
adroitement can be translated as deftly in British English, as skillfully in
American English.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation. For example, Bonne merde means Good luck.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
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language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. You can choose from the following semantic types for your
adverb.
sentential (for example donc)
period of time (for example longuement)
point in time (for example à aucun moment, à ce jour)
time in general (for example à l' heure de l' ordinateur)
past (for example jadis)
future (for example demain)
imperfective (for example encore, toujours)
direction (for example vers l'est)
place (for example ici)
expression (for example alléluia)
frequency (for example souvent)
negation (for example jamais)
positive value (for example bien)
negative value (for example mal)
psychological condition or feeling (for example tristement)
criminal (for example avec malice)
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quantity (for example beaucoup)
manner (for example intelligemment)
Some of these semantic types for adverbs are crucial for good translation into
English, others are less so. Even though French uses tense inflections on the
verb to indicate the future, some verbs and usages allow for use of the
present indicative along with an adverb to indicate that the future action is in
progress and to help convey a sense of urgency or imminence.
Nous allons bientôt partir --> We will be leaving soon.
And:
Nous partons bientôt en vacances --> We will be leaving soon on vacation.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context.
Adverbs with one prepositional phrase
The adverb pas mal can govern a prepositional phrase with de, for example
J'ai pas mal de livres. Other examples of adverbes usually complemented by
one prepositional phrase are: Merci pour, merci beaucoup pour, en commun avec.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is necessary for the definition of the adverbe.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
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A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question; For example, en
diagonale par rapport à where the transfer for the preposition is to
v Do not specify anything, ( assume default translation)
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. In most cases, the complement of an adverb is
optional.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
English
Type in your target adverb and add an = sign if it is a phrase whose last
word is not the head.
Position
Since the position of adverbs in the sentence varies between French and
English, you should indicate where in the sentence the English target adverb
tends to occur. Mostly, there is no predetermined or preferred position for an
adverb. It will be positioned somewhere in the sentence, depending on what
other constituents occur in the sentence. This case is the default in the UDM:
"Anywhere." There are, however, some adverbs that have a preferred final
position — they occur at the end ("Always final") of the sentence.
Examples of final adverb position:
comme convenu --> as desired;
comme tout --> terribly;
Translating German to English
Summary of linguistic notes for translating from German to English
Read the linguistic notes for translating the following figures of speech from
German :
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v
v
v
v
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Linguistic notes for German noun entries
Source definition
Common nouns and proper names
Your entry is either a common noun or a proper noun (or proper name).
Examples of common nouns:
Machenschaft; Halbleiter; =Turmbau von Babel; Katze;
Graduiertenförderungsgesetz; =Filter mit festem q-Faktor
Common nouns are defined as Noun in UDM.
Examples of proper nouns:
Berlin; Vereinigte =Staaten von Amerika; Marlene Dietrich; Max-Planck
Institut; Tagesspiegel
Proper nouns are defined as Proper Noun in UDM.
Entries are case sensitive!
You must type entry names in the same case that you typed the entry
definition. If you define an entry in mixed case, the next time you type the
entry name, you must match the case mixing exactly. For this reason, it is
easiest to use all lower case letters to define an entry. If you define an entry in
all lower case, it can be matched with any case. See the examples listed below.
class b share -> always matches regardless of input case class B share -> only
matches input with the exact same case Class B share -> only matches input
with the exact same case Class B Share -> only matches input with the exact
same case
Noun phrase
If your entry consists of more than one word and the head of the phrase is
not the last word, please set an equal sign (=) immediately before the head, no
space. e.g.
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=Option zum temporären Abmelden; =Sicherung im aktiven Zustand;
=Bundesrepublik Deutschland
If the phrase consists of an adjective and a noun, you will have to mark the
adjective because it has its own inflection. For example das Weiße Haus should
be written as :Weißes =Haus. The colon indicates that a part of the phrase that
is not its head has its own inflection. For example: des Weiß en Haus es; das
Weiß e Haus. The equal sign indicates the head of the whole phrase.It is not
necessary as long as the head is the last part of the phrase. If a part of a
phrase does not inflect, you don't need to mark it. For example, Hilfs- und in
Hilfs- und Betriebsstoff does not need to be marked because it does not inflect
and the head of the phrase is the last word. Unless otherwise indicated, the
system assumes that the last word in the phrase is the head. If it is not, like in
Index der Verbraucherpreise, you absolutely have to mark the head of the
phrase: =Index der Verbraucherpreise. The head of a phrase is the part that
inflects according to number and case, e.g. d es Index es der Verbraucherpreise.
The part der Verbraucherpreise never changes. It may be good practice to mark
the head always, even if it is not necessary.
Examples:
Advanced 36er Maschine » Advanced 36er Maschine Zugriff auf Hilfsoptionen
» =Zugriff auf Hilfsoptionen automatisches Erstellen von Problemeinträgen »
:autmatisches =Erstellen von Problemeinträgen
Gender and Inflection
Simple noun
As you type in your noun, you will see that the system will try to match your
entry against a list of German nouns. If a word is found, the system will
display the inflection pattern and the grammatical gender for this found
word. If this is what is correct for your noun, just click OK. If this is not
correct, then choose one of the inflection patterns listed below the suggested
word. If the word is not feminine, change the gender in the Gender box.
Again, you will see a list of nouns with that gender. They represent the
possible inflection patterns for the gender that you have chosen. Be certain to
highlight the choice that applies to your word.
In general, the form of your entry is identical to nominative singular. There
are some exceptions. One are those nouns that inflect like adjectives: Beamter,
Vorsitzende, Ganzes, etc. You will see that they are found in the list of German
nouns in a form with the inflection chopped off: Beamt, Vorsitzend, Ganz.
That's how you should enter them so that they are analyzed correctly in
translation. The other exceptions are words that exist only in the plural or
only in the singular.
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Compound noun
If your entry is a compound, such as Menschenmenge or Kofferraum, the whole
compound may be found in the list of German words provided. If that is not
the case, you can indicate the head of the compound by typing a + sign right
before it, e.g. Menschen+menge or Koffer+raum. Then you proceed like you do
for a simple noun.
More examples:
gemeinsame Zugriffspfadbenutzung » :gemeinsame Zugriffspfad+benutzung
APPN lokaler Standorteintrag » APPN :lokaler Standort+eintrag
Subject area
If the German entry is an ordinary noun or noun phrase and has a special
meaning and/or transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you
can add that subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a
subject area is optional.
Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that they are
used in. For instance, an Abnehmer is normally a person who buys something
and is translated into English as buyer. In the context of sewing and textiles,
however, an Abnehmer is "a tapered tuck sewn to adjust the fit of a garment".
If a particular document deals with sewing or textiles and/or fashion, you can
choose the subject area textiles, in which case the word will be translated into
English as dart. The German noun Betrieb refers to a whole organization if
used in the context of commerce, but to the way or mode something is
operating or operated in the context of engineering or computers. It will be
translated accordingly: business or enterprise in the discourse of economy or
business, as operation in the context of engineering and as mode in the context
of computers or operating systems. Das Gericht in a legal document or in the
context of politics is an institution, whereas it something to eat in the context
of food, cooking, household, catering.
Words can also require different transfers in the target language, depending
on the subject area, even if the concept is the same or similar as the latter
example shows. The noun Wahl is a case in point. The general transfer will
be English choice, but in the context of politics it might be election.The default
in the translation engine is general usage, i.e. no specified subject area. You
have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from when
submitting a document for translation. For building your bilingual MT
lexicon, there is the following rule of thumb: If your entry is a very specific
word or phrase that will only occur in one particular domain (subject area),
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we recommend that you do not specify a subject area. This guarantees that
your entry will always be matched even if no particular subject area is
defined for translation.
The phrase 3270-Umsetzungstabelle ankommender Daten will always and under
all circumstances have only one meaning and one translation. Therefore, no
subject area needs to be specified. The same applies to most proper names.
The Bank of Boston will always be the Bank of Boston, no matter whether it is
referred to in a financial document or in a legal document. Specify a subject
area only if the word or phrase in question has more than one meaning or
translation, which can be determined by means of specific domains. The word
Abstrich, for instance, has one meaning in the discourse of music ( down-bow),
another meaning and transfer in the medical discourse ( pap smear).
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, style, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, etc. The subject area computers is subdivided into AS400,
ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, operating systems, etc.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, etc. The category technical comprises
several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical meanings of
otherwise ordinary nouns, such as cat, nut, etc.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are two rules to follow: if for instance a Swiss-German word
only ever occurs in Swiss German, do not mark it as such. That way, the word
will be recognized if, say, a Swiss-German speaker is quoted in an otherwise
non-Swiss-German text. If, however, a word has different meanings in Swiss
German and in non-Swiss German, specify the regional variety in order to
mark the distinction. The default assumption in UDM is FRG standard
German. You can also indicate a regional variety for your target varieties. For
the German word Kofferraum, for example, you may wish to enter boot if you
translate into British English, trunk if you translate into American English. The
default here is American English. UDM will later generate the correct transfer,
depending on which parameters you set for translation.
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Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning, or
class of entities, that your word belongs to. A cat, for instance, is a feline; a
screwdriver is a tool; an IBM Aptiva is a PC; a keyboard can be described as
part of a computer; a mood may be seen as a psychological condition or state;
murder is a crime; a teacher is a professional; a boy is a human individual;
etc.
You will find a list of semantic types. If you scroll all the way down, you will
find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier to choose the semantic
type that applies to your word. If it is a human being, you will find it under
physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human -> human individual
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
Here are some examples of the impact on translation:
Ich ging dem Jungen nach. Ich ging der Sache nach.
If Junge is defined in the dictionary as a human individual, the translation of
nachgehen will be follow in English. If Junge is not defined or not defined as a
human being, the translation will be pursue or investigate.
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Der Abstieg vom Berg is different from derAbstieg vom Pferd.
Thus, you want to make sure that the nouns that could be the object of the
word Abstieg are correctly coded as either places or animals in order to make
full use of the distinction coded in the dictionary.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the Princeton WordNet project, which is accessible to
everyone on the Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
nouns are defined.
Following are some examples of words with their semantic types in UDM,
including their place in the semantic hierarchy. If you are not sure which
semantic type to assign to a noun, it is better to assign one of the broad
categories than not assigning anything.
Erscheinung = appearance (-> property -> abstraction)
Hektar = area unit (-> unit of measurement -> measure -> abstraction )
Hochsprung = sports (-> activity -> action)
Einladung = speech act (-> st_communication -> st_action)
Ohrring = adornment (-> artifact -> physical object)
Rose = flower (-> plant -> animate being -> natural object -> physical object)
Skat = card game (-> game -> interaction -> action -> social event -> event)
Daten = information (-> aggregation)
Gewerkschaft = organization (-> group of people -> group)
Kopf = bodypart (-> natural object -> physical object but also -> part)
Motor = machine part (-> part)
Geräusch = sound (-> physical phenomenon -> natural phenomenon ->
phenomenon)
palace = building (-> place)
Anwaltskanzlei = place of business ( -> place but also -> a group of people)
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Kurfürstendamm = street (-> path -> place)
Beweggrund = motive (-> cognition -> psychological feature)
Wut = feeling (-> psychological feature)
Buddhismus = religion (-> philosophy/ideology -> cognition -> psychological
feature)
Chance = possibility (-> state/status/condition)
Bauchfellentzündung = disease (-> physiological state/condition -> state)
Muskelfaserriss = injury (-> imperfection -> state/condition)
Nachlassen, Generierung, Zugriff, Petzerei are deverbal nouns;
Agens, Funke and Kobold are examples of agency.
Context
Nouns without context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic context. The context can be certain objects that normally follow the
noun. Let's take the English noun school, for instance. If it used in the sense of
the building and institution of learning, then it does not have a context. You go
to school, period. As soon as you specify a context for school, it becomes clear
that it actually has many different senses: a school of dentistry; a school of fish; a
school of thought.
Nouns with a genitive object complement
The German noun Abbruch can take different complements, the meaning
changes slightly and the translations will be distinct: der Abbruch einer
Beziehung; der Abbruch eines Gebäudes; der Abbruch einer Schwangerschaft; der
Abbruch des Studiums; der Abbruch der Reise. As context for your word, you will
choose a genitive noun complement. You may then proceed to define the
semantic characteristics of the genitive object. Gebäude is very similar to Haus,
Palast, Anwesen, Baracke, etc. They all belong to the semantic type of building.
You will see two choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the
genitive object can be of any semantic type except the one that you choose to
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exclude (human beings, for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad
semantic category in order to cover as much as possible. This guarantees that
the correct translation will never be missed.
You can be even more specific with respect to the genitive object. Instead of
specifying a semantic class of words, you can identify one or more particular
word(s). Examples: Ablauf der Frist; Ablauf des Vorgangs. On the other hand,
often there is no need to specify anything for the object. This is true if the
word is usually complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the
same meaning and transfer apply regardless of the object.
Note: a von phrase that replaces a genitive object under certain conditions still
counts as a genitive object and not as a prepositional phrase: Der Abbruch von
Beziehungen; der Abbruch von Gebäuden. A test to distinguish between a true
prepositional von phrase and an equivalent of a genitive object is to replace it
by a singular genitive object. For example: Der Abbruch von Beziehungen is
more or less equivalent to Der Abbruch der Beziehung, whereas Die Abreise von
Berlin is in no way equivalent to Die Abreise der Stadt.
Nouns with one prepositional phrase
Heilung (von einer Krankheit) can have a very distinct complement: an object
introduced by the preposition von . As context for your word, you will choose
one prepositional phrase. You are then asked to identify the preposition. In
this case, it is von . You may then proceed to define the semantic
characteristics of the prepositional object, if you like. For Heilung, it does not
seem necessary since it is only diseases that one gets cured from. Some
prepositions that only have one case are known to the system and the box
will be prefilled. For other prepositions, you are asked to specify the case that
they govern: dative, accusative, genitive, nominative.
Other examples of nouns usually complemented by one prepositional phrase
are:
Kampf um etwas; Betonung auf etwas; Beziehung zwischen Dingen oder Personen;
Grund für etwas; etc.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
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v
Do not specify anything, (assume default translation). The default
translation for a German genitive object is a prepositional phrase with of in
English, so you don't need to indicate anything.
Nouns with infinitive complements
Some nouns are followed by an infinitive clause, without which they are
incomplete:
Drang/Ehrgeiz/Herausforderung, es ordentlich zu machen;
In these cases, you choose the infinitive clause as context. You don't need to
specify anything further.
Nouns with a prepositional phrase and an infinitive complement
Some nouns are complemented by both a prepositional phrase and an
infinitive:
die Anforderung an ihn, das Buch bis Ende des Monats fertigzustellen; die Einigung
zwischen den Parteien, die Verhandlungen abzuschließen;
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase,
infinitive complement).
Nouns with two prepositional phrases
Some nouns take two prepositional phrases as complements:
Die Autobahn von Berlin nach Magdeburg; das Einverständnis zwischen den
Parteien bezüglich der Verhandlung; die Unterstützung der KollegInnen für das
Projekt;
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with three prepositional phrases
Some nouns take three prepositional phrases as complements:
der Brief von Michaela an Karin über die Wahl in den USA;
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
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Nouns with a that-clause complement
Some nouns take a finite-clause complement, mostly introduced by dass (this
is what is here called a that-clause complement):
die Ahnung, dass etwas schiefgehen könnte; die Annahme, dass er die Wahl
gewonnen hätte; das Eingeständnis, dass sie einen Fehler gemacht hat; die
Möglichkeit, dass es schneit;
Nothing needs to be specified for a that-clause.
Nouns with a prepositional phrase and a that-clause complement
Some nouns are complemented by a prepositional phrase and a that-clause
complement:
die Zusage an den Kunden, dass der Herd nächste Woche geliefert wird;
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with a question complement
Some nouns take a question complement:
die Art und Weise, wie er den Rasen mäht; die Frage, wann er kommt;
Zweifel, ob er überhaupt kommt; Streit darüber, wer Präsident werden soll;
Nothing needs to be specified for a question complement.
Nouns with an identifier complement
Some nouns take an identifier:
Bestellnummer 6789; Kapitel 5; Apartment A-6; Gebäude F; Café Kranzler;
Team Jamaica.
Nothing needs to be specified for an identifier.
Note: whenever you choose an infinitive or that-clause complement, they can
go together with a da-prep, which is a pronominal adverb. It is the
combination of a preposition with the adverb da. Syntactically it functions as a
correlate: Die Betonung darauf, dass es richtig gemacht werden muss; die Angst
davor, den Zug zu verpassen; die Frustration darüber, dass immer alles schief läuft.
You can choose from a list of such pronominal adverbs. Naturally, case is not
relevant for infinitive or finite clauses. By default, the da-prep will be deleted
in translation into English.
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Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. For the above-mentioned examples Abbruch des
Gebäudes and Abbruch der Reise, you want to indicate that the prepositional
phrase is obligatory. In many other cases, it is optional.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
English
Simple Noun
In English, only very few nouns are associated with a gender. John; Mary;
Michael Johnson; Magic Johnson; Mia Hamm; U.S.S. Constitution. Inflection for
English nouns is also simple. Most nouns can occur in the singular and the
plural, and their inflection is regular. You need to specify exceptions. If your
word is singular only, checkers/data/media, plural only, earnings/clothes/pants, or
singular and plural with the same form, fish/aircraft/gallows/deer mark it as
such.
Target phrase
If the target translation consists of more than one word and the head of the
phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign (=) immediately before
the head, no space. e.g.
= Agency for International Development; = court of appeal
Deletion of Definite Articles
Some English nouns do not normally occur with definite articles, eg.,
nature/science/society. Therefore, the article that a word might have in German,
has to be deleted in the English translation.
Die Gesellschaft ist verpflichtet, den Frieden zu wahren. Society is responsible for
keeping peace.
If you are defining such a word, you must check the Delete Definite Article
box.
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Linguistic notes for German verb entries
Source definitions
Type in your verb. If it is a verb with a separable prefix, mark the boundary
between the prefix and the head with a colon (":"), for example aussetzen = aus
: setzen. (Test: Er setzte die Maus aus)
If it is a reflexive verb, do not mention the reflexive here. You will be
prompted for it in the context. Under "Direct object" for the accusative
reflexive, under "Indirect object" for the dative reflexive.
The UDM will search the lexicon and present you with one or more senses if
it finds it. In this case, you can change the transfer(s) for a particular subject
area or context(s). If the verb is not yet in the lexicon, you can define the
context(s) and give transfers.
