S t r a t e g i e s

An Interlingua is a computer readable intermediate language, that describes the intention of a spoken utterance independent of a particular language.
In C-Star we use an Interlingua designed for travel planning There are three main advantages for the Interlingua approach:

• Sloppy ramblings in the input or different variations of the same meaning are not 'translated' but a cleaned up sentece is produced without the garble in the other language. What matters is the intent of the input utterance, whatever the way it was expressed.Sentences like "I don't have time on Tuesday", "Tuesday is shot", "I am on vacation, ...er.. I, I, I, will be on eeeh... taking a vacation....on Tuesday", can now all be mapped onto the same intended meaning "I am unavailable on Tuesday", and an appropriate sentence in the output language can be generated. Even culturally dependent expressions can be translated in a culturally appropriate fashion. Thus "Tuesday's no good" could be translated into "Kayoobi-wa chotto tsugo-ga warui" literally: "As for Tuesday, the circumstance is a little bit bad".
• It is easier to add additional languages. To add a new language we need to translate only into that interlingua, and generate from that interlingua into our own language. All the other languages come for free. In other words, we would have to build one more translator instead of one for each language.
• We can generate an output utterance in our own language and thereby obtain a paraphrase of the input. This permits the user to verify if an input utterance was properly understood by the system. This very important feature improves the usability of a speech translation system, if the user does not know if an output translation in an unknown language is correct or not.

  
  
  The examples show C-Star translations from English into German, Italian and French and tranlastion using another translation system called SYSTRAN. These show a comparison between our translator and the non-interligua translator.
  
  The Pangloss translator (English to German) also appears as an additional example of another non-interligua approach.
  
  

  • "I would like a room with a queen size bed"
    • CMU: Ich möchte ein Zimmer mit einem grossen Bett haben.
    • PAN: Ich möchte ein Zimmer mit ein breite Bett.
    • SYS:
      • Ich möchte einen Raum mit einem Königingröße Bett
      • gradirei una stanza con una base di formato della regina
      • je voudrais une salle avec un lit de taille de reine
  • "Would you like a hotel convenient to Yankee Stadium"
    • CMU: Soll ich Ihnen ein Hotel in der Nähe von Yankee Stadium reservieren?
    • PAN: Würde sie mögen ein praktisch nach Yankee Stadium
    • SYS:
      • Wurden Sie mögen ein Hotel bequem zum Stadium Yankee
      • gradite un hotel conveniente allo stadio di Yankee
      • vous aimez un hôtel commode au stade de Yankee
  • "I would like a flight to the big apple"
    • CMU: Ich möchte meinen Flug nach New York City buchen.
    • PAN: Ich möchte ein Flug nach die gross Apfel -A
    • SYS:
      • Ich möchte einen Flug zum grossen Apfel
      • Gradirei un volo grande alla mela
      • Je voudrais un vol à la grande pomme
    • "what is the weather like"
      • CMU: Wie ist das Wetter?
      • PAN: Was ist das Wetter mögen
      • SYS:
        • ist wie was das Wetter
        • che cosa è il tempo come
        • comme ce que est le temps