If you want to enter more than one adjective, you can go to "Preferences",
"Functionality", and check "Prefill from previous entry". This will prefill the
part of speech in the "Add Entry" panel.
Found Verbs
Restricted Verbs
There are some verbs in the lexicon that the user cannot change. These are
dürfen, haben, können, mögen, müssen, sein, sollen, werden, werden.
Verb definitions
Imagine the verb as the core of an utterance. It can stand by itself, like in Halt
an!, and it can be surrounded by satellites, like in Halt das Auto an!, Ich hielt
das Auto an. These satellites -- such as subject, object, prepositional phrase,
infinitive, particle, indirect object -- can be viewed as place holders, or
containers, which can be filled with different words and phrases. We call all
these place holders slots. There may be constraints on these slots. It may be
that they have to be filled, then they are obligatory. If they don't have to be
filled, they are optional. A subject in German is empty in an imperative
sentence, like in Sei vorsichtig! Then there may be constraints on them as to
what they can be filled with. The subject slot can be filled with nouns or with
infinitive or that-clauses, like in Dass mein Kollege damit einverstanden war,
überraschte mich nicht weiter.
Let's assume you type the verb animieren. The verb is probably already in the
lexicon. The UDM will return the following definition: the verb requires an
obligatory object and can govern an optional complement, which can be a
prepositional phrase with zu or an infinitive clause. You now have several
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possibilities. You can define a particular object and/or subject, which
motivates a special transfer of the verb. You can also give a special transfer
depending on whether the optional complement is present or not and whether
it is the prepositional phrase or the infinitive clause. See the following
examples:
Der Vater animierte [ihn] [zur Caddie-Karriere]. (subject = human, object =
human, complement = prepositional phrase) Die Künstlerin animierte [ihn],
[komische Rollen zu spielen]. (subject = human, object = human, complement =
infinitive clause) [Das Publikum] wurde von den Schauspielern animiert
[mitzumachen]. (overt subject = underlying object = human, agent ( von den
Schauspielern) = human, complement = infinitive clause) Sie animierte [ihn]
[dazu, nach Berlin zu fahren]. (subject = ?, object = human, complement =
infinitive clause with a zu-daprep) [Die erste Linkliste] wurde animiert. (overt
subject = underlying object = document type, agent not present, optional
complement not present)
Another example is the verb beanstanden. The verb is in the lexicon, so the
UDM will return the following:
First sense: Obligatory object -- which can be a noun or a finite clause or a
finite clause with an empty pronoun "es" -- and an optional prepositional
phrase with als with an adjective.
Second sense: Obligatory prepositional phrase with an + dative and obligatory
object -- noun or finite clause.
Here are some examples of the first sense:
Niedersächsische Gerichte beanstanden Kleingedrucktes. (object = noun) Der
Vorsitzende beanstandete [den Beschluss] [als rechtswidrig]. (object = noun)
Die Beschwerdeführer beanstanden, die Sendungen enthielten
Falschinformationen. (object = finite clause) In vielen Petition wird
beanstandet, [dass die Versicherungszeiten nicht berücksichtigt werden]. (Overt
subject = underlying object = that-clause) [Die Produkte] wurden
beanstandet. (Overt subject = underlying object = artifact type) Er hat es
beanstandet, [dass die Versicherungszeiten nicht berücksichtigt werden]. (Object
= that-clause with a preceding empty pronoun "es")
Here are some examples of the second sense:
Nie hatte eine gegnerische Mannschaft [etwas] [daran] beanstandet. (Subject =
human, object, complement prepositional phrase with an) Marx
beanstandet [an Hegels Philosophie] zuallererst [deren spekulativen Charakter].
(Subject = human, complement prepositional phrase with an, object =
attribute type noun) Die Kommission beanstandet an der Tätigkeit der
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Klägerin gerade, diese sei so ausgestaltet gewesen, dass sie ... bewirkt habe.
(Subject = group of people, complement prepositional phrase with an,
object = finite clause)
And here is a last example. Let's assume the verb you have chosen is einigen.
The verb is in the lexicon, and the UDM will return something like the
following:
First sense: obligatory noun object.
Das einigte [alle Oppositionsgruppen in Afghanistan] gegen die Briten.
Second sense: obligatory accusative reflexive and an optional complement -which can be a prepositional phrase with auf or über, infinitive clause,
infinitive clause with da-preps darauf or darüber, or a that-clause with da-prep
darauf.
Here is an example of the first sense:
Here are some examples of the second sense:
Bund und Länder einigten sich über den Jugendschutz im Internet.
(complement = prepositional phrase with über) Demnach einigten sich beide
Seiten auf die Höhe der Abfindung. (complement = prepositional phrase
with auf) Die Brüder einigten sich, das Fürstentum ungeteilt nacheinander zu
regieren. (complement = infinitive clause) Die Finanzminister einigten sich
darauf, dass die Mitgliedstaaten vorübergehend für den Versicherungsschutz
von Flugzeugen bei Krieg und Terror einspringen. (complement = that-clause
with da-prep darauf) Im Juni 1993 einigten sich EU-Minister darauf, die
Mitgliedsstaaten zu den Themen abstimmen zu lassen. (complement =
infinitive clause with da-prep darauf) Endlich einigten sie sich. (Reflexive
only, no complement)
Incidentally, the order of the context elements is irrelevant. The prepositional
phrase can precede the object, or the object can precede the prepositional
phrase. It is not relevant to how you define or fill the slots.
If one or more senses of a verb is returned from the lexicon, you cannot
change anything in the definition. You can, however, add as many transfers as
you like, based on descriptions of how the verb slots are filled.
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New verbs
If your verb is not found in the lexicons, you will be presented with several
menus and panels with regard to required and optional information.
Subject Area
The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no specified subject
area). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
If the German entry is an ordinary verb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. For instance, entwässern means something special in the
domain of chemistry and would be translated as dehydrate. Wieder entzünden in
the context of medicine would be translated as re-inflammate. Erlöschen in the
banking domain would be translated as expire and not as go out.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic co mmerce, hardware, and so on.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category technical
comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical
meanings of otherwise ordinary verbs, such as einhaken.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples: German analysieren
would be translated as analyse in British English, as analyze in American
English.
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Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation, for example fire instead of lay off for German entlassen or feuern.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Semantic types for verbs are quite different from noun or
adjective semantic types. They are more syntactically oriented.
The first batch has to do with what kind of agents, objects and goals the verb
can have or has preferably, or does NOT have. These types are crucial in
order to distinguish subject and object in cases of ambiguity.
v Preferred agent: human as agent (for example beanstanden, bemängeln, sich
fürchten) animal as agent (for example bellen, miauen, fressen) animate agent
(for example sabbern, verhungern) self-acting agent (for example übersetzen,
erzeugen, explodieren)
v Preferred goal: human as goal (for example beantworten, mitfühlen, zulächeln)
v Preferred object: human as object (for example anlächeln, ohrfeigen,
anquatschen)
v Excluded agent: not human as agent (for example herabrieseln, eitern,
verströmen)
v Excluded object: not human as object (for example verwirken, verwurschteln,
verzollen)
The second batch has to do with aspect. Aspect is important for the
translation, with respect to tense and progressive, for instance.
v imperfective (a process or an action that is not complete) (for example
entstehen, erleben, zunehmen)
v iterative/frequentative (for example umherflattern, husten, klingeln)
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v intensive (for example brüllen, saufen, herumtollen)
v diminutive (for example hüsteln, kriseln, lächeln, plätschern, schnippeln)
v perfective (a complete process or action) (for example begegnen, bersten,
beschlagen, abblättern)
v inchoative (beginning) (for example aufblühen, entflammen, erblühen,
einschlafen)
v egressive (end, result) (for example aufessen, durchbohren, verblühen, erfrieren,
verhungern)
v mutative (change of state, transition) (for example erkalten, erkranken, reifen,
reißen)
v causative (factitive: effecting a new state) (for example senken, öffnen, glätten)
Finally, there is a mixed bag of various types:
v consumption (for example essen, leertrinken)
v psychological feature (for example hoffen, bedauern)
v feeling (for example fühlen, sich schämen)
v verb of saying (for example sagen, argumentieren, warnen, verlautbaren)
v intransitive (for example agieren, blaffen)
v state/static/status (for example erstehen, skifahren, stattfinden. With respect to
location, these verbs do not normally allow direction or change.
Prepositional phrases normally in dative case)
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context.
Part of what follows only applies to verbs that are not already in the lexicon.
There is a crucial basic distinction between the contexts for verbs and the
contexts for all other parts of speech. The difference is that the other parts of
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speech have only one type of slot, possibly more than one of that type,
whereas verbs have several types: subject, direct object, indirect object,
complements.
These types can each have several options (just like the contexts for nouns
and adjectives).
v Subject: noun or noun phrase, interrogative clause, infinitive clause, finite
clause
v Object: noun or noun phrase, accusative reflexive pronoun, interrogative
clause, infinitive clause, finite clause, prepositional phrase;
v Indirect object: dative noun or noun phrase, dative reflexive pronoun,
prepositional phrase with certain prepositions (mainly für).
v Complement: prepositional phrase, adjective, noun or noun phrase,
infinitive clause, finite clause, locative adverb, passive participle.
It is important that you think of all the possibilities that a verb offers. List
every slot and every slot option that can ever occur with your verb. The more
complete your definition is, the better the syntactic analysis. Think of the
options as the potential of a verb. Go beyond the example that you may have
in front of you. The MT engine works best with fewer, but more complex,
verb definitions. Several limited definitions for the same verb makes the
analysis harder and may result in bad translation. Sometimes it helps if you
could look the verb up in a dictionary. The examples and descriptions that the
dictionary gives can be helpful guides.
Since there are so many possible context slots for verbs, we will here list them
separately, and not in combination. Note: When we talk about "object", we
refer to the "patient" or "theme" of the verb. Thus, in a passive sentence,
where there is no syntactic object, the "object" in the UDM sense is still there.
It appears as the subject of the passive sentence. The original subject, or
"agent", may or may not appear in the form of a von- or durch-phrase. for
example
Das Publikum wurde von den Schauspielern animiert mitzumachen. ( Das Publikum
= underlying object in the UDM sense. Die Schauspieler = underlying subject in
the UDM sense.)
corresponds more or less in meaning to the active sentence: Die Schauspieler
animinierten das Publikum mitzumachen.
Sometimes the object is slightly hidden, like in a relative clause: Er hat sein
Recht in Anspruch genommen, das er als deutscher Staatsbürger hat. The direct
object here is the relative pronoun das, which stands for sein Recht. It inherits
the semantic features of its antecedent Recht.
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Subject
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your subject option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words for target
purposes.
Example: sich bedecken
If the subject slot is filled with a word of the type natural space or the specific
word Himmel, you want become overcast as your transfer in English, else cover
oneself.
Interrogative clause (with or without pronoun "es")
Examples: Mir dämmert langsam, was der Knackpunkt sein könnte. Es steht noch
dahin, wie es letztendlich aussehen wird.
zu-Infinitive clause (with or without pronoun "es")
Examples: Sein Rad an einen stummeligen Poller anzuschließen nützt gar nichts.
Was nützt es, so etwas zu verbreiten?
Bare infinitive clause
Examples: In der Kirche rauchen geziemt sich nicht. Schwindeln nützt gar nichts.
Finite clause/that-clause (with or without pronoun "es")
Examples: Es passierte, dass ich nachts wachgerüttelt wurde. Dass versierte
Kunsträuber in ein Museum einbrechen geschieht immer wieder.
Direct object
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your subject option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words for target
purposes.
Example: abandon If the object slot is filled with a word of the type animal or
young human beings, you want aussetzen as your transfer in German. If the
object slot is filled with a word of the type human, you want verlassen as your
transfer. With other types of nouns, you want aufgeben.
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Accusative reflexive pronoun
Example: Ich habe mich geschnitten.
Interrogative clause (with or without pronoun "es"; with or without
da-prep)
Examples: Astronomen wissen, was sie suchen. Ich überlasse es dir, wie du am
besten aus dieser Situation wieder herauskommst. Sie wollten einen Bericht darüber
schreiben, wie es wirklich war.
Bare Infinitive clause
Example: Ich lernte laufen.
Zu-Infinitive clause (with or without pronoun "es"; with or without
da-prep)
Examples: Wir machten ab, uns am nächsten Tag zu treffen. Er riskierte es, die
Gunst des Königs zu verlieren. Sie schreckte davor zurück, der Exekutive und der
Armee mehr Machtbefugnisse einzuräumen.
Finite clause
Example: Ich machte ihm weis, ich sei eine arme Studentin.
that-clause (with or without pronoun " es"; with or without
da-prep)
Examples: Sie glaubte, dass der Mensch gut ist. Sie glaubte daran, dass der Mensch
gut ist. Sie schätzt es, dass er genau das tut, was man ihm aufträgt.
Quoted finite clause
Example: "Das neue Paradigma ist gerade wegberechnet worden", orakelte er.
Prepositional phrase
Example: Er besteht auf offenem Zugang zum Kabel.
Indirect object
Noun or noun phrase
Examples: Die neuesten Entwicklungen gaben den Leuten wieder Hoffnung. Sie
bahnten ihnen einen Weg. Sie entfloh dem Antlitz der innig geliebten Mutter.
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Dative reflexive pronoun
Example: Ich bedingte mir aus, dass ich bis an mein Lebensende hier wohnen kann.
Prepositional phrase
Example: Sie bahnten einen Weg für die Verbreitung der neuen Ideen. Der Vogel
entfloh aus Käfig und Schlingen.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question (including a case
for German target);
v do not specify anything, (assume default translation);
v indicate a deletion of the preposition. That means that a German
prepositional phrase would be rendered as a direct object in translation.
A note about the case of prepositions: For many prepositions, such as von, bei,
mit, um the case they govern is greyed out because they either only take one
case or the case variation is not relevant for the analysis. There are some
prepositions, though, where a difference in case makes a difference in
meaning, such as accusative or dative for in, auf, an, vor, unter, zwischen, neben,
hinter, über. You need to check only these.
Complement
Prepositional phrase
Examples: Er entlieh das Buch aus der Bücherei Eine andere Leserin entrüstete sich
über einen Artikel
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
v do not specify anything, (assume default translation)
v indicate a deletion of the preposition
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Prepositional phrase + adjective
Examples: Der deutsche Bundestag sieht es als unbedingt erforderlich an. Er
betrachtet es als nicht problematisch.
Prepositional phrase + reflexive pronoun
Examples: Der Arbeitsmarkt dümpelt vor sich hin. Er nahm sie für sich ein. Ich
hatte nicht genug Geld bei mir. Der liebevoll gewählte Kuchenberg sank in sich
zusammen.
Interrogative clause (with or without da-prep)
Examples: Hast du dich schon entschieden, wann du verreist und wohin du fährst?
Sie balgten sich darum, wem der Knochen zusteht.
Zu-Infinitive clause (with or without pronoun "es"; with or without
da-prep)
Examples: Das Parlament rang sich durch, einer erbkaiserlichen Lösung
zuzustimmen. Der Bundesrat seinerseits rang sich dazu durch, das
Berufsbildungsgesetz zu revidieren. Diese süße Vorstellung erleichterte es ihm,
Drakula Junior samt Gitarre mit einem Tritt in den Hintern aus Schloss Drakula zu
befördern.
Bare infinitive clause
Example: Ich hörte ihn husten.
Quoted finite clause
Example: "Am liebsten hätte er ihnen noch die Notizblöcke verboten", amüsiert sich
ein Zuhörer.
Finite clause
Examples: Am dritten Tag des Luftschlags prahlte das USVerteidigungsministerium, man habe die "Lufthoheit über Afghanistan erlangt".
that-clause (with or without da-prep)
Examples: Hiermit benachrichtige ich Sie, dass das Management neue Programme
eingeführt hat. Ich amüsierte mich darüber, dass sie sich gelegentlich vor ihrer Chefin
versteckte.
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Adjective
Examples: Ich fühle mich ziemlich krank. Er gab sich locker. Der Titel hört sich gut
an.
Passive participle
Example: Er gab sich geschlagen. Er sah abgemagert aus.
Locative adverb
Examples: Ich brachte ihn nach Hause.
Noun
Examples: Sie klagten ihn des Aufruhrs gegen das Reich an. (genitive) Man
schimpfte ihn einen Lügner. (accusative) Der Typ ballerte ihm seine gewaltige
Pranke auf die Schulter. (dative)
Semantic type of noun/prepositional object or specific noun(s)
For all cases where a noun is involved, you may proceed to define the
semantic characteristics of the prepositional object, if that is nessary for the
definition of the verb. Regarding the semantic type, you will see two choices:
Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of any
semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings, for
instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to cover
as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the noun/object of the preposition. This is true if the verb is
usually complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same
meaning and transfer apply regardless of its object.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all slots, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the default
setting) or obligatory, that is, you have to decide whether the slots have to be
filled or not in order to result in grammatical German. For the verb
einstampfen, you want to indicate that the object is obligatory. A sentence such
as * Sie stampfte ein is incorrect German. In many cases, the slots are optional.
You can say Sie raucht, so an object for the verb rauchen is not obligatory. The
verb erachten, on the other hand, has two obligatory slots: obligatory object
and obligatory prepositional phrase: Wie erachteten ihn als geplagt, geschlagen
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von Gott und bedrängt. As opposed to ungrammatical * Wie erachteten als
geplagt, geschlagen von Gott und bedrängt or ungrammatical * Wir erachteten ihn.
For verbs that already exist in the lexicon, you will be able to identify
obligatory and optional slots. You cannot change the "optional/obligatory"
status of the slots.
Procedure
If you want to specify more than one transfer or context for your verb, one
way to save time is to click on "Copy" and then "Modify" at the bottom of the
main panel where your first verb entry is highlighted. That way, your entries
are there and all you need to do is modify what needs to be changed.
Note: If you define a particular transfer for your verb that pertains to a
particular context, don't forget to add a more general transfer for all other
cases.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. There are two things that determine your transfer:
1. Status of verb slots (filled, not filled = empty, do not care whether filled or
not) and possibly semantic type(s) and/or specific words that fill the
mentioned slots. The subject slot is a special case insofar as it is never
optional or not filled in German. These issues have been discussed above.
2. Whether the verb in question functions as an attributive present or passive
participle.
The way the UDM works for verbs, you enter a verb with its potential
contexts, then specify one or more of them for one particular translation. You
repeat this for different parts of the contexts and different transfers. It is
useful to also add a more general translation for no further specification of the
identical general context.
English
Slot fillers
Here you mark the status of the verb slots and the semantic type(s) and/or
specific words that fill the slots.
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Attributive Function
Examples of attributive present participle: alarmierender Anstieg
beaufsichtigender Lehrer bestechende Argumente blühende Orchideen blühende
Waffengeschäfte
Examples of attributive passive participle: erhitzte Gemüter erhitzte Lebensmittel
fundierte Ausbildung tiefenpsychologisch fundierte Körperpsychotherapie gehobener
Dienst gestiegene Preise
If the transfer of an attributive participle is an English adjective, mark it as
such.
Note: if you enter a transfer for the participle form of a new verb, don't forget
to enter a transfer for all other cases.
Forms and particularities of the target
Reflexive verbs
Normally, a German reflexive verb corresponds to an English non-reflexive
verb. If that is the case, you don't need to indicate anything. The system
assumes this default. If, however, the English target is also reflexive, you need
to indicate that. Under the heading "Optional", you can mark "Reflexive" if
your transfer is a reflexive verb. for example rid oneself of.
Change to Passive Voice
Sometimes an active German verb is translated as a passive English verb, for
example
Es basiert auf...
to English
It is based on...
or
Es befindet sich...
to English
It is located...
. You can set this change under "Exceptions".
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Change to Active Voice
In contrast to the above-mentioned, a passive German verb is sometimes
translated as an active verb, for example
Der Motor wird abgewürgt.
to English
The engine stalls.
or
Es ist nachgefragt.
to English
It is in demand.
. You can set this change under "Exceptions".
Additional word(s)
There are many cases where the English verb needs a word or phrase to
complement it. You can add these under "Additional Word(s)".
Particle
The particle is the most frequent additional part of a phrasal verb. Examples:
cut back, clear away, come up, set in, calm down, and so on.
Adjective
Examples: be absent, remain valid, become visible, grow dark, and so on.
Adjective complement
If the additional word(s) is an adjective that belongs together with an object,
choose this option. Examples: make nervous, keep secret, consider finished, and so
on.
Predicate noun
Choose this option if your verb transfer is "be" and the additional word(s) is a
predicate noun or noun phrase. Examples: be the victim, be part, be a member, be
fun, and so on.
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Adverb not
If the additional word is the adverb "not", (if the transfer is a negated verb), it
requires special handling since English negation is subject to special
grammatical rules. Example: Ich blieb der Ansprache fern --> I did not attend the
speech.
Adverb
Examples: search thoroughly, book fully, work hard, vary widely, and so on.
Prepositional phrase
Examples: work like slaves, come to an agreement, come to terms, take into account,
and so on.
Object noun
Examples: take care, pay attention, hold office, have a good time, and so on.
Infinitive
Examples: make work, make realize, declare to be, lead to believe, cease to exist, and
so on.
Linguistic notes for German adjective entries
Source definitions
Enter your German word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign
(=) immediately before the head, no space, for example
=allein auf weiter Flur; =gut für das Geschäft
If your entry contains a contraction of preposition and definite article, such as
im or fürs, please take the word apart into two pieces, (write out) in dem or für
das.
If you want to enter more than one adjective, you can go to "Preferences",
"Functionality", and check "Prefill from previous entry". This will prefill the
part of speech in the "Add Entry" panel.
Special Features
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Morphosyntactic Features ("Exceptions")
v Possible combining form
v Combining form
A feature that is crucial for the MT engine is the fact whether an adjective can
or must occur in a compound. There are adjectives that function only as
prefixes, such as gegen, giga, meta, Herz-Lunge, individual, and so on. are treated
as combining form adjectives in the MT engine. They have to be marked as
such (combining form). Other adjectives can function as combining forms but
can also stand by themselves. They also have to marked as such (possible
combining form). Examples are: induktiv, instrumental, langsam, lebend, mager,
mobil, and so on. If they are not marked as possible combining form,
compounds that contain them will not be analyzed correctly.
v Never functions as attribute
v Never functions as predicate
v Never functions as complement
Adjectives can function as attributes or as predicates or complements of
linking verbs -- particulary the verb werden. In the sentence Der gewalttätige
Insasse wurde ruhig gestellt , the adjective gewalttätig is used attributively. In the
sentence Die Insassen waren gewalttätig, the same adjective is used
predicatively. In the sentence Die Insassen wurden gewalttätig, the same
adjective is used as a complement.
Some adjectives can never occur in an attributive function, and this should be
indicated in the lexicon. For instance, the adjective recht und billig can be used
as a predicate in Es ist nur recht und billig, dass sie die Stelle bekommt, but never
as an attribute: * Sie war eine recht und billige Angestellte ("Never functions as
attribute"). A similar situation applies to the adjective uneins. Sie waren sich
uneins is acceptable German, as is Sie wurden sich uneins, but * Die uneinsen
Menschen is not ("Never functions as attribute"). A last example is the adjective
allein, which is also "never as an attribute". Er ist allein is good German, but *
der alleine Mensch is not.
Adjectives that can only function as attributes, (never as predicates or
complements), are bisherig and Berliner ("Never functions as predicate" and
"Never functions as complement"). You cannot say * Das Haus wurde/war
bisherig or * Er wurde/war sehr Berliner. Another adjective that can never
function as a predicate or complement is nämlich ("Never functions as
predicate" and "Never functions as complement"). You can say die nämliche
Person, but not * Das Haus war/wurde nämlich.
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In general, the "never complement" marker is crucial for the analysis of
German adjectives that are participles derived from verbs, for example
heruntegewirtschaftet, häufig genutzt, so genannt, and so on. Consider the
following two sentences:
Die so genannte Lösung ist schlimmer als das Problem.
Er wurde so genannt.
The adjective so genannt needs to be marked as "Never functions as
complement" so that the MT engine can analyze the second sentence correctly
as a passive construction. A note of caution: Before you enter a verbal
participle, (like laufend, organisiert, abgestanden), decide whether it could be
entered as the participial form of the verb under that verb; it has a better
chance of a correct analysis.
There are two special adjective patterns that the MT engine treats in a
particular way: the first one are those adjectives that end with an "e" or an "s"
if they are predicates, such as bös(e), ander(s), fad(e), ganz besonder(s), herb(e),
link(s), and so on. They should be entered as two separate entries, one without
the ending as never functioning as predicate or complement ("Never functions
as predicate" and "Never functions as complement") and a second one with
the ending as never functioning as attribute ("Never functions as attribute").
The second special pattern is the adjective hoch and all its compounds. They
should also be entered as two separate entries, for example halbhoch as
("Never functions as predicate" and "Never functions as complement"), and
halbhoch as ("Never functions as attribute").
Never functions as adverb
Another syntactic characterization that is very important for the German
engine is based on the fact that almost all adjectives are also adverbs. The
word bestimmt, for instance, is an adjective in one sentence and an adverb in
another sentence: Er war bestimmt in seinen Anordnungen vs. Er war
bestimmt in seinen Anordnungen sehr genau. In order to get a better analysis
and translation by resolving the adjective/adverb ambiguity, it is very helpful
to mark those adjectives that can never function as adverbs, for instance,
imstande, in Betrieb, jahrhundertealt, kaputt, Berliner, and so on.
Postmodifier
Most German adjectives precede the noun that they modify, for instance, Er ist
ein großartiger Physiker and not * Er ist ein Physiker großartiger. There are
exceptions, however, mostly phrasal adjectives, for example u m die fünfzig,
mit Eis, pro Aktie. Wir suchen nach einem Mann um die fünfzig. Rotwein mit Eis
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schmeckt nicht. Such adjectives should be marked as postmodifiers, (following
the head they modify).
Comparison
Regular, Does Not Compare, Comparative, Superlative
Most German adjective can form a comparative and a superlative, for
instance:
Sie ist intelligent. Sie ist intelligenter als ihre Schwester. Sie ist am
intelligentesten von allen Mädchen in ihrer Klasse.
If this is the case, nothing needs to be indicated because this is the assumed
default (Regular). If your word has one of those adjectives as its head that
forms strong comparative and superlative, such as hoch, nahe, stark, arm, you
can mark the head with a preceding "+" (for example halb+stark) and the
system will automatically generate entries for the comparative and
superlative. These adjectives are called "irregular".
Some adjectives, however, cannot have these forms, and should be marked as
such (Does not compare). for example laufend, lebenslänglich, and so on.
In some cases, you may enter the comparative or superlative forms
themselves, if necessary. They should then be marked as such (comparative or
superlative). for example =besser dran (comparative) or geburtenschwächst and
geringst (superlative).
Inflection
Some German adjectives do not inflect, and this fact has to be marked in the
UDM. Adjectives that do not inflect are abbreviations such as christl. as well
as Berliner, Country- und Western, de facto, fünferlei, and so on.
Most adjectives that are borrowed from English do not inflect, such as
do-it-yourself, cash-and-carry, and so on.
Most adjectives that cannot precede the noun that they modify, such as danach,
normally do not inflect either.
Subject area
If the German entry is an ordinary adjective and has a special meaning
and/or transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add
that subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject
area is optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject
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area that they are used in. For instance, abgedroschen means something special
in the domain of journalism (and is translated as hackneyed). abschwellend in
the context of music has a fixed meaning (and is translated as subsiding).
abstoßend has a special meaning and transfer in physics (translated as
repulsory).
The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no specified subject
area). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, and so on.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category technical
comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical
meanings of otherwise ordinary adjectives, such as angepasst (translated as
fitted as opposed to conditioned) or rechtsläufig (translated as clockwise
instead of left to right).
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of German and English that are
all equally standard: U.S. American English, British, Irish, South African,
Australian, and Canadian English, Swiss German, and so on. The default in
the translation engine for English is U.S. American, the default for German is
FRG German. Alternatively, you can choose British English or Swiss German.
Example: If you want to translate wütend as mad, remember that this is a
misleading translation for British English, where mad means something closer
to insane. Translate bunt as colourful for British English, otherwise as colorful.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation, for example Klasse is only an adjective in colloquial language.
Mark it as such in order to avoid unnessary ambiguities. Krass will translate
as great only in the context of chat.
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Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name cannot contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Adjectives are classified the same way as nouns (see
Linguistic Notes for noun entries). albanisch and Albaner, for instance, refers to
a language and to people; buddhistisch refers to a religion or philosophy; östlich
is a direction; traurig refers to a feeling; ekelhaft denotes a negative value,
wunderbar a positive value; braun is a color; and so on.
The most important semantic features for adjectives are deverbal and
property. Deverbal adjectives are derived from verbs. They are either
participles such as laufend, angewidert, gut organisiert, prüfend, and so on. or
end in the suffix "bar" with the meaning that something can or must be done:
modifizierbar, annehmbar, and so on. The deverbal semantic feature is important
for a correct analysis because it allows certain complements that non-deverbal
adjectives do not allow. The other important semantic feature, property,
applies to most ordinary adjectives, such as quarzhaltig, quengelig, rabattfähig,
and so on. Color is a particular type of property. It might be useful to add
these two semantic types to your semantic type preferences. You do this
under "Preferences", "Semantics". You'll find property under
"abstraction","attribute". Highlight it, move it to the left into the "Active"
window and up with the blue arrows.
You will find a list of semantic types in the UDM interface. If you scroll all
the way down, you will find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier
to choose the semantic type that applies to your word. If it is a human being,
you will find it under physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human
-> human individual.
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
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The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
adjectives are defined.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context.
It is important that you think of all the possibilities that the adjective offers.
List every context option that can ever occur with your adjective. The more
complete your definition is, the better the syntactic analysis. Think of the
options as the potential of an adjective. Go beyond the example that you may
have in front of you. The MT engine works best with fewer, but more
complex, adjective definitions. Several limited definitions for the same
adjective makes the analysis harder and may result in bad translation.
Sometimes it helps if you could look the adjective up in a dictionary. The
examples and descriptions that the dictionary gives can be helpful guides. If
you define a particular transfer for your adjective that pertains to a particular
context, don't forget to add a more general transfer for all other cases. One
way to save time is to click on "Copy" and then "Modify" at the bottom of the
main panel where your first adjective entry is highlighted. That way, your
entries are there and all you need to do is modify what needs to be changed.
Nouns that the Adjective modifies
For an adjective, the most important context is the noun that it modifies.
Sample sentences:
Ihre Rolle dabei ist wesentlich. Sie spielt dabei eine wesentliche Rolle.
In both sentences, the adjective wesentlich modifies the noun Rolle.
The adjective beinflussbar, for instance, would be translated as controllable if it
modifies a noun of the semantic type time, as controlled if it modifies the
noun Variable, as suggestible if it modifies a noun of the semantic type human
individual, and so on., else as impressionable. The adjective entmutigend would
be translated as dautnting if it modifies the noun Aufgabe, otherwise as
discouraging. The adjective entstehend would be translated as emerging if it
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modifies Bewegung, Tendenz or Idee, as resulting otherwise.
Adjectives with one prepositional phrase
The adjective neidisch can govern a prepositional phrase with auf, for example
Er ist neidisch auf seinen Bruder.
Other examples of adjectives usually complemented by one prepositional
phrase are: neu an, neugierig auf, anwendbar auf, offen für.
If the context slot is filled, like in abgeleitet aus, for instance, you may want the
translation derived (from).
Or if the context slot is filled for careful with, you may want to translate it as
vorsichtig (mit) instead of as sorgfältig if the slot of the prepositional phrase is
not filled.
You only need to specify the case that the preposition governs if there is a
difference in the resulting meaning between accusative and dative. In all other
cases, no case specification is necessary.
Example: aktiv in + dative.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is nessary for the definition of the adjective.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
But there are cases where defining the object of the preposition is necessary.
Consider the following example. anfällig für. Someone who is anfällig für
diseases or ideas is susceptible to them, not prone.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
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do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question (including a case
for English target)
v do not specify anything, (assume default translation)
A note about the case of prepositions: For many prepositions, such as von, bei,
mit, um the case they govern is greyed out because they either only take one
case or the case variation is not relevant for the analysis. There are some
prepositions, though, where a difference in case makes a difference in
meaning, such as accusative or dative for in, auf, an, vor, unter, zwischen, neben,
hinter, über. You need to check only these.
Adjectives with an infinitive complement
Some adjectives are followed by an infinitive clause. In German, these can
stand by themselves or be connected with an additional "es" or with a
so-called da-prep, like daran, darin, damit, and so on.
Sie ist gewöhnt viel zu essen. Sie ist es gewöhnt viel zu essen. Sie ist daran gewöhnt
viel zu essen.
Sie war ihm behilflich, die richtige Ausrüstung zusammenzusuchen. Sie war
ihm dabei behilflich, die richtige Ausrüstung zusammenzusuchen
You have to specify which of the three possibilities your adjective allows or
requires.
Adjectives with a that-clause complement
Some adjectives take a that-clause complement, which can either stand by
itself or be connected with an additional so-called da-prep, like daran, darin,
damit, and so on.
Sie ist einverstanden, dass sie im Sommer nach Alaska reisen. Sie ist damit
einverstanden, dass sie im Sommer nach Alaska reisen.
Es ist davon abhängig, dass es nicht regnet.
You have to specify which of the two possibilities your adjective allows or
requires.
Adjectives with a noun complement
Some adjectives take a noun complement, which can be genitive or dative.
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Sie war sich der außerordentlichen Schwierigkeiten des Unterfangens bewusst.
Er ist solcher Taten fähig. Sie ist des Mordes schuldig. Er ist dem gar nicht
abgeneigt. Ihr Verhalten ist dem Projekt abträglich.
Here, you specify the case of the noun complement. You can also specify the
semantic type of the complement or one or more specific words.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. For the adjective angewiesen, you want to
indicate that a complement is obligatory ( Er ist darauf angewiesen; Er ist darauf
angewiesen, dass er die Stelle bekommt). In most other cases, the complements are
optional.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase. There are two
things that determine your transfer: (a) status of the adjective context (filled;
not filled = empty; do not care whether filled or not) and possibly semantic
type(s) and/or specific words that fill the mentioned context(s) and (b)
whether the adjective in question functions only as an attribute or predicate
on the one hand or whether the translation you are about to give is
independent of the function.
English
Transfer depending on whether the adjective occurs only in attributive or only
in predicative/complement function. Normally, the translation will be the
same whether the adjective is in attributive or in predicative or complement
function, as seen above. In some cases, however, there is a crucial difference in
translation if the adjective occurs in attributive function:
gewohnt would be normal in attributive function, but used as predicate or
complement. nach dem Krieg will be translated as postwar if in attributive
function, as after the war if in predicative function.
The UDM will ask you about how you would translate the adjective into an
English adverb if your word or phrase functions as an adverb. Since German
adjectives and adverbs are mostly identical, we want to list them in our
lexicon only once, in order to avoid duplication and overload. There are three
possibilities:
1. if the only difference between the English adjective and adverb is the
ly-ending (with necessary spelling changes, such as easy and easily), just
confirm the assumed default ("Add "ly" to Adjective").
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2. if the English adjective and adverb are identical (like in early), mark it as
"Same as Adjective".
3. if the English adverb is otherwise different from the adjective, you have to
type it in the space provided under "Specific Adverb".
Apart from that, there is nothing special to be noted about English target
adjectives except the following two issues: position of the adjective and
inflection.
Position
The German attributive adjective gleichaltrig is translated as of the same age
in English. While the German adjective precedes the noun is modifies, it
comes after the noun in English. This difference needs to be indicated in the
UDM by changing the position from Default to Postmodifier. The default for
the German target is the same position as the English source. If they are both
postmodifiers, you don't need to do anything. If they are both premodifiers,
you don't need to do anything. But if they differ in their position with respect
to the noun they modify, you need to indicate this under "Position".
The German attributive adjective aller Zeiten is translated as all-time in English.
While the German adjective follows the noun it modifies, it comes before the
noun in English. This difference needs to be indicated in the UDM by
changing the position from postmodifier to premodifier.
Inflection
The German adjective früher may be translated as former in English when it
modifies a human being. Since there is no non-comparative word that
corresponds to the non-comparative German früh, choose "Does Not Inflect".
Linguistic notes for German adverb entries
Source definition
Before you enter your German word or phrase, please stop to think whether
the word or phrase can also be an adjective. If that is the case, switch your
part of speech to Adjective and continue there. You will have the chance to
enter your adverb transfer. Abendlich, for instance, is both an adverb and
adjective, so are kabarettistisch, kenntnisreich, labil, and so on. Most German
adverbs are also adjectives. Adverbs that are not adjectives are the exception,
such as keinesfalls, kaum, and so on.
If your word or phrase can never be an adjective, enter it here. If the entry
consists of more than one word and the head of the phrase is not the last
word, please set an equal sign (=) immediately before the head, no space. for
example =ab Fabrik; =auf absehbare Zeit;
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If your entry contains a contraction of preposition and definite article, such as
im or fürs, please take the word apart into two pieces, (write out) in dem or für
das.
If you want to enter more than one adjective, you can go to "Preferences",
"Functionality", and check "Prefill from previous entry". This will prefill the
part of speech in the "Add Entry" panel.
Special Features
Inflection
v Does Compare
v Does Not Compare
v Comparative
v Superlative
Most adverbs that do not have an adjective counterpart do not have
comparative or superlative forms and should be marked as such ("Does not
compare"). for example besonders, bestenfalls, bezeichnenderweise.
In some cases, you may enter the comparative or superlative forms
themselves, if necessary. They should then be marked as such (comparative or
superlative). for example etwas mehr ("Comparative") or am besten
("Superlative").
Restrictions
There is a list of German adverbs in the base lexicon that cannot be changed
by the user because of their complex syntactic coding and their significance to
the MT engine. They contain most of those that can function as separable
prefixes of verbs as well as all da-compound adverbs (such as darauf ) because
they serve several special functions.
Subject area
If the German entry is an ordinary adverb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no
specified subject area). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject
areas to choose from when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, industry, leisure, religion and
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philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on.
The subject area computers is subdivided into AS400, ASPs, data processing,
electronic commerce, hardware, and so on. Industry is subdivided into
agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting, construction, engineering,
forestry, and so on. The category technical comprises several subcategories,
but is also useful for general technical meanings of otherwise ordinary
adverbs.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples:
abwärts can be translated as downwards in British English, or as downward in
American English.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents. If you don't find the subject area that you need for your
translation, you can add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not
contain a space. For easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. You can choose from the following semantic types for your
adverb. sentential (for example auf Grund des Vorhergehenden) period of time
(for example das ganze Jahr über) point in time (for example gleich morgens früh)
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time in general (for example nachher) past (for example gestern) future (for
example morgen) imperfective (for example jemals, nie) direction (for example
rechts herum) place (for example unten rechts, zu Hause) expression (for
example vielen Dank, von wegen) frequency (for example zehnmal) negation (for
example eben nicht) positive value (for example gut platziert) negative value
(for example zu Unrecht) psychological condition or feeling (for example
liebend gerne) criminal (for example diebisch) quantity (for example viel) manner
(for example auf diese Art und Weise)
Some of these semantic types for adverbs are crucial for good translation into
English, others are less so. The sentential adverbs, the adverbs that have to do
with time, and the imperfective adverbs are the most important ones.
Consider that the present perfect is the normal way of expressing events in
the past in German. In English this is not the case. The MT engine will
usually transform a German present perfect into a past tense in English,
unless certain conditions prevail. One of these is the presence of an adverb of
the type "imperfective". Thus you will get
Er ist gestern abend nicht nach Hause gegangen --> He did not go home last night.
But: Er hat noch nie einen Fehler gemacht --> He has never made a mistake.
Future tense is as important since German does not have a future tense, it is
often implied by the presence of an adverb that refers to some time in the
future.
Er geht in die Kirche --> He goes to church. But: Er geht morgen in die Kirche -->
He will go to church tomorrow.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context. The way the UDM is set up, it assumes one
adverb entry per transfer. This is different from the way the UDM is set up
for verbs. Think of each entry as an instance of the usage of that adverb, not
the potential of the source word.
If you define a particular transfer for your adverb that pertains to a particular
context, don't forget to add a more general transfer for all other cases. One
way to save time is to click on "Copy" and then "Modify" at the bottom of the
main panel where your first adverb entry is highlighted. That way, your
entries are there and all you need to do is modify what needs to be changed.
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Adverbs with one prepositional phrase
The adverb anders can govern a prepositional phrase with als, for example Sie
machen es anders als ihre Vorfahren. Other examples of adjectives usually
complemented by one prepositional phrase are: danke für, zusammen mit, ganz
vorne an, links von.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is nessary for the definition of the adjective.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
v do not specify anything, (assume default translation)
A note about the case of prepositions: For many prepositions, such as von, bei,
mit, um the case they govern is greyed out because they either only take one
case or the case variation is not relevant for the analysis. There are some
prepositions, though, where a difference in case makes a difference in
meaning, such as accusative or dative for in, auf, an, vor, unter, zwischen, neben,
hinter, über. You need to check only these.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. In most cases, the complement of an adverb is
optional. But if your specified transfer is only valid when the context is
present, make it obligatory. Then you will need to enter the same adverb
again, optional context, with a more general transfer.
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Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
English
Type in your target adverb and add an = sign if it is a phrase whose last
word is not the head.
Inflection
Since the position of adverbs in the sentence varies greatly between German
and English, you should indicate where in the sentence the English target
adverb tends to occur. Mostly, there is no predetermined or preferred position
for an adverb. It will be positioned somewhere in the sentence, depending on
what other constituents occur in the sentence. This case is the default in the
UDM: "Anywhere." There are, however, some adverbs that have a preferred
position. They can occur always/mostly at the beginning of the sentence
("Always initial"), in the middle ("Always middle") or at the end ("Always
final").
Examples of initial adverb position: letzten Endes --> in the final analysis;
manchmal --> sometimes; merkwürdigerweise --> funnily enough;
Examples of middle adverb position: schon in Kürze --> soon; sofort -->
immediately; im Allgemeinen --> generally;
Examples of final adverb position: nach Belieben --> as desired; allerdings -->
though; beiderseits --> on both sides.
Translating Italian to English
Summary of linguistic notes for translating from Italian to English
Read the linguistic notes for translating the following figures of speech from
Italian:
v Nouns
v Verbs
v Adjectives
v Adverbs
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Linguistic notes for Italian noun entries
Source definition
Enter your Italian word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one word
and the head of the phrase is not th e first word, please set an equal sign (=)
immediately before the head, no space. If the entry contains an adjective that
should agree with the head, please set a colon sign immediately before the
adjective.
Corriere della Sera; atto di fusione ; :nudo =proprietario
Your entry is either a common noun or a proper noun (or proper name).
Examples of common nouns:
abbraccio; traduttore in linea
Common nouns are defined as Noun in UDM.
Examples of proper nouns:
Andrea; Basilea; Comunità Economica Europea
Proper nouns are defined as Proper Noun in UDM.
Entries are case sensitive!
You must type entry names in the same case that you typed the entry
definition. If you define an entry in mixed case, the next time you type the
entry name, you must match the case mixing exactly. For this reason, it is
easiest to use all lower case letters to define an entry. If you define an entry in
all lower case, it can be matched with any case. See the examples listed below.
class b share - always matches regardless of input case class B share - only
matches input with the exact same case Class B share - only matches input
with the exact same case Class B Share - only matches input with the exact
same case
Gender and Inflection
In Italian, nouns are marked for gender masculine or feminine. uomo; libro;
licenza; linea; magia. Most nouns can occur in the singular and the plural, and
their inflection is regular. You need to specify exceptions. If your word is
singular only, cachemire/fauna, plural only, fauci/esequie, or singular and plural
with the same form, cabaret/depliant mark it as such.In this case you also need
to specify the gender.
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Subject area
If the Italian entry is an ordinary noun or noun phrase and has a special
meaning and/or transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you
can add that subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a
subject area is optional. Words can mean different things depending on the
subject area that they are used in. For instance, a porro is vegetable and it is
translated into English as Leek. In medical discourse, however, a porro is "a
small hard raised part on someone's skin". Porta is translated as door in
English unless you choose 'computers' as subject area, in which case it will be
translated as port. The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no
specific subject area is used). You have access to a comprehensive list of
subject areas to choose from when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties and company style guidelines
.Under economy , you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor ;
under business , you will find advertising, human resources, management,
marketing, public relations, and so on. The subject area computer sis
subdivided into AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware
, and so on. Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive,
broadcasting, construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category
technical comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general
technical meanings of otherwise ordinary nouns, such as cat, nut, and so on.
Regional variety
The regional variety category includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples:
In an English source text, the word hood can refer to the bonnet of a car; in
American English, it can refer to a neighbourhood. In a British English
document, boot can refer to a kind of shoe or to the trunk of a car.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
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If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning, or
class of entities, that your word belongs to. A cat, for instance, is a feline; a
screwdriver is a tool; an IBM Aptiva is a PC; a keyboard can be described as
part of a computer; a mood may be seen as a psychological condition or state;
murder is a crime; a teacher is a professional; a boy is a human individual;
and so on.
You will find a list of semantic types. If you scroll all the way down, you will
find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier to choose the semantic
type that applies to your word. If it is a human being, you will find it under
physical object - natural object - animate - human - human individual
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
Here are some examples of the impact on translation:
If the verb presentare is correctly defined in the dictionary, its translation will
be introduce in English if the complement is human. Otherwise, the translation
will be present.
Thus, you want to make sure that the nouns that could be the object of the
word presentare are correctly coded as human individuals in order to make
full use of the distinction coded in the dictionary.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
nouns are defined.
Following are some examples of words with their semantic types in UDM,
including their place in the semantic hierarchy. If you are not sure which
semantic type to assign to a noun, it is better to assign one of the broad
categories than not assign anything.
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calcio = sports(- activity - action)
begonia = plant (- animate being - natural object - physical object)
dato = information (- aggregation - group)
testa = bodypart (- part)
palazzo = building (- place)
ammirazione = feeling (- psychological feature)
Context
Nouns without context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic context. For Italian nouns, the context can be certain objects that
normally follow it and link it to other words.
Nouns with one prepositional phrase
For instance, let's take the noun campione. It can be used in the sense of
campione di calcio or campione di sangue and you may want to change the
related translation ( champion or sample)
As context for your word, you will choose one prepositional phrase. You are
then asked to identify the preposition. In this case, it is di You may then
proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the prepositional object.
You could list all the types of campione in this sense, but it is easier to choose
a semantic type that covers sports, such as calcio, pugilato, and so on. Regarding
the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two choices: Is
(the default) and Is Not . The latter means that the object can be of any
semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (for instance, human
beings ).
Other examples of nouns usually complemented by one prepositional phrase
are:
allacciamento a; informazione su
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You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition you may do so.
You may also specify that the preposition be deleted upon translation. Note
that this option used for the source preposition "di" will trigger an nnoun
transformation. For example, if you specify a deletion of the preposition "di"
for assorbimento+di, the translation of assorbimento di acqua will be water
absorption.
In general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question;
v Do not specify anything, (assume default translation);
v Indicate a deletion of the preposition.
Nouns with two prepositional phrases
Some nouns take two prepositional phrases as complements:
La trasformazione da bozzolo in farfalla.
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with three prepositional phrases
Some nouns take three prepositional phrases as complements:
La partenza dell'aereo da Madrid per Roma
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with a that-clause complement
Some nouns take a that-clause complement:
Il fatto che egli abbia sbagliato; La possibilit che ci avvenisse; Il timore che non
sapesse ritrovare la via di casa; Il sospetto che mi avesse tradito
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Nothing needs to be specified for a that-clause.
Note: Not to be confused with a relative clause like, Il pacco che, arrivato ieri.
Nouns with a prepositional phrase and a that-clause complement
Some nouns are complemented by a prepositional phrase and a that-clause
complement:
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with a question complement
Some nouns take a question complement:
L'incertezza di quando partire; La richiesta di come effettuare il pagamento
Nothing needs to be specified for a question complement.
Nouns with an identifier complement
Some nouns take an identifier:
Capitolo 6; Fila 32; Appartamento A-301.
Nothing needs to be specified for an identifier.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory.
Target Definition
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
English
Simple English Noun
In English, only very few nouns are associated with a gender. John; Mary;
Michael Johnson; Magic Johnson; Mia Hamm; U.S.S. Constitution. Inflection for
English nouns is also simple. Most nouns can occur in the singular and the
plural, and their inflection is regular. You need to specify exceptions. If your
word is singular only, checkers/data/media, plural only, earnings/clothes/pants, or
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singular and plural with the same form, fish/aircraft/gallows/deer mark it as
such.
Target phrase
If the target translation consists of more than one word and the head of the
phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign (=) immediately before
the head, no space, for example
= shop of imported goods
Deletion of Definite Articles
Some English nouns do not normally occur with definite articles, for example,
nature/science/society. Therefore, the article that a word might have in Italian,
has to be deleted in the English translation.
La societ responsabile di mantenere la pace. Society is responsible for keeping peace.
If you are defining such a word, you must check the Delete Definite Article
box.
Linguistic notes for Italian verb entries
Linguistic notes for Italian verb entries
Source definitions
Type in your verb. If it is a reflexive verb, do not mention the reflexive here.
You will be prompted for it in the context. Under "Direct object" for the
accusative reflexive, under "Indirect object" for the dative reflexive. For
instance, you should type accingere and not accingersi.
The UDM will search the lexicon and present you with one or more senses if
it finds it. In this case, you can change the transfer(s) for a particular subject
area or context(s). If the verb is not yet in the lexicon, you can define the
context(s) and give transfers.
Found Verbs
Restricted Verbs
There are some verbs in the lexicon that the user cannot change. These are
essere, avere, potere, sapere, volere, dovere, stare.
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Verb definitions
Imagine the verb as the core of an utterance. It can stand by itself, like in
Andiamo!, and it can be surrounded by satellites, like in Maria va sempre al
mare, Giovanni legge molti libri. These satellites -- such as subject, object,
prepositional phrase, infinitive, particle, indirect object -- can be viewed as
place holders, or containers, which can be filled with different words and
phrases. We call all these place holders slots. There may be constraints on
these slots. It may be that they have to be filled, then they are obligatory. If
they don't have to be filled, they are optional. A subject in Italian is often
understood and the related slot will be empty like in Studio molto. Then there
may be constraints on them as to what they can be filled with.
Let's assume you type the verb ritenere. The verb is already in the lexicon. The
UDM will return the following definition: the verb can govern an object
which can be a noun or a that clause and a complement, which can be an
adjective or a noun. You now have several possibilities. You can define a
particular object and/or subject, which motivates a special transfer of the
verb. You can also give a special transfer depending on whether the
complement is present or not. See the following examples:
Maria ritiene Giovanni molto intelligente. (subject = human, object = human,
complement = adjective)
Ritengo che non sia opportuno rispondere (object = that clause)
Another example is the verb meravigliare. The verb is in the lexicon, so the
UDM will return the following:
First sense: Obligatory reflexive object and an optional complement, which
can be a prepositional phrase with di or a that clause.
Second sense: Optional object which can be only a noun.
Here are some examples of the first sense:
Mi meraviglio della tua ingenuità. (reflexive object + prepositional phrase)
Mi meraviglio che tu non abbia saputo la notizia. (reflexive object + that clause)
Here are some examples of the second sense:
La mia sorpresa ha meravigliato tutti i bambini
Tutti i bambini sono stai meravigliati dalla mia sorpresa
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Incidentally, the order of the context elements is irrelevant. The prepositional
phrase can precede the object, or the object can precede the prepositional
phrase. It is not relevant to how you define or fill the slots.
If one or more senses of a verb is returned from the lexicon, you cannot
change anything in the definition. You can, however, add as many transfers as
you like, based on descriptions of how the verb slots are filled.
New verbs
If your verb is not found in the lexicons, you will be presented with several
menus and panels with regard to required and optional information.
Subject Area
The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no specified subject
area). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
If the Italian entry is an ordinary verb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. For instance, sanare means something special in the domain
of business and would be translated as balance.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic co mmerce, hardware, and so on.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category technical
comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical
meanings of otherwise ordinary verbs, such as ingrassare.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English.
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Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation, for example. help out instead of help for the Italian aiutare.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Semantic types for verbs are quite different from noun or
adjective semantic types. They are more syntactically oriented.
For instance, the first batch has to do with what kind of agents, objects and
goals the verb can have or has preferably or does NOT have. These types are
crucial in order to distinguish subject and object in cases of ambiguity.
human as agent (for example. sposare, suicidare)
human as goal (for example. piacere, telefonare)
human as object (for example. amareggiare, sposare)
not human as agent (for example. fruttificare, suppurare)
not human as object (for example. sdoganare, potare)
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
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Exceptions
Most transitive Italian verb require avere as auxiliary while most intransitive
verb require essere and the system follows this simple rule. Of course there
are some exceptions: cenare is intrasitive and requires avere. Volare is transitive
and admits both essere and avere. If you are adding one of these verb you
should select the specific auxiliary feature in the exception menu.
In the same menu it is also possible to specify whether only the third person
is admitted like for piovere. A further restriction to third person singular can
be made for words like nevicare.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context.
Part of what follows only applies to verbs that are not already in the lexicon.
There is a crucial basic distinction between the contexts for verbs and the
contexts for all other parts of speech. The difference is that the other parts of
speech have only one type of slot, possibly more than one of that type,
whereas verbs have several types: subject, direct object, indirect object,
complements.
These types can each have several options (just like the contexts for nouns
and adjectives).
v Subject: noun or noun phrase (also substantivized infinitive forms), finite
clause
v Object: noun or noun phrase, accusative reflexive pronoun, interrogative
clause, infinitive clause, finite clause
v Indirect object: noun or noun phrase, dative pronoun, prepositional phrase
introduced by the preposition a.
v Complement: prepositional phrase, adjective, noun or noun phrase,
infinitive clause, finite clause.
It is important that you think of all the possibilities that a verb offers. List
every slot and every slot option that can ever occur with your verb. The more
complete your definition is, the better the syntactic analysis. Think of the
options as the potential of a verb. Go beyond the example that you may have
in front of you. The MT engine works best with fewer, but more complex,
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verb definitions. Several limited definitions for the same verb makes the
analysis harder and may result in bad translation. Sometimes it helps if you
could look the verb up in a dictionary. The examples and descriptions that the
dictionary gives can be helpful guides.
Since there are so many possible context slots for verbs, we will here list them
separately, and not in combination.
Note: When we talk about "object", we refer to the "patient" or "theme" of the
verb. Thus, in a passive sentence, where there is no syntactic object, the
"object" in the UDM sense is still there. It appears as the subject of the passive
sentence.
Giovanni è apprezzato da tutti i professori.
( Giovanni = underlying object in the UDM sense. professori = underlying
subject in the UDM sense.)
corresponds more or less in meaning to the active sentence:
Tutti i professori apprezzano Giovanni.
Sometimes the object is slightly hidden, like in a relative clause: Questi sono gli
studenti che più ammiro. The direct object here is the relative pronoun che,
which stands for studenti. It inherits the semantic features of the word studenti.
Subject
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default (it can also be filled by substantivized infinite forms
mangiare è bello). If your subject option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words for target
purposes.
Example:
carburare
If the subject slot is filled with a word of the type human being, you want tick
as your transfer in English, else run.
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Finite clause/that-clause
Examples:
Mi sembra scortese che tu non rimanga a cena.
Direct object
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your subject option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words for target
purposes.
Example:
accendere
If the object slot is filled with a word of the type electrical device, you want
turn on, else light.
Accusative reflexive pronoun
This option should only be selected in order to specify a specific verb sense (
meravigliarsi di, accingersi) and not to cover a reflexive usage of a noun object (
lavarsi).
Example:
Mi meraviglio della tua maleducazione.
Mi accingo a scrivergli.
Interrogative clause
Examples:
Gli ho chiesto quale preferisce.
Mi domando dove andare.
Infinitive clause
Example:
Amo mangiare.
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Preposition+Infinitive clause
Example:
Comincia a correre!
Finite clause+that clause
Example:
Penso sia giusto protestare.
Penso che sia giusto protestare.
That-clause
Examples:
Ho saputo che sei stato promosso.
Ho saputo di essere stato promosso
Indirect object
Dative reflexive pronoun
Example:
Mi accerto che sia arrivato.
Dative pronoun
Gli ho regalato un libro.
Prepositional phrase
Example:
Ho regalato un libro a Luigi.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
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v do not specify anything, (assume default translation)
v indicate a deletion of the preposition. That means that an Italian
prepositional phrase would be rendered as a direct object in translation.
Complement
Prepositional phrase
Examples:
Siamo andati al mare
Ha affondato il coltello nella piaga
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question;
v do not specify anything, (assume default translation);
v indicate a deletion of the preposition.
Preposition+infinitive
Example:
Persuado i ragazzi a studiare.
Infinitive clause
Example:
Ascolto i ragazzi cantare.
Finite clause
Examples:
Prego Dio che non piova.
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Adjective
Examples:
Ritengo Giovanni intelligente.
Ritengo Giovanni molto apprezzato.
Noun
Examples:
Ritengo Giovanni una persona intelligente
Semantic type of noun/prepositional object or specific noun(s)
For all cases where a noun is involved, you may proceed to define the
semantic characteristics of the prepositional object, if that is necessary for the
definition of the verb. Regarding the semantic type, you will see two choices:
Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of any
semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings, for
instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to cover
as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the noun/object of the preposition. This is true if the verb is
usually complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same
meaning and transfer apply regardless of its object.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all slots, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the default
setting) or obligatory, that is, you have to decide whether the slots have to be
filled or not in order to result in grammatical Italian. For the verb accingersi,
you want to indicate that the reflexive object is obligatory. A sentence such as
* Accingo a scrivere is incorrect Italian. In many cases, the slots are optional.
You can say Sto leggendo un libro, but also Sto leggendo so an object for the verb
leggere is not obligatory.
For verbs that already exist in the lexicon, you will be able to identify
obligatory and optional slots. You cannot change the "optional/obligatory"
status of the slots.
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Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification.
English
Additional word(s)
There are many cases where the English verb needs a word or phrase to
complement it. You can add these under "Additional Word(s)".
Examples:
cut back, clear away, come up, set in, calm down, and so on.
be closely related, be absent, and so on.
remain valid, become visible, grow dark, make nervous, get worked up, keep secret,
and so on.
be the victim, be part, be a member, be fun, and so on.
search thoroughly, book fully, work hard, vary widely, and so on.
work like slaves, come to an agreement, come to terms, take into account, and so on.
take care, pay attention, hold office, have a good time, and so on.
make work, make realize, declare to be, lead to believe, cease to exist, and so on.
Delete Reflexive
Italian words which are reflexive, and which lose their reflexivity in
translation to English must be marked as such through the choice of the
"Delete Reflexive" choice in the Exceptions panel.
Change Indirect Object or Reflexive to Possessive
One can also mark the verb for a change of its indirect object or reflexive
pronoun to a possessive. For example, this marking will trigger a change of
the reflexive pronoun mi in " mi lavo le mani" into the possessive my in " I
wash my hands."
Linguistic notes for Italian adjective entries
Linguistic notes for Italian adjective entries
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Source definitions
Enter your Italian word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one word
and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign (=)
immediately before the head, no space. e.g. =disponibile a magazzino
Special Features
Morphosyntactic Features ("Exceptions")
v Never Functions as Predicate
Adjectives can function as attributes or as predicates or complements of
linking verbs. In the sentence Ho incontrato una ragazza intelligente the adjective
intelligente is used attributively. In the sentence Questa ragazza è molto
intelligente, the same adjective is used predicatively. In the sentence Considero
questa ragazza molto intelligente, the same adjective is used as a complement.
Some adjectives can never occur in an predicative function, and this should be
indicated in the lexicon under "Optional", "Exceptions."
Inflection
Some Italian adjectives do not inflect, and this fact has to be marked in the
UDM under "Required", "Inflection". The option is "Invariable." The default is
"Regular". Adjectives that do not inflect are abbreviations such as Ns., Spett. as
well as parigrado, sottaceto, ad hoc, etc. Most adjectives that are borrowed from
English do not inflect, such as liberal, plug-and-play, etc.
Subject area
If the Italian entry is an ordinary adjective and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. For instance, elaborativo is translated as processing in the
computers domain instead of elaborating.
The default in the translation engine is general usage, i.e. no specified subject
area. You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
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public relations, etc. The subject area computers is subdivided into AS400,
ASPs, data processing, electronic co mmerce, hardware, etc. Industry is
subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting, construction,
engineering, forestry, etc.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
etc. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain any space.
For easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Adjectives are classified the same way as nouns (see
Linguistic Notes for noun entries).
You will find a list of semantic types in the UDM interface. If you scroll all
the way down, you will find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier
to choose the semantic type that applies to your word. If it is a human being,
you will find it under
physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human -> human individual
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
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type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
adjectives are defined.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context. It is important that you think of all the
possibilities that the adjective offers. List every context option that can ever
occur with your adjective. The more complete your definition is, the better the
syntactic analysis. Think of the options as the potential of an adjective. Go
beyond the example that you may have in front of you. The MT engine works
best with fewer, but more complex, adjective definitions. Several limited
definitions for the same adjective makes the analysis harder and may result in
bad translation. Sometimes it helps if you could look the adjective up in a
dictionary. The examples and descriptions that the dictionary gives can be
helpful guides.
Nouns that the Adjective modifies
For an adjective, the most important context is the noun that it modifies.
Sample sentences would be the following:
Mi hai consigliato un bel libro.
Questo libro mi sembra molto bello.
In both sentences, the adjective bello modifies the noun libro.
The adjective retto, for instance, would be translated as correct if it modifies a
noun of the semantic type human individual, as right if it modifies the noun
angolo, as straight otherwise.
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For the noun modified, you can choose one or more semantic type(s) or one
or more specific words
under "Modified Noun/Semantic Type."
Adjectives with one prepositional phrase
The adjective simile can govern a prepositional phrase with a, e.g. Il nuovo
romanzo è molto simile al precedente.
Other examples of adjectives usually complemented by one prepositional
phrase are:
solidale con, suscettibile di, vertente su.
If the context slot is filled for aggiornato a, you may want to translate it as
updated instead of
as up-to-date if the slot of the prepositional phrase is not filled.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is nessary for the definition of the adjective.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
only a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more
than one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
v do not specify anything, i.e. assume default translation
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Adjectives with an infinitive complement
Some adjectives are followed by an infinitive clause introduced by a
preposition.
facile a dirsi
In this case you choose the infinitive clause as context specifying the related
preposition.
Adjectives with a that-clause complement
Some adjectives take a that-clause complement
Siamo sicuri che arriverete domani
You don't need to specify anything further.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase. There are two
things that determine your transfer: (a) status of the adjective context (filled;
not filled = empty; do not care whether filled or not) and possibly semantic
type(s) and/or specific words that fill the mentioned context(s) and (b)
whether the adjective in question functions only as an attribute or predicate
on the one hand or whether the translation you are about to give is
independent of the function.
English
Function
Transfer depending on whether the adjective occurs in attributive or in
predicative/complement function.
Normally, the translation will be the same whether the adjective is in
attributive or in predicative or complement position, as seen above. In some
cases, however, there is a crucial difference in translation if the adjective
occurs in attributive function: ciclabile would be cycle in attributive function,
but for bikes if in predicative function.
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You indicate this under "Optional", "Function": either "Attributive" or
"Predicative". Otherwise the default is assumed -- both attributive and
predicative.
Otherwise, there is nothing special to be noted about English target adjectives
except position
Position
While the Italian attributive adjective usually follows the noun it modifies, it
usually precedes the noun in English and the system follows this simple rule.
If you want the English adjective to follow the noun you should indicate it in
the UDM by changing the position to "Postmodifier."
This is useful especially when you translate an Italian adjective into an
English prepositional group.
Linguistic notes for Italian adverb entries
Linguistic notes for Italian adverb entries
Source definitions
Enter your Italian word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one word
and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign (=)
immediately before the head, no space. for example in =allegato; di
=conseguenza ;
Special Features
Restrictions
There is a list of Italian adverbs in the base lexicon that cannot be changed by
the user because of their complex syntactic coding and their significance to
the MT engine. These adverbs are the following:
abbastanza, almeno, anche, ancora, bene, ce, ci, come, così, davvero, dentro,
dopo, dove, dunque, fino, fortemente, insieme, invece, ivi, là, lì, mai, male,
meglio, meno, molto, ne, neanche, nemmeno, no, non, né, ove, perché,
piuttosto, più, poco, presto, prima, proprio, qua, quando, quanto, quasi, qui,
quindi, realmente, riguardo, sino, solo, sì, tanto, tardi, troppo, ugualmente,
veramente.
Subject area
If the Italian entry is an ordinary adverb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
Chapter 1. What is User Dictionary Manager?
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subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no
specified subject area). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject
areas to choose from when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, industry, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, and so on.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category technical
comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical
meanings of otherwise ordinary adverbs.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
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Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has.
For Italian adverbs, only the semantic types "time" and "place" are relevant.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. The quality of your translation will stand in direct relation to the
correct coding of the syntactic and semantic context.
Adverbs with one prepositional phrase
The adverb insieme can govern a prepositional phrase with the preposition a,
for example Essi giocavano insieme ai loro amici.
Other examples of adverbs usually complemented by a prepositional phrase
are:
invece di, conformemente a, all'esterno di.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is necessary for the definition of the adverb.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
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v Do not specify anything, (assume default translation)
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. In most cases, the complement of an adverb is
optional.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
English
Position
Since the position of adverbs in the sentence varies between Italian and
English, you should indicate where in the sentence the English target adverb
tends to occur. Mostly, there is no predetermined or preferred position for an
adverb. It will be positioned somewhere in the sentence, depending on what
other constituents occur in the sentence. This case is the default in the UDM:
"Anywhere." There are, however, some adverbs that occur always/mostly
after the verb ("Move after verb").
Examples:
finora --> up to now;
adesso --> now;
fra breve --> in a short while.
Exceptions
Sometimes an Italian adverb needs to be changed into an English adjective.
For example, the sentence Costa molto should be translated as It is expensive. In
these cases you will need to translate the Italian adverb with the
corresponding adjective form and then select the exception "Change to
Adjective".
Translating Spanish to English
Summary of linguistic notes for translating from Spanish to English
Read the linguistic notes for translating the following figures of speech from
Spanish:
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User's Guide
v
v
v
v
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Linguistic notes for Spanish noun entries
Source definition
Enter your Spanish word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not th e first word, please set an equal
sign (=) immediately before the head, no space. If the entry contains an
adjective that should agree with the head, please set a colon sign immediately
before the adjective.
primer =ministro; servicio :doméstico; medo =ambiente; medio de transporte;
=Agencia EFE
Your entry is either a common noun or a proper noun (or proper name).
Examples of common nouns:
elegancia; =empresa de transportes
Common nouns are defined as Noun in UDM.
Examples of proper nouns:
Barcelona; Estados Unidos; Walt Disney; Río de Janeiro
Proper nouns are defined as Proper Noun in UDM.
Entries are case sensitive!
You must type entry names in the same case that you typed the entry
definition. If you define an entry in mixed case, the next time you type the
entry name, you must match the case mixing exactly. For this reason, it is
easiest to use all lower case letters to define an entry. If you define an entry in
all lower case, it can be matched with any case. See the examples listed below.
class b share -> always matches regardless of input case
class B share -> only matches input with the exact same case
Class B share -> only matches input with the exact same case
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Class B Share -> only matches input with the exact same case
Gender and Inflection
The system will offer you a list of suggested gender and inflection patterns
for your word. If the highlighted suggestion is not correct, then choose one of
the other inflection patterns in the list. If the word is not masculine, change
the gender in the Gender box. The list of suggested inflection patterns will
change as appropriate for that gender. Be certain to highlight the choice that
applies to your word.
Subject area
If the Spanish entry is an ordinary noun or noun phrase and has a special
meaning and/or transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you
can add that subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a
subject area is optional. Words can mean different things depending on the
subject area that they are used in. For instance, an appendix is "a separate part
at the end of a book or magazine which gives additional information." It is
translated into German as Anhang, and as anexo into Spanish. In medical
discourse, however, an appendix is "a small tube-shaped part which is joined
to the intestines on the right side of the body." If a particular document deals
with medicine, you can choose the subject area medicine, in which case the
word will be translated into German as Blinddarm, and into Spanish as ap
ndice. Words can also require different transfers in the target language,
depending on the subject area, even if the concept is the same or similar. For
example accessibility is translated as Zug nglichkeit in German unless you
choose subject area computers, in which case it will be translated as Zugriffsm
glichkeit. The word boot is translated into Spanish as bota unless you choose
subject area computers, in which case it would be translated as arranque. The
default in the translation engine is general usage, (no specified subject area).
You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from when
submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic co mmerce, hardware, and so on.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category technical
comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical
meanings of otherwise ordinary nouns, such as cat, nut, and so on.
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User's Guide
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples:
In an English source text, the word hood can refer to the bonnet of a car; in
American English, it can refer to a neighborhood. In a British English
document, boot can refer to a kind of shoe or to the trunk of a car.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning, or
class of entities, that your word belongs to. A cat, for instance, is a feline; a
screwdriver is a tool; an IBM Aptiva is a PC; a keyboard can be described as
part of a computer; a mood may be seen as a psychological condition or state;
murder is a crime; a teacher is a professional; a boy is a human individual;
and so on.
You will find a list of semantic types. If you scroll all the way down, you will
find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier to choose the semantic
type that applies to your word. If it is a human being, you will find it under
physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human -> human individual
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
Here are some examples of the impact on translation:
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She handled them improperly.
If the verb handle is correctly defined in the dictionary, its translation will be
tratar in Spanish if the complement is human. Otherwise, the translation will
be manejar.
appealing to a court is different from appealing to a layperson.
Thus, you want to make sure that the nouns that could be the object of the
word appeal are correctly coded as either institutions or human individuals in
order to make full use of the distinction coded in the dictionary. For Spanish:
If the object of the verb naturalize is defined as a type of plant or animal, it
will be translated as aclimatar, otherwise as naturalizar.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
nouns are defined.
Following are some examples of words with their semantic types in UDM,
including their place in the semantic hierarchy. If you are not sure which
semantic type to assign to a noun, it is better to assign one of the broad
categories than not assigning anything.
scragginess = appearance (-> property -> abstraction)
acre = area unit (-> unit of measurement -> measure -> abstraction )
triathlon = sports(-> activity -> action)
invitation = speech act (-> action)
jewel = adornment (-> artifact -> physical object)
begonia = flower (-> plant -> animate being -> natural object -> physical
object)
baccara = game (-> social event -> event)
data = information (-> aggregation -> group)
company = group of people (-> group)
head = bodypart (-> part)
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engine = machine part (-> part)
noise = sound (-> physical phenomenon -> natural phenomenon ->
phenomenon)
palace = building (-> place)
Royal Marsden Hospital = hospital (-> place of business -> place)
5th Avenue = street (-> path -> place)
sound reason = motive (-> cognition -> psychological feature)
admiration = feeling (-> psychological feature)
Buddhism = religion (-> philosophy/ideology -> cognition -> psychological
feature)
chance = possibility (-> state/status/condition)
chickenpox = disease (-> physiological state/condition -> state)
contusion = injury (-> imperfection -> state/condition)
abstracting, abuse, access logging, yelping are deverbal nouns;
agent, spark are examples of agency.
Context
Nouns without context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic context. For Spanish nouns, the context can be certain objects that
normally follow it. Let's take the noun school, for instance. If it used in the
sense of the building and institution of learning, then it does not have a
context. You go to school, period.
Nouns with one prepositional phrase
If you attend a school of dentistry, your entry school has a very distinct
complement: an object introduced by the preposition of . As context for your
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word, you will choose one prepositional phrase. You are then asked to
identify the preposition. In this case, it is of . You may then proceed to define
the semantic characteristics of the prepositional object.
a school of dentistry is very different from a school of fish or a school of thought. It
is very similar, however, to a school of law and a school of engineering. You
could list all the types of schools in this sense, but it is easier to choose a
semantic type that covers dentistry, law, engineering, and similar types: they
are disciplines. Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition,
you will see two choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the
object can be of any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude
(human beings, for instance).
A different type of school is the school of herrings.
It is a group and can be used for any type of fish that swim in groups. Thus,
you could mark the object of the preposition as belonging to the semantic
type fish. It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to cover
as much as possible.
Other examples of nouns usually complemented by one prepositional phrase
are:
acuerdo sobre paz; cantante de ópera; contribución a la democracia;
fascinación por
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. For a school of
thought, for instance, you can specify not a semantic class of words but one
particular word, thought. You can have more than one specific word, if that is
necessary. Often there is no need to specify anything for the object of the
preposition. This is true if the word is usually complemented by a particular
prepositional phrase and the same meaning and transfer apply regardless of
the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition you may do so.
You may also specify that the preposition be deleted upon translation. In
general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question;
v Do not specify anything, (assume default translation);
v Indicate a deletion of the preposition.
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User's Guide
Nouns with infinitive complements
Some nouns are followed by an infinitive clause, without which they are
incomplete:
impaciencia por/impulso de/oportunidad para hacer bien las cosas
In these cases, you choose the infinitive clause as context. You don't need to
specify anything further.
Nouns with a prepositional phrase and an infinitive complement
Some nouns are complemented by both a prepositional phrase and an
infinitive:
the appeal to the authorities to return the child; the agreement among the rich nations
to forgive the debt; the advice of the consultant to improve the imagery;
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase,
infinitive complement).
Nouns with two prepositional phrases
Some nouns take two prepositional phrases as complements:
el viaje de Madrid a Barcelona; la recompensa de dos millones por su captura;
la referencia del alcalde al problema; el respeto de las personas por los otros
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with three prepositional phrases
Some nouns take three prepositional phrases as complements:
el envío de productos de Japón a Suiza; la bajada de temperaturas de 18 grados a 11
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with a that-clause complement
Some nouns take a that-clause complement:
el anuncio de que había sido destituido; la certidumbre de que todo acabaría; el
llamamiento para que las partes se pusieran de acuerdo; la notificación de que era
demasiado tarde;
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Nothing needs to be specified for a that-clause.
Note: Not to be confused with a relative clause like The announcement that was
made yesterday.
Nouns with a prepositional phrase and a that-clause complement
Some nouns are complemented by a prepositional phrase and a that-clause
complement:
el acuerdo con la empresa de que firmarían el contrato;
These cases can be handled as described above (one prepositional phrase).
Nouns with a question complement
Some nouns take a question complement:
La sospecha de quién había sido; la notificación sobre cuándo nos pagarían.
Nothing needs to be specified for a question complement.
Nouns with an identifier complement
Some nouns take an identifier:
Capítulo 6; Pasillo 32; Despacho 9301.
Nothing needs to be specified for an identifier.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. For the above-mentioned examples school of fish
and school of dentistry, you want to indicate that the prepositional phrase is
obligatory. In the other cases, it is optional.
Target Definition
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
English
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Simple English Noun
In English, only very few nouns are associated with a gender. John; Mary;
Michael Johnson; Magic Johnson; Mia Hamm; U.S.S. Constitution. Inflection for
English nouns is also simple. Most nouns can occur in the singular and the
plural, and their inflection is regular. You need to specify exceptions. If your
word is singular only, checkers/data/media, plural only, earnings/clothes/pants, or
singular and plural with the same form, fish/aircraft/gallows/deer mark it as
such.
Target phrase
If the target translation consists of more than one word and the head of the
phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign (=) immediately before
the head, no space. for example
= Agencia EFE; = comprobante de compra
Deletion of Definite Articles
Some English nouns do not normally occur with definite articles, eg.,
nature/science/society. Therefore, the article that a word might have in Spanish,
has to be deleted in the English translation.
La sociedad es responsable de mantener la paz. Society is responsible for keeping
peace.
If you are defining such a word, you must check the Delete Definite Article
box.
Linguistic notes for Spanish verb entries
Linguistic notes for Spanish verb entries
Source definitions
Type in your verb. If it is a reflexive verb, do not mention the reflexive here.
You will be prompted for it in the context.
The UDM will search the lexicon and present you with one or more senses if
it finds it. In this case, you can change the transfer(s) for a particular subject
area or context(s). If the verb is not yet in the lexicon, you can define the
context(s) and give transfers.
Special Features
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Morphosyntactic Features ("Exceptions")
Third person only and Third person singular only
Some Spanish verbs only exist in their third person singular. Usually they
refer to nature phenomena like
llover, granizar, and so on. They need to be marked "Third person singular
only".
If the Spanish verb is third person only but it occurs in singular and plural,
mark "Third person only". This is the case of acontecer.
Verbs
Restricted Verbs
There are some verbs in the lexicon that the user cannot change. These are
estar, haber, hacer, ser, tener, poder, saber, querer, soler, deber.
Verb definitions
Imagine the verb as the core of an utterance. It can stand by itself, like in
¡Pare!, and it can be surrounded by satellites, like in ¡Pare el coche! ¡Pare usted
su coche! These satellites -- such as subject, object, prepositional phrase,
infinitive, particle, indirect object -- can be viewed as place holders, or
containers, which can be filled with different words and phrases. We call all
these place holders slots. There may be constraints on these slots. It may be
that they have to be filled, then they are obligatory. If they don't have to be
filled, they are optional. A subject in Spanish is empty in an imperative
sentence, like in ¡Vamos! Then there may be constraints on them as to what
they can be filled with. The subject slot can be filled with nouns or with
infinitive or that-clauses, like in Hacer deporte es muy saludable, Que ella viniera
me sorprendió.
Let's assume you type the verb animar. The verb is probably already in the
lexicon. The UDM will return the following definition: the verb requires an
obligatory object and can govern an optional complement, which can be a
prepositional phrase, a that-clause or an infinitive clause with the preposition
a. You now have several possibilities. You can define a particular object
and/or subject, which motivates a special transfer of the verb. You can also
give a special transfer depending on whether the optional complement is
present or not and whether it is the prepositional phrase or the infinitive
clause. See the following examples:
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Ella animó [al equipo] [con mucho entusiamo]. (subject = human, object = human,
complement = prepositional phrase)
Los chicos animaron [a su padre [a ir al cine]. (subject = human, object = human,
complement = infinitive clause)
Los chicos nos animaron [a que fuéramos al cine]. (subject = human, object =
human,
complement = that-clause)
Ya nos hemos animado. (subject = human, object = reflexive, complement = not
present)
Another example is the verb declarar. The verb is in the lexicon, so the UDM
will return the following:
First sense: obligatory object, which is a reflexive pronoun, and an optional
complement which can be an adjective complement.
Second sense: optional object which can be a noun, that-clause, interrogative
clause or infinitive.
Here are some examples of the first sense:
Se declararon culpables. (obligatory reflexive, complement= adjective)
No se se han declarado todavía. (obligatory reflexive, optional
complement=empty)
Here are some examples of the second sense:
Ayer declararon las razones de su actuación. (object= noun phrase)
Todavía no han declarado cómo lo hicieron. (object= interrogative phrase)
Ella declaró haber ido al trabajo esa mañana. (object= infinitive clause)
Incidentally, the order of the context elements is irrelevant. The prepositional
phrase can precede the object, or the object can precede the prepositional
phrase. It is not relevant to how you define or fill the slots.
If one or more senses of a verb is returned from the lexicon, you cannot
change anything in the definition. You can, however, add as many transfers as
you like, based on descriptions of how the verb slots are filled.
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New verbs
If your verb is not found in the lexicons, you will be presented with several
menus and panels with regard to required and optional information.
Subject Area
The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no specified subject
area). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
If the Spanish entry is an ordinary verb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. For instance, absolver means something special in the domain
of law and would be translated as acquit. Acoplar in the context of electricity
would be translated as connect. Cargar in the banking domain would be
translated as charge and in computer domain as load.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, and so on.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category technical
comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical
meanings of otherwise ordinary verbs.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of English that are all equally
standard: U.S. American, British, Irish, South African, Australian, Canadian,
and so on. The default in the translation engine is U.S. American English.
Alternatively, you can choose British English. Examples:
Spanish analizar would be translated as analyse in British English, as analyze in
American English.
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Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation, for example fire instead of lay off for Spanish despedir or incendiar.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Semantic types for verbs are quite different from noun or
adjective semantic types. They are more syntactically oriented.
Here is the list:
The first batch has to do with what kind of agents, objects and goals the verb
can have or has preferably, or does NOT have. These types are crucial in
order to distinguish subject and object in cases of ambiguity.
Preferred agent:
human as agent (for example protestar, criticar)
animal as agent (for example ladrar, graznar)
animate agent (for example morir, nacer)
self-acting agent (for example engendrar, explotar)
Preferred goal:
human as goal (for example responder, sonreír)
Preferred object:
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human as object (for example acusar, contentar, contrariar)
Excluded agent:
not human as agent (for example funcionar, arrancar)
Excluded object:
not human as object (for example abaratar, pagar)
The second batch has to do with aspect. Aspect is important for the
translation, with respect to tense and progressive:
imperfective (a process or an action that is not complete) and
perfective (a complete process or action).
Finally, there is a mixed bag of various types:
feeling (for example odiar, amar)
verb of saying (for example decir, alertar)
intransitive (for example andar, ir).
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context.
Part of what follows only applies to verbs that are not already in the lexicon.
There is a crucial basic distinction between the contexts for verbs and the
contexts for all other parts of speech. The difference is that the other parts of
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speech have only one type of slot, possibly more than one of that type,
whereas verbs have several types: subject, direct object, indirect object,
complements.
These types can each have several options (just like the contexts for nouns
and adjectives):
v Subject: noun or noun phrase, interrogative clause, infinitive clause, finite
clause.
v Object: noun or noun phrase, accusative reflexive pronoun, prepositional
phrase with "a, interrogative clause, infinitive clause, finite clause.
v Indirect object: dative pronoun, reflexive pronoun, prepositional phrase
with "a" or "para" prepositions.
v Complement: prepositional phrase, adjective, noun or noun phrase,
infinitive clause, finite clause, locative adverb, gerund, passive participle,
interrogative phrase.
It is important that you think of all the possibilities that a verb offers. List
every slot and every slot option that can ever occur with your verb. The more
complete your definition is, the better the syntactic analysis. Think of the
options as the potential of a verb. Go beyond the example that you may have
in front of you. The MT engine works best with fewer, but more complex,
verb definitions. Several limited definitions for the same verb makes the
analysis harder and may result in bad translation. Sometimes it helps if you
could look the verb up in a dictionary. The examples and descriptions that the
dictionary gives can be helpful guides.
Since there are so many possible context slots for verbs, we will here list them
separately, and not in combination.
Note: When we talk about "object", we refer to the "patient" or "theme" of the
verb. Thus, in a passive sentence, where there is no syntactic object, the
"object" in the UDM sense is still there. It appears as the subject of the passive
sentence. Sometimes the object is slightly hidden, like in a relative clause.
Subject
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your subject option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words for target
purposes.
Example:
aumentar
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If the subject slot is filled with the specific word lupa, you want magnify as
your transfer in English, else increase.
Interrogative clause
Examples:
Cómo se llamaba siempre fue un secreto para mí.
Infinitive clause
Examples:
Pasear descalzo por la playa resulta muy relajante.
Finite clause/that-clause
Examples:
Que me digas eso me llena de alegría.
Direct object
Noun or noun phrase
This is the default. If your object option is a noun or a noun phrase, you can
specify one or more semantic types or one or more specific words for target
purposes.
Accusative reflexive pronoun
Example:
Nos llamamos por teléfono todos los días.
Prepositional phrase with "a"
Example:
Ya hemos invitado a Juan.
Interrogative clause with preposition
Example:
Escribe sobre cómo lograron sobrevivir.
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Interrogative clause
Examples:
Dime dónde vives.
Nunca supimos cómo había llegado hasta aquí.
Bare Infinitive clause
Example:
Quiero comer.
Infinitive clause with preposition
Examples:
No te olvides de llamarme.
That-clause
Examples:
Hemos dicho que no íbamos.
That-clause with preposition
Examples:
No te olvides de que esta noche vamos al cine.
Quoted finite clause
Example:
El presidente declaró: "No vamos a intervenir en ese asunto".
Prepositional phrase
Example:
No te olvides de tus padres.
Indirect object
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Dative pronoun
Examples:
Le hemos regalado el libro que había pedido.
No se lo digas.
Reflexive pronoun
Examples:
Ya nos hemos lavado las manos.
Juan se ha roto el brazo.
Prepositional phrase with "a" or "para"
Examples:
Cántale al niño una nana para que se duerma.
Este regalo lo hemos comprado para tu hermana.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
v Do not specify anything, (assume default translation)
v Indicate a deletion of the preposition
Complement
Prepositional phrase
Examples:
Vivimos en el campo.
Hemos escrito un artículo sobre el pronombre "se".
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
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That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
v Do not specify anything, (assume default translation)
v Indicate a deletion of the preposition
Interrogative clause
Examples:
Nos aconseja sobre cómo hemos de comportatnos.
Bare infinitive
Example:
Ella mira a Juan cantar por las mañanas.
Infinitive clause with preposition
Examples:
Luchas por conservar tus derechos.
Dudaron entre ir en coche o en tren.
Gerund phrase
Example:
Salió corriendo.
That-clause with preposition
Examples:
Nos ha animado a que vayamos a defender nuestras ideas.
Interrogative clause with preposition
Examples:
Nos ha aconsejado sobre cómo abordar el tema.
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Adjective
Examples:
Hemos llegado muy cansados.
Los niños acabaron descontentos.
Passive participle
Example:
El congreso queda clausurado.
Locative adverb
Examples:
Ya ha salido de aquí.
Semantic type of noun/prepositional object or specific noun(s)
For all cases where a noun is involved, you may proceed to define the
semantic characteristics of the prepositional object, if that is nessary for the
definition of the verb. Regarding the semantic type, you will see two choices:
Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of any
semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings, for
instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to cover
as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the noun/object of the preposition. This is true if the verb is
usually complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same
meaning and transfer apply regardless of its object.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all slots, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the default
setting) or obligatory, that is, you have to decide whether the slots have to be
filled or not in order to result in grammatical Spanish. For the verb acordar,
you want to indicate that the object is obligatory. A sentence such as *Ya han
acordado is incorrect Spanish. In many cases, the slots are optional. You can
say Hemos terminado, so an object for the verb terminar is not obligatory. For
verbs that already exist in the lexicon, you will be able to identify obligatory
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and optional slots. You cannot change the "optional/obligatory" status of the
slots.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification.
English
Slot fillers
Here you mark the status of the verb slots and the semantic type(s) and/or
specific words that fill the slots.
Forms and particuliarities of the target
Reflexive verbs
Normally, a Spanish reflexive verb corresponds to an English non-reflexive
verb. If that is the case, you need to choose "Exceptions" and check "Delete
Reflexive".
If the English target is reflexive when the Spanish source verb is not, you
need to indicate that under the heading "Optional", where you check
"Reflexive" if your transfer is a reflexive verb. for example rid oneself of.
Additional word(s)
There are many cases where the English verb needs a word or phrase to
complement it. You can add these under "Additional Word(s)".
Adjective
Examples:
be closely related, be absent, and so on.
Noun
Examples:
take care, pay attention, hold office, have a good time, be godmother, and so
on.
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Other
"Other" contains everything else, such as particles, prepositional phrases and
adverbs.
Examples:
cut back, clear away, come up, set in, calm down,
work hard, vary widely,
work like slaves, come to an agreement, come to terms, take into account, and
so on.
Linguistic notes for Spanish adjective entries
Linguistic notes for Spanish adjective entries
Source definitions
Enter your Spanish word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign
(=) immediately before the head, no space. for example
=bajo en calorías; =aficionado a los caballos
Special Features
Morphosyntactic Features ("Exceptions")
Only attributive
Some adjectives can be only attributive. They need to be marked "Only
attributive". This is the case of "
presidencial
": "
El viaje presidencial
". We cannot say "
*El viaje es presidencial
".
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Subject area
If the Spanish entry is an ordinary adjective and has a special meaning
and/or transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add
that subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject
area is optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject
area that they are used in.
The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no specified subject
area). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject areas to choose from
when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, and so on.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of Spanish and English that are
all equally standard: U.S. American English, British, Irish, South African,
Australian, and Canadian English, South American Spanish, and so on. The
default in the translation engine for English is U.S. American, the default for
Spanish is Spanish from Spain. Alternatively, you can choose British English
or South American Spanish.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation, for example chachi is only an adjective in colloquial language.
Mark it as such in order to avoid unnessary ambiguities. chachi will translate
as great only in the context of chat.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
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language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. Adjectives are classified the same way as nouns (see
Linguistic Notes for noun entries). albanés and albano, for instance, refers to a
language and to people;
budista
refers to a religion or philosophy;
odioso
refers to a feeling;
amarillento
is a color; and so on.
ou will find a list of semantic types in the UDM interface. If you scroll all the
way down, you will find them listed in a hierarchy, which makes it easier to
choose the semantic type that applies to your word. If it is a human being,
you will find it under
physical object -> natural object -> animate -> human -> human individual
Even though assigning a semantic type to your dictionary entry is optional,
there are good reasons to do so. If you have difficulty assigning a specific
type, choose a higher semantic level. The quality of your translation will stand
in direct relation to semantic-type identification. In general, the more specific
your semantic type identification, the better the translation will be.
The semantic types used by the program are based to some extent on the sets
of synonyms in the WordNet project, which is accessible to everyone on the
Web. We encourage you to go to WordNet at http://
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn and see how some words are
classified semantically. This will give you an idea of how semantic classes for
adjectives are defined.
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Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context. It is important that you think of all the
possibilities that the adjective offers. List every context option that can ever
occur with your adjective. The more complete your definition is, the better the
syntactic analysis. Think of the options as the potential of an adjective. Go
beyond the example that you may have in front of you. The MT engine works
best with fewer, but more complex, adjective definitions. Several limited
definitions for the same adjective makes the analysis harder and may result in
bad translation. Sometimes it helps if you could look the adjective up in a
dictionary. The examples and descriptions that the dictionary gives can be
helpful guides.
Nouns that the Adjective modifies
For an adjective, the most important context is the noun that it modifies.
Sample sentences would be the following:
El libro rojo es de Juan.
Pasamos unas maravillosas vacaciones.
In both sentences, the adjectives rojo and maravillosas modify the nouns libro
and vacaciones.
The adjective salado, for instance, would be translated as salted if it modifies a
noun of the semantic type food, as funny if it modifies a noun of the semantic
type human. The adjective rosado would be translated as rosé if it modifies the
noun wine, otherwise as pink or rosy. The adjective emergente would be
translated as emerging if it modifies tendencia or idea, as resulting otherwise.
Adjectives with one prepositional phrase
The adjective acorde can govern a prepositional phrase with cona, for example
Es una solución acorde a lo previsto. Other examples of adjectives usually
complemented by one prepositional phrase are: capacitado para , contrario a,
culpable de, incompatible con, indispuesto con/contra.
If the context slot is filled, like in indispuesto, for instance, you may want the
translation annoyed (with), otherwise, indisposed.
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You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is nessary for the definition of the adjective.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
But there are cases where defining the object of the preposition is necessary.
Consider the following example: propenso a. Someone who is propenso a diseases
or ideas is susceptible to them, not prone.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question (including a case
for English target);
v Do not specify anything, (assume default translation);
Adjectives with an infinitive complement
Some adjectives are followed by an infinitive clause. In Spanish, these can
stand by themselves or be connected with different prepositions, like
contento de, difícil (de).
(a) Ella está contenta de verlo.
(b) Resulta difícil de predecir.
(c) Resulta difícil predecir el final de esa historia.
You have to specify which of the prepositions your adjective allows or
requires.
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Adjectives with a that-clause complement
Some adjectives take a that-clause complement:
conveniente, aconsejable, asombroso
(a) Me parece conveniente que vengas a la reunión.
You have to specify which adjectives allow or require this type of
complement.
Adjectives with a noun complement
Some adjectives take a noun complement:
inteligente
(a) Es muy inteligente de su parte.
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. In most other cases, the complements are
optional.
Adjectives as adverbs
Some adjectives in Spanish function as adverbs:
Hablar alto, Jugar limpio
.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
There are two things that determine your transfer:
(a) status of the adjective context (filled; not filled = empty; do not care
whether filled or not) and possibly semantic type(s) and/or specific words
that fill the mentioned context(s)
and
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(b) whether the adjective in question functions only as an attribute or
predicate on the one hand or whether the translation you are about to give is
independent of the function.
English
Transfer depending on whether the adjective occurs only in attributive or only
in predicative/complement function.
Normally, the translation will be the same whether the adjective is in
attributive or in predicative or complement position, as seen above.
Apart from that, there is nothing special to be noted about English target
adjectives except the position.
Position
The Spanish attributive adjective sin precedentes is translated as all-time in
English. While the Spanish adjective follows or precedes the noun is modifies,
it comes before the noun in English. This difference needs to be indicated in
the UDM by changing the position from postmodifier to premodifier.
Linguistic notes for Spanish adverb entries
Linguistic notes for Spanish adverb entries
Source definitions
Enter your Spanish word or phrase. If the entry consists of more than one
word and the head of the phrase is not the last word, please set an equal sign
(=) immediately before the head, no space. for example
=abajo a la izquierda
.
Special Features
Comparison
Does compare, Comparative, Superlative
Many Spanish adverbs can form a comparative and a superlative, for instance:
Ella conduce deprisa.
Ella conduce más deprisa que yo.
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Ella es la que más deprisa conduce de todos nosotros.
If this is the case, nothing needs to be indicated because this is the assumed
default (Does compare).
In some cases, you may enter the comparative or superlative forms
themselves, if necessary. They should then be marked as such (comparative or
superlative). for example mayor (comparative) or óptimo (superlative).
Restrictions
There is a list of Spanish adverbs in the base lexicon that cannot be changed
by the user because of their complex syntactic coding anf their significance on
the MT engine. These adverbs are the following:
Adonde, adónde, algo, allí, alrededor, antes, apenas, así, aún, bien, cada uno,
casi, cerca, como, cómo, como mucho, con tal de, con cuánta frecuencia, con
qué frecuencia, con todo, cuando, cuándo, cuanto, cuánto, cuánto tiempo, de
dónde, donde, dónde, donde quiera que, dondequiera que, dos veces, en
común, en donde, en el pasado, en eso, en qué medida, gracias, lejos, lo más
lejos, más abajo, más, más adelante, más allá, más abajo, más lejos, más
temprano, muchas gracias, mucho, mucho más, muy, nada, ni, no, no sólo,
nunca, otra vez, otro tanto, por ejemplo, por lo cual, por qué razón, por todas
partes, quizá, quizás, sí, sin embargo, sólo, solamente, tal, también, tampoco,
tan, todavía.
Subject area
If the Spanish entry is an ordinary adverb and has a special meaning and/or
transfer in a particular subject area (knowledge domain), you can add that
subject area to your entry as part of the definition. Indicating a subject area is
optional. Words can mean different things depending on the subject area that
they are used in. The default in the translation engine is general usage, (no
specified subject area). You have access to a comprehensive list of subject
areas to choose from when submitting a document for translation.
You will find the following top-level subject areas: economy, computers,
industry, science, sports, arts and entertainment, industry, leisure, religion and
philosophy, technical, medicine, politics, household, food, health, nature,
disaster and accidents, regional varieties, and company style guidelines.
Under economy, you will find business, commerce, finance, and labor; under
business, you will find advertising, human resources, management, marketing,
public relations, and so on. The subject area computers is subdivided into
AS400, ASPs, data processing, electronic commerce, hardware, and so on.
Industry is subdivided into agriculture, airlines, automotive, broadcasting,
construction, engineering, forestry, and so on. The category technical
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comprises several subcategories, but is also useful for general technical
meanings of otherwise ordinary adverbs.
Regional variety
The category regional variety includes different regional varieties of a
language. There are several regional varieties of Spanish and English that are
all equally standard: U.S. American English, British, Irish, South African,
Australian, and Canadian English, South American Spanish, and so on. The
default in the translation engine for English is U.S. American, the default for
Spanish is Spanish from Spain. Alternatively, you can choose British English
or South American Spanish.
Chat
In addition, you can choose a style for conversation and e-mail. It is called
chat. This is where you can identify words for informal or colloquial
translation.
Company style
Finally, there is a category for company style guidelines. In a particular
subject area, there may be free variation as to its translation into another
language. A company may decide that this particular word should always be
translated in a special way in order to guarantee consistency in all company
documents.
If you don't find the subject area that you need for your translation, you can
add a new one. Note that the subject area name can not contain a space. For
easier reading, you can insert an underscore.
Semantic type
The next part of the definition of the source word is the type of meaning that
your word has. You can choose from the following semantic types for your
adverb.
sentential (for example esto es, afortunadamente)
period of time (for example un momento, dos años)
point in time (for example anteriormente, luego)
time in general (for example pronto)
past (for example ayer)
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future (for example mañana)
direction (for example en línea recta, más abajo)
place (for example ahí, lejos)
frequency (for example a menudo, con poca frecuencia)
expression (for example a conciencia, en lo sucesivo, a hurtadillas)
negation (for example apenas, nada)
positive value (for example bien, sí)
negative value (for example no, nunca)
psychological condition or feeling (for example desesperadamente)
quantity (for example casi)
relative (for example como, cuando)
manner (for example así, atentamente)
Some of these semantic types for adverbs are crucial for good translation into
English, others are less so. The sentential adverbs, the adverbs that have to do
with time, and relative adverbs are the most important ones.
Context
Next, in order to ensure high-quality translation, you should define the
syntactic and semantic context of the word you are entering. The IBM
machine-translation engine is based on the encoding of syntactic and semantic
context. More so than with the semantic types mentioned above, the quality of
your translation will stand in direct relation to the correct coding of the
syntactic and semantic context.
Adverbs with one prepositional phrase
The adverb antes can govern a prepositional phrase with de, for example Vino
antes de las tres. Other adverbs are delante de, debajo de, detrás de.
You may then proceed to define the semantic characteristics of the
prepositional object, if that is nessary for the definition of the adjective.
Regarding the semantic type of the object of the preposition, you will see two
choices: Is (the default) and Is Not. The latter means that the object can be of
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any semantic type except the one that you choose to exclude (human beings,
for instance). It is advisable to choose a broad semantic category in order to
cover as much as possible.
You can be even more specific with respect to the context. You can specify not
a semantic class of words but one particular word. You can have more than
one specific word, if that is necessary. Often there is no need to specify
anything for the object of the preposition. This is true if the word is usually
complemented by a particular prepositional phrase and the same meaning
and transfer apply regardless of the object.
A note about the possible or necessary translation of the preposition itself: In
most cases, you do not need to worry about how the preposition is translated.
That depends on various transfer rules elsewhere in UDM. If, however, you
do want to specify a particular transfer for the preposition or a special
transformation, you may do so. In general, these are your options:
v Give a particular transfer for the preposition in question
v Do not specify anything, (assume default translation)
Optional and obligatory context specification
For all complements, you are asked to decide whether they are optional (the
default setting) or obligatory. In most cases, the complement of an adverb is
optional.
Target
After you have defined everything necessary for the source word, proceed to
the target specification. First, enter the target word or phrase.
English
Type in your target adverb and add an = sign if it is a phrase whose last
word is not the head.
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Chapter 2. Installing User Dictionary Manager (UDM)
To install the UDM, insert the WebSphere Translation Server CD. If autorun is
enabled, the install wizard will start automatically. Otherwise, start the install
wizard by running the
setup.exe
file in the root of the CD. Once the install wizard is running, select the User
Dictionary Manager option from the install options panel. Then select an
install location and install the product. The translation engine will
automatically install in the same location.
Note about uninstalling the UDM: When uninstalling the UDM, you may see
messages asking if you want to delete jre/bin/*** where *** is a filename.
DO NOT delete these files unless you are removing all versions of the UDM.
For example, if you have the UDM for French, Italian, German, Brazilian
Portuguese and Spanish and the UDM for Simplified Chinese installed, and
you are only uninstalling the Chinese UDM, you must keep the JRE files.
Related information
v
Prerequisites
Prerequisites
Platforms User Dictionary Manager runs only on Windows NT and
Windows 2003.
v WebSphere Translation Server User Dictionary Manager creates files
exclusively for use with the IBM WebSphere Translation Server, but the
WebSphere Translation server is not required to run the User Dictionary
Manager. However, you do need the language engines or else saving and
building options are disabled. You can use the dictionaries created by User
Dictionary Manager with the WebSphere Translation Server on any platform
supported by WTS.
v License agreement Please read the license on the delivery media and the
disclaimers prior to using any of the IBM Machine Translation contents.
v
Related information
v
Install the User Dictionary Manager.
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Chapter 3. Starting the User Dictionary Manager
To start the User Dictionary Manager tool, click on Start > Programs > IBM
WebSphere Translation Server > User Dictionary Manager FIGSP. The Main
view appears. The Main view includes a splash graphic of the User Dictionary
Manager logo and pulldown menus across the top.
Note: The Main view may not appear the first time you start UDM. Instead,
the Create dictionary view may appear, prompting you to create a new
dictionary. Once you have created a dictionary, the dictionary view will
appear, displaying the new, empty dictionary.
Related information
v
v
v
Main view
Create dictionary view
Dictionary view
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Chapter 4. Work with dictionaries
A summary of dictionary tasks.
The tasks that you can perform working with dictionaries include:
v “Creating a new dictionary”
v “Opening an existing dictionary”
v
v
v
v
v
“Importing a file” on page 266
“Exporting a file” on page 267
“Searching a dictionary” on page 268
Looking up a word
“Building a dictionary” on page 270
v “Testing your translation” on page 270
v “Loading a User Dictionary file on to the WebSphere Translation Server” on
page 271
Creating a new dictionary
To create a new dictionary:
1. From the Dictionary Main View, select File->New to display the New
Dictionary panel.
2. Select your source and target languages from the drop-down lists on the
New Dictionary panel and click OK.
Related information
v
New Dictionary panel
v
User Dictionary definition
Opening an existing dictionary
To open an existing dictionary:
1. Select File>Open to display the Open dialog box.
2. Select the file to open and click Open
3. There is also a list of the four most recently-opened files at the bottom of
the file menu. Select one of these files as an alternative way to open
existing files.
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Note: The User Dictionary Manager opens only User Dictionary Source (UDS)
files. Any dictionaries from a previous session will automatically be opened
and displayed in the dictionary view. This option can be turned off in the
Preferences panel.
Related information
v
User Dictionary Source files
Importing a file
User Dictionary Manager allows you to import information from a UDS file,
or to import a list of terms contained in a plain text file.
Import a UDS file
You can import any UDS file, regardless of whether the source and target
languages of the importing file match those of the currently-loaded dictionary.
If both the source and target languages match, all the information will be
imported. If only one language matches, only the information pertaining to
the matching language will be imported. If the languages match, but the
source and target languages are reversed, then partial information will be
imported (depending upon whether the information can validly switch
direction).
To import a UDS file:
1. Open or create the dictionary into which you want to import information.
2. From the Dictionary Main view, select File->Import to open the Import
dialog box.
3. Select the file to be imported (all other options will be grayed out) and
click Import.
Import a text file
File format
To import terms from a plain text file, each entry must begin on a single line,
and each term of the entry must be separated by commas or brackets ( < or
>). The first term is the source word, followed by the target word and the part
of speech. The source and target word rules are the same as if they were
entered through the graphical user interface.
The following list documents the proper order of the fields in the imported
text file, as well as some of the values those fields may have:
1. Source word
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2. Target word
3. Part of speech n propn adj adv v
4. subject area Any of the built in subject areas or user defined which must
have double quote around it.
5. semantic type Any of the built in semantic types
6. position Generated by export*
7. source gender -- m f mf n/a nt
8. source inflection -- 1 through 107, generated by export*
9. target gender -- m f mf n/a nt
10. target inflection -- 1 through 107, generated by export*
*Generated by export: these fields have values that are dependant on other
fields and the particular language pair. We recommend that these fields not be
entered by the user.
Importing the file
1. Open or create the file into which you want to import information.
2. From the Dictionary Main view, select File->Import to open the Import
dialog box.
3. Encoding selects a character set. Most files will use the default, ISO-8859-1.
4. From the Delimiter drop down list, select the symbol you used to separate
each term.
5. All the Attributes should be checked. If you wish for certain attributes to
be ignored, uncheck those attributes.
Related information
v
User Dictionary Source definition
Exporting a file
User Dictionary Manager allows you to export information from the
Dictionary main view. Export is basically Import in reverse, except the end
result is a text file instead of a .uds file.
Export a dictionary view
1. Open or create the file into which you want to import information.
2. From the Dictionary Main view, select File->Export to open the Export
dialog box.
3. Select or name the file you wish to export to.
4. The Encoding drop down list contains character sets. Most files will use
the default, ISO-8859-1.
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267
5. From the Delimiter drop down list, select the symbol you want to use to
separate each term.
6. All the Attributes should be checked. If you wish for certain attributes to
be ignored, click on the box beside the attribute and the check mark will
disappear.
Related information
v
v
Importing a file
User Dictionary Source definition
Searching a dictionary
From the Dictionary Main View you can search a dictionary based on any
field in the table. The search is a "contains" search. The result contains the
search text at some point in the searched field, but it does not necessarily
have to start with the search text. The search only searches the current
dictionary--it does not search the system dictionary.
To search:
1. From the Dictionary Main View, select the field to search on from the
Search drop-down list.
2. Enter the string to search for in the search field. As you enter information,
User Dictionary Manager begins locating matches.
3. To locate the next match, click Next.
4. To display all matches at once in a new window, click Find All.
Related information
v
Dictionary main view
Word Lookup
The Word Lookup panel allows you to see if a word exists in the system
dictionary or any dictionaries added by the options dialog. You can use Word
Lookup to see attributes of words existing in those dictionaries.
The search results are displayed in a read-only table. Word Lookup can be
used as a reference for setting attributes for similar words.
Not all attributes are displayed. Because of this restriction, some entries in the
search results may look like duplicates.
Word Lookup does not support parts of speech not included in UDM (for
example, pronouns).
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To open the Word Lookup panel, open Utilities > Word Lookup...
Type in the word you are looking up in the Search field. Occurances of the
word will automatically appear in the table below the Search field.
You can look up words that are in the language engine as well as dictionaries
you have created.
Options opens the Options dialog, where you can select which dictionaries
you wish Word Lookup to use.
Subsequently clicking Refresh will display instances of the word in your
created dictionaries.
Related information
v
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Source area
v
Target area
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Building a dictionary
Before you can test a dictionary with User Dictionary Manager or use it with
WebSphere Translation Server, you must build a dictionary file. This renders
your dictionary in the UDF format used by WebSphere Translation Server.
To build a dictionary:
1. From the Dictionary Main view, select Utilities->Build Dictionary to open
the Build dialog box. If you have already built this dictionary this session,
a dialog will not appear. Build will merely save the recent changes to the
file of the same name. If you wish to save to a file of a different name,
select the Build As option instead.
2. On the Build dialog box, enter the filename you want to use for the built
dictionary in the File name field.
3. Click Build to build the dictionary.
Related information
v How to use your built dictionary with WebSphere Translation Server.
v Load the dictionary onto the WebSphere Translation Server.
v User Dictionary File (UDF)
v User Dictionary Source (UDS)
Testing your translation
After you have built your dictionary, you can test the translation of words
within it. This allows you to validate your translations before making your
domain-specific dictionary available to all users.
To test a translation:
1. From the Dictionary Main view, select Utilities->Test Translation to open
the Test translation panel. If you have not built your dictionary, you will
be prompted to do so now.
2. On the Test translation panel, enter the text to be translated or load a text
or HTML file for translation using the Load File button.
3. Select the dictionaries to use by clicking the Dictionary button and
selecting the appropriate dictionary files.
4. Select a subject areas by clicking on the Subject Areas button and selecting
the appropriate areas.
5. Click Translate to translate the selected text. The translation will appear in
the Translated Text window.
6. You can save the translation by clicking Save To File.
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Related information
v
v
v
v
Test translation panel
Subject areas test option
Dictionary view panel
User Dictionary Sequence panel
Loading a User Dictionary file on to the WebSphere Translation Server
1. Create a User Dictionary File with the User Dictionary Manager.
2. Place the User Dictionary File on the WebSphere Translation Server
machine in the directory of the language engine which matches the
lexicon, for example, enfr, enit, fren, iten, and so on. Unless the user has
modified the install path of the language engines, the default path for each
language engine is: <IBMWTS root directory>\<language folder>\.
3. Modify the translation server properties, by modifying the options
property on the GUI properties panel.
v Type *lexicons=dictionaryName.udf,dictionary2.udf to list the
dictionaries you wish to merge with the core engine dictionaries.
Replace dictionaryName and dictionary2 with the names of your UDF
files.
Repeat this step for as many language engine and User Dictionary File
combinations as necessary.
4. Stop and restart the WebSphere Translation Server. This terminates all the
runtime language engines and translation sessions. The language engines
will be re-initialized when the WebSphere Translation Server is restarted,
causing the User Dictionary Files specified in step 3 to be merged with the
language engine system lexicon. Refer to the Run and Test section of the
WebSphere Translation Server InfoCenter for more information on how to
run, stop, and start the WebSphere Translation Server.
Related information
v
Create a User Dictionary File
Chapter 4. Work with dictionaries
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User's Guide
Chapter 5. Working with entries
A summary of entry tasks
The tasks that you can perform working with entries include:
v “Adding new entries”
v “Modifying entries” on page 274
v “Copy Entry” on page 275
v “Deleting entries” on page 275
Adding new entries
The Add Entry and Modify Entry panels contain the same fields. Once you
have added an entry, you can modify it by double-clicking the entry in the
Dictionary Main view and editing the information in the Modify Entry panel.
Required fields contain the minimum information that must be specified for
the entry. Optional fields should only be used when needing to narrow down
the applicability of the current entry. The more options that are applied to an
entry, the more specific the context of the word; therefore, the word is used in
fewer translations.
Optional fields are contained on their own tab. If there are no required or
optional fields for a specific entry, that tab will not be shown. Fields that are
not applicable to a part of speech are disabled.
To add a new entry:
1. Open an existing dictionary or create a new dictionary.
2. Select Table->Add Entry to add an entry or click Add to open the Add
Entry panel.
3. In the Add Entry panel, enter the word or phrase you want to translate
in the Word field.
4. Select a part of speech from the Part Of Speech drop-down list.
5. Select an inflection for the source word from the drop-down list.
6. Select the subject areas that apply to this word from the list:
a. Apply the choices by clicking the checkbox next to the Subject Area
you wish to add.
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7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
b. You can add choices to the Subject Areas field by clicking the + icon.
This action opens a window containing Subject Areas with differing
levels of specificity. Select the Subject Area you want to add and click
OK.
Select a context for the word from the Context drop-down list. This
opens the Context panel.
Complete the required information in the Context panel and click OK to
return to the Add Entry panel.
Enter the translation of the word in the Word field of the Target section.
Select the gender of the translated word from the Gender drop-down list.
Select an inflection for the target word from the drop-down list.
When you have finished:
v To add this entry to the dictionary and clear the Add Entry panel, click
Add New Entry.
v To add this entry to the dictionary and close the Add Entry panel, click
OK.
v To close the Add Entry panel without adding this entry, click Cancel.
Tip: You can also edit an entry by clicking on the fields you want to modify
and entering the information directly in the Dictionary Main view.
Related information
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
Add entry panel
Source area of the add entry or modify entry panel
Target area of the add entry or modify entry panel
Dictionary main view panel
Create a new dictionary
Open an existing dictionary
Grammatical context
Modifying entries
To modify entries to your domain-specific dictionary:
1. Open an existing dictionary.
2. Select the entry to modify by clicking on it.
3. Select Table->Modify Entry
or
Click Modify
to open the Modify Entry panel.
4. In the Modify Entry panel, edit the appropriate information. Read through
the Modify Entry panel description for details.
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5. To save the current information and load the previous entry into the
Modify Entry panel, click Previous.
To save the current information and load the next entry into the Modify
Entry panel, click Next.
To save the current information and clear the Modify Entry panel, click
Add New Entry.
To save the current information and close the Modify Entry panel, click
OK.
To close the Modify Entry panel without saving the entry, click Cancel.
Tip: You can also modify entries directly from the Table view by double
clicking on the information you want to change and editing directly.
Related information
v
v
v
Modify entry panel
Dictionary main view panel
Create a new dictionary.
v
Open an existing dictionary.
Copy Entry
To copy an entry:
1. Select the entry to copy by clicking on it, or select a range of entries by
clicking and dragging.
2. Select Table->Copy Entry.
or
Click the Copy button.
The entry will be copied and displayed in the Dictionary Main view.
Tip: You can add new entries by copying the original entry, then
double-clicking on the appropriate information in the copied entry and editing
it directly in the Dictionary Main view.
Related information
v
v
Dictionary main view panel
Duplicate entries
Deleting entries
To delete an entry:
Chapter 5. Working with entries
275
1. Select the entry to delete by clicking on it, or select a range of entries by
clicking and dragging.
2. Select Table->Delete Entry or
Click the Delete button or Hit the Delete key.
* Note: Specify on the Preference panel whether or not a confirmation dialog
should appear.
You can also use Table->Undo Delete Entry to undo the last deletion.
Related information
v
v
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Dictionary main view panel
How to enable or disable the confirmation dialog on the Preferences panel.
Chapter 6. Assigning attributes to words
How to assign attributes to words
The attributes that you can assign to words are:
v Semantic classification
v Subject area
v Grammatical context
v Context semantics
v Inflection
Semantics
The Semantics panel allows you to select a
semantic
classification for the term you are translating.
To open this panel, select the More... option at the bottom of the Semantics
drop-down list on the Add Entry or the Modify Entry dialog boxes.
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You can expand the semantics tree by selecting the number of levels to
expand from the drop-down list. Select a semantic classification by clicking on
it.
When you have selected the appropriate semantic classification, click OK to
close the panel.
Related information
v
v
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User's Guide
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Subject Areas
The Subject Areas panel allows you to select a
subject area
for the source word. You should select a subject area if a word needs to have
different translations for different subject areas. If you always want a word to
translate to a specific definition, you should not use Subject Areas.
To open this dialog box, select the Plus ("+") button for the Subject Areas on
the Add Entry or Modify Entry dialog boxes.
You can expand the subject areas tree by clicking on the icon to the left of an
entry.
When you have selected the appropriate subject areas, click the OK button to
close the panel.
* Warning * : Words that have Subject Area specified are translated only when
that Subject Area is specified in the meta information of the URL. Specify a
Subject Area only if you want the translation to apply ONLY in the specified
Subject Area.
Chapter 6. Assigning attributes to words
279
* Note: To create ** User Defined ** Subject Areas, open the Preferences
Panel and select the Subject Areas tab.
Related information
v
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
How to add user-defined Subject Areas in the Preferences panel.
Context
The Context panel allows you to provide information regarding the context in
which the word you are translating should appear. This information helps
provide a more accurate translation of the word.
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In the Context panel for verbs, you should enter all the contexts that are
possible for that particular verb, independently of a particular translation. For
a particular translation, you then choose which of the context options is filled.
"Found verbs" are commonly-used verbs in the particular language. UDM
does not allow entries with these found verbs.
To edit this panel, select a context option from the Context drop down menu
on the Add Entry or Modify Entry dialog boxes, or double click on the
Context field in the Dictionary View table.
The sections available on the Context panel will vary depending on the
context option selected. Possible sections are:
v Prepositional Phrase
v Infinitive
v Question words/clause
v That Clause
v Identifier
v Genitive
v Direct Object
v Indirect Object
Chapter 6. Assigning attributes to words
281
v
v
Complement
Predicate
Prepositional Phrase
The Prepositional Phrase section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the
specified prepositional phrase is required in association with the word.
v Source preposition A drop-down list of possible source prepositions. If
German is the source language, select a case for the preposition from the
case drop-down list. If no choice for a case is available, the translation
engine doesn't need one.
v Target preposition A drop-down list of possible target prepositions. If
German is the target language, select a case for the preposition from the
case drop-down list. Default is the default translation of the preposition;
Delete means the preposition is not present in the target language.
v Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the object of the preposition must be a physical
object. If you had selected the "is not" option, the object of the preposition
must not be a physical object.
v Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
v Presence A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the translated
word should be used, given the context. Selecting "Filled" indicates that the
context must occur for the translation to be valid. Selecting "Not Filled"
indicates that the context must not occur for the translation to be valid.
Think of the context as a potential. "Filled or Not" means that it doesn't
matter for the translation whether this context is there or not.
Infinitive
The Infinitive section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether an
infinitive is required in association with the word.
v
Preposition A preposition drop-down list with an option for none.
Question words/clause
The Question section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether a
question word is required in association with the word.
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v
Preposition A preposition drop-down list with an option for none.
That Clause
The That Clause field, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether a That
clause is required in association with the word.
v Preposition A preposition drop-down list with an option for none.
Identifier
The Identifier section, if available, contains this field:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether an
identifier is required in association with the word.
Genitive
(for German only)
The Genitive section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether a
genitive is required in association with the word.
v Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the genitive noun must be a physical object. If
you had selected the "is not" option, the genitive noun must not be a
physical object.
v Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
Direct object
The Direct object section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether direct
object is required in association with the word.
Options A drop-down list of possible direct-object options.
Source preposition A drop-down list of possible source prepositions. If
German is the source language, select a case for the preposition from the
case drop-down list.
v Target preposition A drop-down list of possible target prepositions. If
German is the target language, select a case for the preposition from the
v
v
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283
case drop-down list. Default is the default translation of the preposition;
Delete means the preposition is not present in the target language.
v Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the direct object must be a physical object. If you
select the "is not" option, the direct object must not be a physical object.
v Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
v Presence (Verbs only) A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the
translated word should be used, given the context. Selecting "Filled"
indicates that the context must occur for the translation to be valid.
Selecting "Not Filled" indicates that the context must not occur for the
translation to be valid. Think of the context as a potential. "Filled or Not"
means that it doesn't matter for the translation whether this context is there
or not.
Indirect object
The Indirect object section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether an
indirect object is required in association with the word.
v Options A drop-down list of possible indirect-object options.
Source preposition A drop-down list of possible source prepositions. If
German is the source language, select a case for the preposition from the
case drop-down list.
v Target preposition A drop-down list of possible target prepositions. If
German is the target language, select a case for the preposition from the
case drop-down list. Default is the default translation of the preposition;
Delete means the preposition is not present in the target language.
v Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the indirect object must be a physical object. If
you select the "is not" option, the indirect object must not be a physical
object.
v
Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
v Presence A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the translated
word should be used, given the context. Selecting "Filled" indicates that the
context must occur for the translation to be valid. Selecting "Not Filled"
v
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indicates that the context must not occur for the translation to be valid.
Think of the context as a potential. "Filled or Not" means that it doesn't
matter for the translation whether this context is there or not.
Complement
The Complement section, if available, contains these fields:
v Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether
complement is required in association with the word.
v Options A drop-down list of possible complement options.
v Particle A field to enter the particle word for the complement.
v Source preposition A drop-down list of possible source prepositions.
v Target preposition A drop-down list of possible target prepositions. Select
a case for the preposition from the case drop-down list. Default is the
default translation of the preposition; Delete means the preposition is not
present in the target language.
v Case There are four possible cases to choose from for the complement if
the option is a noun. Select if the case of the preposition is accusative or
nominative.
v Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the complement must be a physical object. If you
had selected the "is not" option, the complement must not be a physical
object.
v Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
v Presence A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the translated
word should be used, given the context. Selecting "Filled" indicates that the
context must occur for the translation to be valid. Selecting "Not Filled"
indicates that the context must not occur for the translation to be valid.
Think of the context as a potential. "Filled or Not" means that it doesn't
matter for the translation whether this context is there or not.
Predicate
( for Italian only)
The Predicate section, if available, contains these fields:
v
Optional/obligatory A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether
complement is required in association with the word.
Chapter 6. Assigning attributes to words
285
v
Options A drop-down list of possible predicate options. The predicate
context only allows adjective or noun as options. Thus, prepositions are
irrelevant here.
Semantics is/is not A set of radio buttons used to indicate the relationship
between the word and the semantic terms chosen in the Semantics field.
For example: if you select the "is" option, and semantic option of "physical
object", this indicates that the object of the preposition must be a physical
object. If you had selected the "is not" option, the object of the preposition
must not be a physical object.
v Semantics field A list of semantic categories. You can add semantic
categories by clicking the + symbol to open the Context Semantics panel.
You can also enter a specific word for use with the semantics field.
v
v
Presence A set of radio buttons used to indicate whether the translated
word should be used, given the context. Selecting "Filled" indicates that the
context must occur for the translation to be valid. Selecting "Not Filled"
indicates that the context must not occur for the translation to be valid.
Think of the context as a potential. "Filled or Not" means that it doesn't
matter for the translation whether this context is there or not.
Related information
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Context Semantics
The Context Semantics panel allows you to add semantic information
regarding the
context
in which the word you are translating should appear. This information helps
provide a more accurate translation of the word.
To edit this panel, first bring up the Context panel as discussed in the
"Grammatical Context" section. Hit the Plus ("+") button in any of the sections
that contains a Semantics field.
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The sections available on the Context Semantics panel are:
v Active This field lists the semantic categories currently chosen to describe
the context of the source word. Used in conjunction with the is/is not
buttons on the Context panel, they describe the context in which the word
to be translated appears.
v Specific Word This field allows you to enter a specific word for use with
the semantics field on the Context panel. Before the specific word will be
used by UDM, you must add it to the Active field.
Semantic Categories This field contains the complete list of semantic
categories recognized by UDM. You can add semantic categories from this
field to the Active field.
v Preferred Semantics This is a list of your preferred semantic categories as
determined on the Semantics tab in the Preferences panel. You can add
semantic categories from this field to the Active field.
v
Related information
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Chapter 6. Assigning attributes to words
287
Inflections
The Inflections panel helps you specify the inflection of a translated word. To
edit this panel, double click on the Inflections entry in the Dictionary View
table. The inflections panel will only appear for German and Spanish.
Otherwise the inflection field is a drop down menu. There will always be an
inflection choice unless you have a Spanish verb that does not end in "ar,"
"er," or "ir."
The Inflections panel contains the following fields:
Word
The translated word.
Gender
The gender of the translated word. Used only for nouns and proper
nouns.
Select A Word That Inflects Like Your Word
Lists possible inflections for the translated word. This list is generated
by the UDM translation engine. If you are unable to find the correct
inflection in this list, ensure that the Gender field is correct (if your
part of speech is a noun or proper noun), as UDM sorts possible
inflections by gender.
Inflects Like
Displays an example of the inflection you have selected.
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User's Guide
Comment
Displays any relevant information about the inflection you have
chosen.
Combining Form
Allows you to specify what form of the translated word should be
used when it is combined with other words. This section is only
available when translating into German.
Related information
v
v
Linguistic glossary
Linguistic notes
Chapter 6. Assigning attributes to words
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Notices
This information was developed for products and services offered in the
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IBM® may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this
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reference to an IBM product, program, or service is not intended to state or
imply that only that IBM product, program, or service may be used. Any
functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not infringe
any IBM intellectual property right may be used instead. However, it is the
user’s responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation of any non-IBM
product, program, or service.
IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter
described in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give
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The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any
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PUBLICATION "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1994, 2014
291
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This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.
Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will
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Any references in this information to non-IBM Web sites are provided for
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IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it
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Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of
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sources. IBM has not tested those products and cannot confirm the accuracy
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COPYRIGHT LICENSE: This information contains sample application
programs in source language, which illustrate programming techniques on
various operating platforms. You may copy, modify, and distribute these
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the sample programs are written. These examples have not been thoroughly
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User's Guide
tested under all conditions. IBM, therefore, cannot guarantee or imply
reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs.
For country-specific notes on the use of WebSphere Translation Server, refer to
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The file name is in the format README_homologation.xxxx, where xxxx is
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Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks of Oracle
and/or its affiliates.
Other company, product or service names may be trademarks or service
marks of others.
Notices
293
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User's Guide
Glossary
Refer to the Linguistic Notes for more
details on some of the terms listed below.
Term
Definition
Complement
An added word or
expression by which a
predication is made
complete (as president
in They elected him
president).
For User Dictionary
Manager, the linguistic
units that modify a
particular word or
phrase and thus
determine its meaning.
A grammatical
category in inflected
languages governing
the agreement between
nouns and pronouns,
adjectives and
determiners. In some
languages, gender
assignment is
arbitrary. Options here
are either feminine (F),
masculine (M),
masculine and/or
feminine (MF), neuter
(NT), or not applicable
(N/A).
The part of a phrase
that inflects according
to gender, number,
case, etc.
A grammatical object
representing the
secondary goal of the
action of its verb (as
her in I gave her the
book).
Context
Gender
Head Word
Indirect Object
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1994, 2014
Term
Definition
Infinitive
A verb that functions
as a noun while
retaining certain verbal
characteristics. It is not
inflected and can be
modified by adverbs.
In English, it is
typically preceded by
to. Here, it can be a
plain infinitive or it
can be a whole
infinitive clause.
The change that words
undergo to mark case,
gender, number,
comparison, tense,
person, mood, voice,
etc. Also indicates the
pattern of forming
paradigms, such as
noun inflection.
A noun or noun
equivalent (such as a
pronoun, gerund, or
clause) which denotes
the goal or result of
the action of a verb.
One of a group of
traditional
classifications of words
according to their
functions in context,
including the noun,
pronoun, verb,
adjective, and
adverb. The same as
word class. For
practical reasons, UDM
considers proper nouns
a part of speech.
Inflection
Object
POS, Part Of Speech
295
Term
Definition
Term
Definition
Predicate
The part of a sentence
or clause that
expresses what is said
of the subject and that
usually consists of a
verb with or without
objects, complements,
or adverbial modifiers.
A function word that
combines with a noun,
noun phrase, or
pronoun to form a
prepositional phrase
that can have an
adverbial or adjectival
relation to some other
word.
For User Dictionary
Manager, the meaning
of a word or
phrase. During
translation, semantics
serves to limit conflicts
in word choice and to
assure accuracy of
word
selection. Semantic
associations are
currently available for
assignment in certain
hierarchically
organized categories.
They are mainly
semantic categories of
entities, but also
include some feature
categories.
1. The single intended
meaning (among
several optional
alternative meanings)
associated with a word
or phrase. 2. Entries
having the same
source word or head
word but differentiated
by other information.
Source
The language of the
original text intended
for translation.
A discipline or
knowledge domain
within which a
particular term finds a
unique and correct
meaning. (Select from
a comprehensive list of
Subject Area Choices
arranged
hierarchically.) The
assignment of a subject
area is optional.
Hierarchically
organized disciplines
or knowledge domains
available for
assignment to nouns,
noun phrases,
adjectives, adverbs and
verbs, with special
meanings and/or
transfer in a particular
subject area, either
system defined or user
defined. High level
items include, for
example: science,
politics, economy and
religion_philosophy,
etc. The assignment of
a subject area to a
word is optional, and
should be picked only
if a word has different
translations for
different subject areas.
The language into
which text will be
translated.
Preposition
Semantics
Sense
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User's Guide
Subject Area
Subject Area Choices
Target
Term
Definition
That-Clause
Not to be confused
with a relative clause.
The That-Clause
functions as a noun in
subject or object
position. It can also
modify a noun.
Disciplines or
knowledge domains
previously defined by
the user for future
assignment to nouns,
noun phrases,
adjectives, adverbs and
verbs, and available for
selection among
Subject Area Choices.
User-Defined Subject
Areas
Glossary
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Index
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1994, 2014
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Product Number: 5724 G55